136 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



collectively. For example, if an animal has been bred for 

 thirty days, if estrum has not recurred, if the uterine seal 

 is present and definite, if one of the horns is larger than the 

 other, and on the same side with the enlarged horn there is 

 a typical corpus luteum of pregnancy, the cow is pregnant, 

 and the diagnosis is as accurate and secure as any diagnosis 

 which we can make. Other signs exist which may aid us 

 and add to the security when any one of these fundamental 

 signs is absent or in some manner clouded. With experi- 

 ence and care, any veterinarian can learn to make a safe 

 and accurate diagnosis of pregnancy by physical examina- 

 tion. 



Certain other signs of pregnancy frequently relied upon 

 have a minor value. One of the commonest physical signs 

 of pregnancy is a change in the volume and form of the ab- 

 domen. However, this is not in itself dependable. Many 

 non-pregnant animals have greatly enlarged abdomens, and 

 many in advanced pregnancy show but little enlargement of 

 the abdomen. In a heifer, gaunt from advanced tuberculo- 

 sis and believed non-pregnant, I diagnosed twins, to which 

 she gave birth a few weeks later. 



The enlargement of the mammae is generally a reliable 

 sign of advanced pregnancy, but some cows do not show 

 marked enlargement. In other cases sterile heifers lactate 

 freely. I saw one, which was not and had not been preg- 

 nant, yield twenty pounds of milk daily. 



13. Confusing Findings in Examination for Pregnancy 



While engaged in rectal palpation, one sometimes en- 

 counters conditions which confuse the examiner, at least 

 temporarily. 



a. The left kidney, in all cows, is displaced somewhat to 

 the right and appears quite pendulous. It is much larger in 

 the living than in the dead animal. It contains a great vol- 

 ume of blood. In some cases, it hangs very pendant, and an 

 inexperienced veterinarian, coming in contact with it for the 

 first time, may for a moment think it a tumor. 



