1030 Veterinary Obstetrics 



become transferred to the alimentar}' tract of the fetus and induce 

 the diarrhea. 



Thus, according to one and another investigator, a relationship 

 is suggested between several more or less serious maladies — abor- 

 tion, diarrhea, uterine catarrh. At the present time the writer 

 is handling a herd for severe granular venereal disease, in which 

 abortion and diarrhea co-exist, but the relationship of the diar- 

 rhea to the granular vaginitis is not clear. 



Upon post-mortem examination the chief changes are found in 

 the alimentary canal and in the heart. The digestive mucous 

 membrane is injected and hemorrhagic, and in some places shows 

 a denudation of epithelium. The irritation is largely concen- 

 trated in the rectum, where the mucous folds are excessively 

 hyperaemic. The mesenteric glands are enlarged and infiltrated, 

 as are also the liver and kidneys. The spleen is apparently 

 normal ; the heart at times shows ecchymoses. In addition to 

 these changes, there are present at times small areas of pneumonia. 



Handling. The therapeutics of this disease has constantly 

 proven unsuccessful, and the chief attention is necessarily turned 

 to preventive measures. More than a quarter of a century ago, 

 Franck advi.sed that pregnant cows be removed from infected 

 stables four to six weeks prior to parturition, and that they be 

 placed in clean and disinfected stalls. Others have advised that 

 the posterior portions of the pregnant animal, the vulva, peri- 

 neum, tail and buttocks, be carefully disinfected, that the vagina 

 be irrigated with warm antiseptics shortly prior to parturition, 

 and that the udder be washed with a 2% carbolic acid solution 

 before permitting the calf to suck or before drawing milk from 

 the udder to feed the calf. Morkeberg succeeded in reducing the 

 mortality from 77 to 33%, by applying careful disinfection, fol- 

 lowed by the immediate removal of the calf and feeding it upon 

 clean milk. The udder was carefully washed with corrosive sub- 

 limate solution before the milk was drawn for feeding the calf.. 



Nocard advises that the navel cord should be ligated and ex- 

 cised, and the stump carefully disinfected, because he believes 

 that the disease is largely transmitted through the wound of the 

 ruptured cord while the calf is passing through the vagina or 

 while the freshly ruptured cord is yet in contact with, or moist- 

 ened by, the vulvo-vaginal fluids. While we admit the proba- 

 bility of the transmission of the disease through the navel wound,. 



