6o4 ACCIDENTS INCIDENTAL TO PARTURITION 



If the weather is favorable, and little or no fever present, Saint-Cyr 

 recommends that the animal — covered with a rug — should be walked 

 about for a few minutes ; as this takes away its attention from the acci- 

 dent, regulates the general circulation, and allays the expulsive efforts. 

 If, however, there is fever, with the pulse quick, full and hard, and the 

 animal is strong, he advises the abstraction of blood. 



In any case, the animal should stand with the hind parts well raised, 

 and It ought not to be allowed to lie down for a day or so. 



Great attention should be paid to the diet, particularly in ruminants, 

 from the tendency to tympanitis and constipation. Indeed, tympanitis 

 may be sometimes considered a cause of inversion in the Cow and Ewe ; 

 and the rumen is at times so distended with gases, and accordingly 

 proves such an obstacle to reduction, that it has to be punctured in the 

 usual way before reposition can be effected. For the same reason, this 

 inflation of the digestive organs has to be guarded against in the after- 

 treatment. For the first day only oatmeal gruel, with barley-water — both 

 tepid — should be allowed in small but frequent quantities. Subsequently 

 for some days, easily-digested sloppy food may be given, and if the appe- 

 tite is fickle it should be tempted by choice portions of diet ; though the 

 quantity must not be large at any time until all danger is past. 



Should there be a tendency to constipation, soap-and-water enemas 

 may be administered. 



Micturition is rarely deranged ; but if no urine is passed within twenty- 

 four hours after reposition, an examination should be made, and the 

 bladder emptied in the usual manner. The different disposition of the 

 urethral valve in the Mare and Cow will, of course, be borne in mind in 

 passing the catheter. 



Nearly always these simple measures suffice to restore the animal to 

 its usual condition in three or four days, in uncomplicated cases. In ex- 

 ceptional cases, however, we may have metritis or metroperitonitis, or 

 leucorrhoea follow the accident. The animal may go off its milk and 

 fall into low condition, without exhibiting any acute symptoms ; or indi- 

 cations of puerperal fever may supervene. Sometimes the animal re- 

 mains sterile for a variable period. With the Ewe, chronic inversion of 

 the uterus often leads to loss of the wool. 



In complicated cases we may have wounds, lacerations, rupture of the 

 uterus, cornua, or vagina, lesions of neighboring organs or textures, etc. ; 

 these we will refer to hereafter. 



A curious complication of uterine inversion has been mentioned by 

 Ayrault {Recueil de Med. Vet'erinaire, 1857, p. 723), who has witnessed it 

 in three cases. This consisted in great lameness in the limbs, without 

 swelling of the joints, but with marked knuckling over in the hind-pasterns. 

 This complication disappeared spontaneously as the patients recovered 

 from the other effects of the inversion. 



Amputation of the Uterus — Metrotomy. 



Though it should be recognized as a rule, that, provided there is no 

 serious complication and the obstetrist is called in good time, with pa- 

 tience and skill reposition of the inverted uterus is possible, yet cases 

 will occur in which the operator is baffled in his attempts at reduction, or 

 when, at the first glance or after an examination, he has to recognize this 

 as impossible or useless. " Since I have been in practice," says Schaack, 



