360 BOVINE OBSTETRICS 



1. Symptoms of depression. In the ordinary course the 

 animal is soporous, lies flat on the thorax, or upon the knees 

 with the head turned to one side. Now and then it moans. 

 Occasionally the animal is restless, kicks with the feet and 

 shows symptoms of great excitement. The latter are bellow- 

 ing and vain attempts to rise, often throwing the head so 

 violently against the wall that the horns are fractured. At the 

 outset tonic spasms of the extensors of the back are sometimes 

 seen (opisthotonos). My experience teaches me that these last 

 symptoms call for an unfavorable prognosis. 



2. Symptoms of 'paralysis. These manifest themselves not 

 only in the voluntary muscles, but also partly in the non- 

 striated muscles. Paralysis of peripheral nerves also occurs 

 frequently. 



The hindquarters always are the first to become paralyzed, 

 followed by paralysis of the muscularis of the rumen, intestines 

 and urinary bladder. This paralysis is characterized by the 

 cessation of the rumen's peristaltic movement (frequently 

 tympanitis), retarded, often hard, defecation (the feces in the 

 rectum appear like plates, with bloody streaks, or may re- 

 semble peat), and by accumulation of the urine, as the detrussor 

 urine muscle cannot contract sufficiently. In many cases, 

 therefore, the distended urinary bladder can be felt on rectal 

 examination and emptied by slight pressure. The urine some- 

 times contains sugar, first shown by Nocard. Albrecht found 

 among twenty-five samples of urine only three with sugar 

 and eleven with albumen. 



In parturient paresis, almost invariably symptoms of 

 paralysis of the vagus are observed, such as slow and deep 

 respiration, frequent pulse and dysphagia. Dysphagia is a 

 symptom of special importance from a therapeutic point of 

 view. Since the pharynx and soft palate are paralyzed, medi- 

 caments (solutions or mixtures) given per os may enter the 

 trachea and cause death by setting up a deglutition pneumonia, 

 Small amounts of gastric contents may also be brought up by 

 belching and enter the trachea. In many animals dropping of 

 the upper eye-lid (ptosis) is observed occasionally; also pap- 



