PARTURIENT PARESIS 3G5 



fifth calf and was iu fine condition. An easy and normal birth 

 took place sis hours previous to my arrival. The calf was 

 alive. The afterbirth was still connected with the uterus. 

 The cow exhibited the following symtoms : appetite and 

 rumination were suspended, lacteal secretion limited, faeces 

 hard ; the cow swayed to and fro and threatened to fall down 

 at any moment. After the weakness of the hind quarters had 

 greatly increased, within a few hours the animal fell down, not 

 to rise again. She was lying on her knees, the head resting 

 against the thorax, moaning loudly. The vulva was not 

 swollen. Diagnosis — Parturient paresis. The afterbirth was 

 expelled during the afternoon while the cow was comatous. 

 Toward evening the symptoms became so intense that the 

 animal had to be killed. 



The autopsy was held on the following morning. The 

 uterus revealed no metritis, the brown, slimy lochias were 

 perfectly inodorous. The serosa was normal; the involution 

 corresponded to the post partum stage ; the liver was slightly 

 yellowish, but very consistent; the spleen normal. The colon 

 normal rilled, its contents rather dry. The small intestines 

 were filled with thin, brown manure, the mucous membrane 

 injected, here and there small hemorrhages ; the submucosa 

 w r as somewhat swollen ; the vessels of the serosa were injected. 

 The kidneys were normal, having a few petechias in the cortical 

 layer. The lungs were collapsed, slight hypostasis on the left 

 side, bronchi and trachea normal. The endocardium near the 

 valves and the valves themselves were covered with a few 

 petechias. The vessels of the pia mater were distended ; the 

 ventricles contained a transparent liquid. 



I condemned the meat mainly on account of the enteritis, 

 fearing that possibly an acute septicaemia might have existed, 

 while the anatomo-pathological picture was hardly sufficiently 

 pronounced to confirm such a diagnosis. 



Before the meat could be destroyed some meat from 

 the hind quarters was sent to a neighboring family, who 

 had cooked and ate it. All who had partaken of this 

 meat became ill with acute gastro-enteritis (one party even 



