METRITIS, METRO-PERITONITIS, ETC. 643 



CHAPTER III. 



Metritis, Metro-Peritonitis, and Parturient Fever. 



Inflammation of the uterus {Metritis) may be limited to one or more 

 of the internal layers of the organ {Endo-metritis), or it may extend to 

 its outer covering — the peritoneum {Metro-peritonitis), and produce cer- 

 tain symptoms ; while the introduction of septic matters into the blood, 

 which is very often a result of this inflammation, will give rise to symp- 

 toms of septikagmia. The latter cqjnplication, from the febrile indica- 

 tions which accompany it, is appropriately distinguished by the name of 

 " Parturient Fever " — a designation applied wrongly to another and very 

 different malady of the parturient period — Parturient apoplexy or Eclamp- 

 sia — and which we will study hereafter. 



It is true that we may have metritis and metro-peritonitis without sep- 

 tikaemia — at least to any very marked degree ; but the symptoms of fever 

 which accompany the former are generally more or less apparent, and it 

 is often difficult to discover when septic infection has taken place — the 

 high temperature and greatly accelerated circulation being the first no- 

 table symptoms observed, and these often appear at an early stage of 

 metritis. And we may have septic infection without metritis, when putrid 

 matter obtains admission to the circulating fluids through a lesion in the 

 uterus or vagina. 



Inflammation of the uterus and Septikczinia puerperalis occur in all the 

 domesticated animals. The latter would appear to be very frequent in the 

 Bitch ; but the Mare, Cow, Sheep, Goat, and Sow are liable to septic in- 

 fection, either as a result of metritis, or the introduction of putrefying 

 matter into the blood through an abrasion or wound. 



The inflammation, as well as the infection, varies in intensity from 

 acute, sub-acute, to chronic. 



Symptoms. 



Inflammation of the uterus and parturient septikaemia may ensue very 

 soon after birth — rarely before the second day with the Cow, and sel- 

 dom beyond the eighth day. With the Mare and Bitch, according to 

 Franck, the development of these conditions may be more retarded. Im- 

 mediately after parturition the animal may appear to have quite recov- 

 ered from the effects of that act, yields milk, takes care of its progeny, 

 and there is nothing to indicate the existence of disturbance. The tem- 

 perature in the rectum is normal, except in those cases — far from rare 

 — in which birth has been difficult and the genital canal has been 

 roughly treated and injured ; then the rectal temperature may be 

 higher. The increase of temperature is the first indication of disease, 

 and within twenty-four hours the rise may be as much as two de- 

 grees. At the commencement of this rise, there are well-marked rig- 

 ors j the animal becomes dull and loses its appetite ; if a Cow, rumina- 

 tion ceases ; there is horripilation, and the pulse, small and hard, may 

 increase in the Mare and Cow to 100 per minute ; the secretion of milk 

 gradually decreases, and soon ceases altogether, while the udder dimin- 

 ishes in size and is flaccid ; the respiration is hurried and shallow ; the 

 mouth hot and pasty, and the visible mucous membranes injected ; while 

 the horns and ears are very warm. 



The animal grinds its teeth, and betrays the existence of colicky pains 



