684 PATHOLOGY OF PARTURITION. 



condition, and it has affected Bitches, especially those well-fed and in a 

 plethoric state, after each parturition. 



With regard to the nature of the disease, much cannot be said, as there 

 do not appear to have been many opportunities for post-mortem examina- 

 tions. No albumen has been discovered in the urine, and uraemia has 

 not been noted. The cause which has been attributed by Franck as 

 operating in the production of parturient collapse, may be in operation in 

 the development of eclampsia — viz., increased pressure in the arterial or 

 aortic system, and brain anaemia. 



As occasional causes, Hertwig mentions for the Bitch, chills ; the loss 

 of the offspring, and, consequently, " stagnation " of the milk ; mental 

 emotions, and especially those due to loss of offspring or master. In the 

 only case we have observed, which was in the Bitch, we attributed it to 

 suckling too many puppies. 



Treatment. 



The disease does not appear to be at all serious, many cases recover 

 without medical treatment. Hertwig recommends the abstraction of 

 blood from the jugular, the quantity varying with the size and condition 

 of the animals ; and he asserts that frequently all the symptoms diminish 

 considerably, or even disappear, while the blood flows. After the bleed- 

 ing, he administers a spoonful of tea every four or six hours, with small 

 doses of nitrate of potass. If the bowels ar^ constipated, an enema is to 

 be given. Zundel has been particularly successful with the syrup of 

 chloroform, which, in small and frequent doses, keeps the animal in a 

 state of semi-anaesthesia ; the cure being terminated by a dose of laxative 

 medicine and one or two enemas. The syrup of ether produces the same 

 effect as the chloroform, though less quickly and surely. In the case 

 which occurred in our own experience, and which we believed to be due 

 to hyper-lactation, some of the puppies — a large litter — were removed, 

 and the bitch had a warm bath and a laxative ; recovery quickly ensued. 



1. Boissonneau [Journal des Vetermaires dii Midi, 1858) relates that a Cow, three 

 days after parturition, which had been natural and spontaneous, showed symptoms of an 

 attack of metritis. The following day, a quarter of an hour after abstracting blood, the 

 animal began to manifest great anxiety ; the respiration became laborious and hurried, 

 like that of a Horse pris de chaleiirs ; the hmbs were wide apart, as if to prop up the 

 body, and the head rested on the manger — the body being balanced by a kind of 

 undulatory movement. Soon the Cow fell — an inert mass, the limbs rigid and immova- 

 ble, the eyes turned backwards and fixed, the mouth half open and the tongue pendent. 

 The animal bit at objects within its reach, and the foaming saliva flowed from the com- 

 missures of the mouth. This fit, during which all the instinctive and sensorial faculties 

 seemed to be in abeyance, lasted about twenty-five minutes, and five attacks occurred 

 during the day. Next day there were three attacks, and the fourth day only two. The 

 fifth day passed without any, and it was thought that recovery had set in, when, on the 

 sixth day, the fits re-appeared with the same intensity as at the commencement. In the 

 middle of one of these attacks, the Cow got entangled in the stall and was strangled. 

 At the autopsy, dark blood was found in the lateral ventricles of the brain, the envelopes 

 of which were congested and its texture softened. Death in this case was accidental, 

 and the lesions may have been due to strangulation. 



2. Mauri {Revue Veteri7taire, 1876, p. 65) describes the case of a Cow, four years old, and 

 aprimipara, which had calved, and the placenta was expelled two hours afterwards. On 

 the following morning the animal was seized with tremblings, refused all food, mani- 

 fested breathlessness, and looked anxious. On being led to the pasture to give it more 

 air, it was perceived that it was weak in the hind-quarters, and in the short distance it 

 had to travel it fell several times. It was put in a shed with a northern exposure, and 

 its calf being brought, it remained completely indifferent to it. At two o'clock it fell, 

 and Mauri was sent for. He found it lying extended on the right side, the respiration 



