800 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



titis of a severe type develops there occurs promptly as a 

 rule a severe laminitis. No acceptable explanation, so far 

 as I know, has been given for this occurrence. Some say it 

 is metastatic inflammation, but they do not explain what 

 they mean by metastatic. Puerperal laminitis is common in 

 the mare and very rare in the cow and ewe. Two types of 

 placentitis with retained fetal membranes are recognized 

 clinically. Generally retention of the fetal membranes, in 

 which the placentitis has led to an incarceration of the 

 chorionic tufts over most of, or the entire uterine mucosa, 

 is, according to my observation, very rare. It is rarely seen 

 in abortion because the placentitis has reached that point 

 where the chorion is cast off before the fetus is expelled, so 

 that cadaver and membranes are expelled together, the same 

 as is observed usually in the cow when abortion occurs in 

 very early pregnancy. I have seen this type of retention in 

 premature birth, but the premature birth itself is a rare 

 phenomenon in mares. The conditions are usually analo- 

 gous to those in the cow : the retention begins at the cervi- 

 cal end of the uterus, as illustrated in Fig. 230. The cervi- 

 cal end of the chorion is detached or detachable soon after 

 the fetus is expelled, and the retention increases as the 

 ovarian end of the uterus is approached. The prognosis is 

 favorable except that it will probably be complicated by 

 laminitis. The handling is along the general lines advised 

 for cows. The mechanism of manual removal differs in de- 

 tail. The margin of the parturient rent at the cervical end 

 is to be picked up and tensed with one hand while the other 

 hand is gently pressed between the chorion and uterine 

 wall, and the two organs carefully pushed apart, or a part 

 of the chorion may be folded longitudinally, held with one 

 hand and grasped with the thumb and forefinger of the 

 other hand, the latter pushed forward against the uterine 

 wall, and the two organs pressed apart. If the membranes 

 are not removable without injury, the same rule applies as 

 in cows. Once the membranes are out, the uterus should be 

 freely douched with 0.7', salt solution as frequently as may 

 seem expedient and the iodoform-bismuth-oil treatment, ad- 

 vised for cows, used. 



