162 THE HOG. 



PARTURITION. 



The approach of the period of farrowing is marked by the im- 

 mense size of the belly, by a depression of the back, and by the 

 distension of the teats. The animal gives evident symptoms of acute 

 suffering, and wanders restlessly about, collecting straw, and carry 

 ing it to her sty, grunting piteously the while. 



As soon as this is observed, she should be enticed into a separate 

 sty and carefully watched. On no account should several sows be 

 permitted to farrow in the same place, as they will inevitably irritate 

 each other, and devour their own or one another's young. 



The young ones should be taken away as soon as they are 

 born, and deposited in a warm spot, for the sow being a clumsy ani- 

 mal, is not unlikely, in her struggles, to overlay them ; nor should 

 they be returned to her until all is over, and the afterbirth has been 

 removed, which should always be done the moment it passes from 

 her ; for young sows, especially, will invariably devour the after- 

 birth if permitted, and then, the young being wet with a similar 

 fluid and smelling the same, will eat them one after another. Some 

 persons advise washing the backs of the young pigs with a decoction 

 of aloes, colocynth, or some other nauseous substance, as a remedy 

 for this ; but the simplest and easiest one is to remove the little 

 ones until all is over and the mother begins to recover herself and 

 seeks about for them, on which they should be put near her. 



It has been frequently observed that each little pig has its own 

 peculiar teat, and will not willingly suck from any other ; therefore, 

 as the front teats yield most milk, the smallest pigs should be 

 placed to them. If more young are farrowed than the mother has 

 teats, the most weakly-looking must be destroyed, unless it should 

 so happen that there is another sow at hand which has fewer pigs 

 than teats, in which case they may be put to her, if this can be done 

 without her knowledge; though some writers affirm that a sow will 

 give her teats indifferently to her own offspring or to that of a 

 stranger. 



It does not, however, always happen that the parturition is effect- 

 ed with such ease. Cases of false presentation, of enlarged foetus, 

 of debility in the mother, often render it difficult and dangerous. 

 The womb will occasionally become protruded and inverted in 

 consequence of the forcing pains of difficult parturition, and even 

 the bladder has been known to come away. These parts must be 

 returned as soon as may be ; and if the womb has come in contact 

 with the dung or litter and acquired any dirt, it must be first wash- 

 ed in hike-warm water, and then returned and confined in its place 

 by means of a suture passed through the lips of the orifice. Some 

 foreign veterinarians place a pessary high up the vagina, and secure 

 it in its situation by means of an iron ring or wire ; but this is a 



