DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 29 



PARTURITION FOALING-CALVING, ETC. 



THIS is the act of the normal expulsion of the mature 

 fetus. In the higher animals it is a very complicated 

 physiological process, and fraught with considerable 

 danger to both the dam and progeny. And the more 

 we deviate in our standard of breeding from the origi- 

 nal wild type of the animal, the greater will be the dan- 

 ger of fatal accidents attending parturition. 



Fig. 4. Cow in the act of parturition. 



Symptoms. The preliminary symptoms or signs of ap- 

 proaching parturition are an increased size and sen- 

 sitiveness of the mammae (udder.) The tenderness in- 

 creases until the fetus begins to feed on the milk of the 

 mother. The vulva becomes swollen and flabby. This 

 is followed by restlessness, the mother lying down and 

 getting up again in much the same manner as in colic, 

 and she often seeks a remote place to bring forth her 

 young. The pains now become more severe ; they are 

 more frequent, and they continue for a longer time; this 

 increases until the fetus is expelled, if it is a normal la- 

 bor. The naval cord is now ruptured and there escapes 

 perhaps a little blood. The time of expulsion of the 

 fetus after the actual pain varies in different animals, 



