950 Veterifiary Obstetrics 



patient ceases to care for her calf and becomes more or less un- 

 conscious of her surroundings. When gangrene is threatened or 

 present, there may be more or less complete paralysis, as already 

 stated ; or a somewhat similar paralysis may occur sometimes as 

 a result of intoxication owing to absorption from the udder of 

 bacterial products, in comparatively mild attacks. 



Course and Termination. In a large proportion of cases 

 the course and termination of the disease is unfavorable. Even 

 in those cases counted as recoveries, the glands are almost inevi- 

 tably more or less damaged, and their function interrupted either 

 temporarily or permanently. 



The complete loss of one or more quarters by atrophy, indura- 

 tion, abscessation or gangrene is common, resulting in a three-or 

 two-teated cow of greatly diminished value. A three- teated cow 

 may yield a high percentage of the normal amount of milk, but 

 the diseased and functionless gland may constitute a menace to 

 the adjacent quarters, and is unsightly and unde.sirable. When 

 two quarters are^^lost, the decrease in the milk yield is so great 

 that the value of the cow as a dairy animal is ordinarily at an end. 



The mortality from the disease is by no means insignificant. 

 The disease may terminate in resolution ; abscessation ; chronic 

 mastitis, with atrophy of the glandular substance, which may be 

 accompanied by hyperplasia of the connective tissue with indu- 

 ration and enlargement ; gangrene ; pyaemia ; or septicaemia. 



a Resolution may occur early in the attack, at any period 

 from the third or fourth to the eighth or tenth day, or even later. 

 In very acute cases, resolution may follow in the counse of a ver3^ 

 few hours ; in fact, in some very virulent cases resolution must 

 occur very quickly or the animal neces.sarily perishes. When 

 resolution occurs, the swelling and pain in the udder abate, the 

 appetite returns and the milk .secretion becomes re-established, 

 while the general appearance of the animal improves in harmony 

 with the local conditions. The milk may remain somewhat ab- 

 normal for a time. The milk flow very rarely recovers its normal 

 amount, but remains somewhat lessened throughout the involved 

 milking period. The volume may or may not become fully re- 

 stored at the next calving. 



Vennerholm agrees with Franck that resolution .seldom follows, 

 while vStockfleth estimates that resolution occurs in at least 50% 



