984 Veterinary Obstetrics 



may hang very low because of the great weight of the large 

 heniatom which it contains. If an injury has caused hemorrhage 

 into the udder, and the blood becomes mixed with the milk, the 

 mixture is usually somewhat clotted. When mammary hemor- 

 rhage is due to the passage of red corpuscles through the walls 

 of the capillaries into the milk vessels, the blood is uniformly 

 mixed with the milk, and may give it a reddish tinge, or may 

 pass unobserved until the milk has stood for a time, when the 

 blood, on account of its weight, sinks to the bottom and is very 

 readily .seen. 



The advent of blood in milk not infrequently indicates the 

 commencement of a clironic catarrhal mammitis, affecting chiefly 

 the milk cistern and large canals. The bloody character of the 

 milk may presently abate, but the catarrh persists, leading grad- 

 ually to atresia of the teat. The atresia may mature dur- 

 ing the milking period, or its completion be delayed until the 

 dry period, and when the cow again comes into milk the atresia 

 may be found complete. 



Special forms of infection sometimes cause a reddish tint of the 

 milk, in the absence of blood or blood-coloring matter. 



Termination. In those cases of bloody milk due to exalted 

 blood pressure in the gland, the duration of the condition is 

 usually prolonged, so that it is a long time before the milk again 

 becomes normal. As a general rule the result is very unfa- 

 vorable, becau.se the same condition tends to recur at each 

 calving. If hematoma form, they are slowly resorbed, to leave 

 cysts behind, or induration of the gland occurs, or the wall of the 

 hematom gives way and its contents escape externally. Should 

 the hematom become infected, mastitis results, usually followed 

 by abscess. 



When a limited amount of hemorrhage occurs in the milk, the 

 most that can be done is the careful milking out. This does not 

 prove very satisfactory, as the milk is unfit for use, and the 

 animal tends to give bloody milk again and again at the begin- 

 ning of each milking. When hematoma form, an attempt may 

 be made to check the hemorrhage, if still existing, b}'^ the appli- 

 cation of cold, especially of ice by means of a suspensory bandage, 

 or by hemostatics given internally. Generally this is not neces- 

 sary. The hematom should be left alone for two or three days, 

 until assured that the hemorrhage will not be renewed and that 



