THE URINARY SYSTEM 427 



present they are extremely difficult to diagnose, as it is only by 

 negative symptoms that their presence can be determined even by 

 an expert. 



750. Ovariotomy, commonly called spaying, is an operation 

 frequently performed on heifers and she-pigs in many districts, par- 

 ticularly in the Midland counties. It is analogous to the castration 

 of the male, and the benefits claimed to be derived from it are 

 the convenient housing together of both sexes, and the tendency of 

 spayed animals to speedily lay on fat, and, if milking, to give a 

 larger and longer supply. The operation is also the best preventive 

 for mares and cows that are continually coming into season. 



751. Leucorrhoea, or Whites, is characterized by the discharge 

 from the vagina of a glairy, milky-looking, often bad-smelling, fluid, 

 which is sometimes so extensive as to run down the thighs and tail. 

 This complaint generally affects old animals, the cow particularly. 

 It may arise from too long retention of the after-birth or cleansing, 

 or from chronic inflammation of the vagina or womb. The parts 

 are in a very relaxed condition, and the hand can be readily passed 

 up the vagina to the neck of the womb, which is generally found to 

 be thickened, and open enough to allow the passage of two or three 

 fingers. After an attack of this kind an animal seldom breeds again. 

 Treatment. — Wash the womb out every second or third day with 

 2 ounces of tincture of iron or tincture of iodine mixed in 1 gallon 

 of cold water, previously boiled ; also give iron tonics with nux 

 vomica, or preparations of arsenic. 



752. Genital Erythema — a catarrhal irritation of the lining 

 membrane of the vagina. In extreme hot weather both the mare 

 and cow suffer from this affection, but it is more common in the cow, 

 at times running like an enzootic. The symptoms are a great itching 

 of the parts, a discharge of glairy fluid, slight swelling of the 

 external parts, and constant whisking of the tail. When a female is 

 affected in this way, the male should have no connection, as it might 

 contract the same complaint, for it is inoculative ; and yet in many 

 cases the male can convey the complaint from one female to another 

 without himself showing any signs of derangement. In the cow the 



