MANAGEMENT OF NORMAL PARTURITION. 



In a general way it is safer that an animal be let alone during 

 parturition, and that she be given an amount of freedom which 

 will approach the natural state as nearly as possible. 



Under domestication, the environment has been so changed 

 and modified that it is essential we should consider the question 

 of the care and surroundings of the mother and fetus during the 

 period of parturition. The essential preparations should be those 

 which insure freedom and comfort. In the larger animals, like 

 the mare and cow, which are habitually kept secured in stalls or 

 stanchions and frequently among a number of other animals, the 

 .safety of both the mother and fetus is increa.sed by providing 

 greater liberty for the animal during parturition and .separating 

 her to some degree from other animals of the same or other species. 

 Sometimes the owner is not able to command proper quarters for 

 an animal while giving birth to young and may find it necessary 

 to keep her tied by the head. In reality, this is usually compara- 

 tively .safe, providing always that the stall is so arranged as to 

 guard the animal against the danger of becoming cast, and thus 

 injuring herself. 



Provision should be made against injury to the fetus from 

 defects in the stable or from the presence of other animals. A 

 good .stall in which the animal is tied up by the head is better 

 than a poor box-stall, because in the latter the mother is liable to 

 lie down with her buttocks against or near to a wall in such a 

 way that the fetus cannot readily be expelled, whereas if tied by 

 the head in a single stall such an accident could not readily oc- 

 cur, unless the stall were very short or the animal tied very long. 

 Both cows and mares repeatedly give birth to young, while tied 

 by the head in a stable with a number of other animals, and are 

 usually unharmed. 



Some writers claim that the mother should be able to get to 

 the fetus at once, in order to release it from its membranes, but 

 clinically this is at least unimportant, if not untrue, and it is 

 doubtful if the cow or mare ever saves the life of her fetus by 

 quickly removing the fetal membranes from its nostrils so as to 

 permit it to breathe. Admittedly, it is important that the mother 

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