160 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



ground several times in rapid succession. The muscles are felt to be 

 firm and rigid. The cramp may be promptl}' relieved b}^ active rub- 

 bing, or bv walking the animal about, and it does not reappear after 

 parturition. 



CONSTirATION. 



This ma}' result from compression b}- the gravid womb, and is best 

 corrected by a graduated allowance of boiled flaxseed. 



PARALYSIS. 



The pressure on the nerves of the pelvis is liable to cause paralysis 

 of the hind limbs, or in the mare of the nerve of sight. These are 

 obstinate until after parturition, when the}' recover spontaneously, or 

 under a course of nux vomica and (locally) stimulating liniments. 



PROLONGED RETENTIOX OF THE FETUS (fOAL). 



In the mare, though far less frequently than in the cow, parturition 

 may not be completed at term, and the foal may continue to be carried 

 in the womb for a number of months, to the serious or even fatal 

 injury of the mare. Hamon records one case in which the mare died 

 after carrying the fetus for seventeen months, and Caillier a similar 

 result after it had been carried twenty-two months. In these cases 

 the fetus retained its natural form, but in one reported by Gohier, the 

 bones only were left in the womb amid a mass of apparently purulent 

 matter. 



Cause. — The cause may be any effective obstruction to the act of 

 parturition, such as lack of contractile power in the womb, unduly 

 strong (inflammatory) adhesions between the womb and the fetal mem- 

 branes, wrong presentation of the fetus, contracted pelvis (from frac- 

 ture or disease of the bones), or disease and induration of the neck of 

 the womb. 



The mere prolongation of gestation does not necessarily entail the 

 death of the foal; hence the latter has been born alive at the four 

 hundredth day. Even jvhen the foal has perished, putrefaction does 

 not set in unless the membranes (water bags) have been ruptured and 

 septic bacteria have been admitted to the interior of the womb. In 

 the latter case a fetid decomposition advances rapidly, and the mare 

 usually perishes from poisoning with the putrid matters absorbed. 



At the natural period of parturition preparations are apparently 

 made for that act. The vulva swells and discharges much inucus, the 

 udder enlarges, the belly becomes more pendent, and the animal 

 strains more or less. No progress is made, however; there is not 

 even opening of the neck of the womb, and after a time the symptoms 

 subside. The marc usually refuses the male; yet there are exceptions 

 to this rule. If the neck of the womb has been opened and putrefy- 



