MAMMITIS OR MASTITIS. 



711 



syphon may sometimes be usefully introduced ; but its employment re- 

 quires much circumspection when the inflammation is acute. With the 

 smaller animals, as the Bitch, milkmg is not so urgent. 



The general treatment must depend upon the condition of the animal 

 and the nature and degree of the disturbance, and must be, in principle, 

 that of all inflammation. The local treatment is a matter of much impor- 

 tance, and here we find the most diverse recommendations. 



Zundel, Baumeister and Rueff, Gillibert, and others, have lauded the 

 advantages to be obtained from the application of collodion, particularly 

 with small animals. With the larger animals, as Mares and Heifers, it 

 has been most successfully employed by Zundel, who adds a few drops of 

 castor-oil to the collodion, which is applied either over the whole gland 

 or the inflamed quarter or quarters, commencing at the teat, the orifice of 

 which must not be covered ; a second or a third application may be 

 made. The evaporation of the ether produces a salutary degree of cold, 

 while the continuous layer of cotton closely adhering to the surface of the 

 skin, affords equable compression and support by its contraction when 

 the ether evaporates. 



Astringent and refrigerant applications have always held a high place 

 in the treatment of mammitis, and every authority has his own favorite ap- 

 plication. In this way we have cold water, either alone or with the addi- 

 tion of ice, acetate of lead, or Goulard's extract ; clay tempered with 

 vinegar or salt water ; evaporating lotions of various kinds, etc. These 

 applications may be usefully and safely employed when there is merely 

 congestion, or at the commencement of slight inflammation ; but when 

 the inflammation has become fairly established, and there is exudation, 

 they increase the tension, and, without allaying the pain, promote indura 

 tion. So that, as a rule, they are to be avoided until the inflammation 

 has been greatly subdued, when they may be resorted to with some ad- 

 vantage. 



Emollient applications, and especially when warm, afford more satis- 

 factory results. In this direction warm fomentations and poultices ap- 

 pear to be most grateful to the animal, and to dissipate the inflammation 

 most readily. They must not be too hot, as the skin of the udder is so 

 thin that it is easily injured by inordinate heat. Poultices of linseed-meal, 

 oatmeal, marsh-mallows, dough, etc., covered with olive-oil. laudanum, 

 opium, or extract of belladonna, are especially to be recommended, in 

 preference to fomentations, which require much time ; and as they can- 

 not be applied continually, the udder often suffers from the reaction — 

 the change from heat to cold, though this may to some extent be ob- 

 viated by drying the parts well, and smearing them with lard. An ex- 

 cellent poultice is furnished by spongio piline, which, if covered externally 

 by oiled silk, and holes made in it for the teats to pass through, makes 

 an excellent and clean cataplasm when steeped in warm water and ap- 

 plied to the udder. Williams recommends " spent " hops, which are 

 very light, contain much moisture, are soothing, and do not irritate when 

 they become dry. The drying of a poultice can be averted by placing it 

 in a piece of waterproof material or oiled silk. Poultices and other ap- 

 plications of this kind are best retained by a wide and tailed bandage, 

 in which are holes for the teats, and which, passing upwards on each 

 side at the flank, and back between the thighs, is secured over the loins 

 and croup. This bandage is at all times beneficial in relieving the pain 

 and congestion, by the support it affords the swollen organ. It should 

 therefore be adopted early. 



