740 Veterinary Obstetrics 



fluid promptly rushes out and escapes externally. Delivery 

 readily follows. 



In the posterior presentation the fluid may be caused to escape 

 through the fetal pelvis by an incision through the perineum. 



3. Anasarca. 



Somewhat rarely in practice the veterinarian meets with a 

 fetus, the entire body of which is edematous, so that its diameter 

 is greatl}^ increased and it appears as a somewhat rounded, soft 

 mass with its tissues filled everywhere with fluid. Like ascites, 

 anasarca is seen almost, if not quite exclusively, in the calf. In 

 Germany this disease has acquired the designation wasserkalbe 

 or speckkalbe. The fetus affected with anasarca usually perishes 

 at the sixth to seventh month, and is expelled. Upon expulsion 

 it appears as a rounded mass ; the skin is hairless and looks 

 somewhat leathery ; the limbs and neck seem excessively short 

 because of the increased transverse diameter of the fetus ; and 

 everywhere through its tissues there is a vast amount of liquid, 

 which freely exudes when the parts are incised. 



The causes of anasarca are not known, but some investigators 

 have attributed the condition to an absence of the thoracic duct. 



Anasarca rarely offers any serious obstacle to parturition, and 

 when it does so the dystokia is referable solely to the excessive 

 volume of the fetus, which we have already discussed on page 

 726, and should be handled in the same wa}-. 



4. Cysts and Cystic Degeneration of Fetal Organs. 



Cysts in various internal organs or in the subcutaneous con- 

 nective tissue, which may .so increase the size of a particular 

 region of the fetus as to induce dystokia, are very rarely recorded. 

 Among the internal organs, the liver and kidneys have been 

 found affected with cysts of such dimensions as to constitute an 

 obstacle to the expulsion of the fetus. Naturally these cysts 

 cannot be differentiated clinically from ascites, and it is only 

 upon post partum examination that the character of the diffi- 

 culty may be fully recognized. The method of handling is the 

 same as we have already suggested for ascites. 



Fleming, citing Ludke, records a cyst, in the subcutaneous 

 connective tissue below the ear of a calf, which was more than a 

 foot in diameter and contained 36 pounds of fluid. This had to 



