8oo Veterinary Obstetrics 



tion cannot be definitely fixed. If the veterinarian attends a case 

 of dystokia, and finds, after the removal of the fetus, that he 

 can follow with the removal of the placenta, without tearing the 

 cotyledons and without causing hemorrhage, this should be ac- 

 complished immediately. If there are any wounds in the uterus 

 or vagina, there is greater need for the removal of the membranes, 

 in order to prevent wound infection and injury to the parts. If 

 the fetus has been dead and emphysematous, it is quite important 

 to remove the afterbirth immediately following the removal of 

 the fetus, and in such cases it is generally quite practicable to 

 do so. 



The operation of the manual removal of the placenta should be 

 accomplished in a careful and thorough manner. During partu- 

 rition, the chorion has become separated from some of the cotyle- 

 dons about the cervical canal, and the farther toward the horns 

 we proceed the more intimate do we usually find the attachments 

 of the membranes to the cotyledons. The veterinarian should 

 begin by detaching those cotyledons which are first recognizable 

 posteriorly, along the top of the uterus, and then, gradually work- 

 ing forward, eventually detach those from the bottom of the 

 uterus and from the horns. 



The method of detachment should aim at the complete removal 

 of all the chorionic tufts, without injury to the cotyledon or to 

 its pedicle. The operator grasps the cotyledon with his thumb 

 resting upon one side at the margin of the attachment of the 

 chorion to the cotyledon and his index and middle fingers resting 

 upon the opposite border of the organ. By pressing upon the 

 chorion, between the thumb and fingers, the chorionic tufts are 

 gradually detached and forced out of the crypts in the cotyledons, 

 while no force is exerted upon the stalk of the cotyledon, and 

 consequently it escapes injury. After the fetal placenta has 

 begun to be detached on the side where the thumb is located, 

 the detached margin may be grasped between the thumb and in- 

 dex finger, while the other fingers rest upon the opposite side of 

 the cotyledon, and the detachment of the chorion gradually com- 

 pleted. This process is to be repeated upon one after another 

 of the cotyledons, until all are finally detached. 



The operator usually has difficulty in reaching the most distant 

 cotyledons located in the two horns, especially those in the gravid 

 horn. This horn turns downward, and then backward, and is 



