MAMMITIS OR MASTITIS. 



695 



— obstruct the canals, and prevent the escape of the milk. Ftirstenberg 

 states that he has sometimes found casts of epithelial cells in them, and 

 that about the third or fourth day there are globules of colostrum. This 

 alteration in the milk may be limited to that from the affected gland or 

 quarter ; in the others the secretion may be healthy, though less abun- 

 dant. 



This condition most frequently terminates by resolution, and very often 

 without treatment — the tumefaction disappearing in a very brief time, or 

 in the course of four to eight days ; though the milk may remain less 

 plentiful for some time, and up to the eighth or twelfth day may still 

 contain colostrum corpuscles. In other cases, the quantity of milk 

 remains less than usual ; and when relief is not afforded, we may have 

 inflammation supervening, and the formation of one or more abscesses. 



In the great majority of cases, it is probable that this condition com- 

 mences in, or is limited to, the parenchyma of the gland, which receives 

 an inordinate supply of food. This leads to a congested condition, and 

 consequent diminished lacteal secretion, with serous infiltration into the 

 interlobular connective tissue. According to Ftirstenberg {Milchdrusen 

 der Kuhe\ the milk contains more particularly the solid elements of this 

 fluid, and also the epithelium yet undergoing that change which should 

 be completed in the acini. 



This condition has often been confounded with inflammation of the 

 udder, though it must be admitted that it sometimes constitutes the in- 

 itial stage of mammitis. It may be distinguished from the latter by the 

 non-existence of general symptoms, and also locally by the absence of 

 the peculiar density or hardness, and the extreme painfulness and sen- 

 sibility, which mark the presence of the latter. 



According to Franck, this mammary oedema (or Floss) is peculiar to 

 many parts of the Bavarian Alps, and he appears to consider it as in- 

 flammation of the skin and connective tissue of the gland {E?itzundung 

 der Ueberzuge des Enters und des Zellgewebes). It always appears some 

 days, on occasions some weeks, before parturition, and the whole udder 

 is involved ; though one side may be more affected than the other. The 

 swelling sometimes extends as high as the vulva, and even beyond it. 

 Sometimes the skin is reddened, tense, and shining {Eryt/iema mammil- 

 arutn) ; in other instances it is normal The health is seldom unaf- 

 fected, and this is a characteristic feature of the disease ; there is also 

 rarely any pain, or alteration in the secretion — colostrum or ordinary 

 milk flowing from the teat. When, however, the connective tissue is in- 

 volved, there is swelling and " pitting " on pressure, the skin is red- 

 dened, and the finger indentations last for some time ; there is also more 

 pain. This latter condition has sometimes been designated the " ery- 

 sipelatous " form of mastitis ; though it must be observed that the secre- 

 tion of milk is unaltered to any extent. It continues for about eight 

 days. 



When the skin is much inflamed, as in the erysipelatous form, Franck 

 thinks it probable that a special cause — a kind of infection of the skin — 

 is in operation. 



Treatment. 



This malady, in the greater number of cases, does not require any 

 special treatment. If the animal eats well and is not much inconven- 

 ienced, the mammae should be relieved of their contents either by al- 



