POST-PA RTUM PARALYSIS. 



679 



they may prove of the greatest service at the commencement 01 the at- 

 tack, or they may be associated with the purgatives. If given alone, they 

 should be exhibited in small doses and very often. 



Other medicaments have been employed — as aconite, bryonia, camphor, 

 phosphorus, datura, quinine, gentian, digitalis, etc. — with varying suc- 

 cess. 



When recovery commences, small doses of stimulants may be benefi- 

 cial if there is much debilit}', and the animal can swallow readily. But in 

 the administration of fluids when the animal is comatose, or deglutition is 

 impeded, the greatest care is necessary to prevent their entering the 

 trachea — -an accident which might prove fatal. To test whether the 

 animal can swallow, a little cold water may be poured into the mouth 

 from a bottle. If swallowing is difficult, then the only safe mode of ad- 

 ministration is by the stomach-pump or probang, or directly into the rumen 

 by the trocar and cannula. Large quantities of fluids are objectionable, 

 and the amount in any single dose should not exceed a pint. 



It must also be remembered, that if it is probable that the animal will 

 not recover, but will be killed and its flesh consumed as food, drugs of a 

 poisonous kind, or likely to flavor the meat, should not be given. Many 

 cases are recorded in which people have been poisoned, through eating 

 of the flesh of Cows which had received large quantities of poisonous 

 medicines before being killed by the butcher. 



Electricity has been employed with success, both in the comatose 

 stage and when paralysis has remained after the attack. Neumann and 

 Holden relate instances of recovery. The Leyden jar, or, better, the 

 induction coil, may be employed. 



To sum up, the treatment of parturient collapse consists chiefly in re- 

 lieving the congestion of the brain (at the commencement), restoring 

 the functions of and stimulating the skin, promoting the action of the 

 intestines, and jfcmoving the milk or stimulating the function of the 

 mammary gland. 



All violent arfd heroic treatment should be avoided, as well as large 

 doses of medicine. 



Consecutive congestion or inflammation of the lungs must be treated 

 according to circumstances ; and paralysis will be best combated by stim- 

 ulation to the loins, and the subcutaneous^ injection of strychnia, with 

 diuretics and purgatives. 



Easily digested food in small quantities should alone be allowed im- 

 mediately after recovery, and the animal must not be given any indiges- 

 tible food, nor be permitted to eat hay or litter. 



It is judicious not to breed from a Cow which has suffered from partu- 

 rient collapse, unless every precaution is taken towards the next calving 

 period. 



CHAPTER V. 



Post-Partum Paralysis. 



In treating of the diseases peculiar to pregnancy, we alluded to paraple- 

 gia (p. 180) as one of these. Paralysis of the hind-quarters is more 

 frequent previous to birth than after that event, and is generally observed 

 in the Cow. After birth, paralysis is comparatively rare, and may affect 



