1096 Veterinary Obstetrics 



The injection of the mucosa varies in intensity in different 

 herds, in different individuals of the same herd, and in the same 

 individual at different periods. The variations in intensity are 

 frequently very abrupt, and sometimes not readily explained. 

 When a non-pregnant animal comes in estrum, the mucosa be- 

 comes increasingly irritated and reddened. If coition occurs, 

 the irritation is very greatly increased. The entire visible portion 

 of the mucosa is intensely inflamed, dark red, and swollen, and 

 the epithelium is covered over with flocculent muco-purulent ex- 

 udates. After estrum and service, the intensity slowly abates, 

 and the mucosa may largely lose its irritated appearance in 10 

 to 15 days. If pregnancy occurs, the vulvo- vaginal irritation 

 may remain static, increase, or decrease. In old cows which 

 have been long diseased, the mucosa becomes more pale, yellow- 

 ish and flaccid. Ecchymo.ses in the mucosa are frequently 

 ob.served. 



The vulvo- vaginal discharge is parallel to the degree of vagini- 

 tis. Whenever the di.sease is intense, there is more or less con- 

 stant mucous, muco-purulent or purulent discharge, which soils 

 the tail and vulva, and especially adheres to the vulvar tuft of 

 hairs. When complicated with pyometra, there is usually a pro- 

 fuse purulent discharge, and one or two pints are frequently ob- 

 served in the gutter behind the cow. 



The prepuce of the clitoris is occasionally the seat of profuse 

 suppuration. In such cases, pressure from outside and beneath 

 the clitoris, while the labise are parted, causes 15 or 20 drops of 

 thick white pus to be pressed out. The lips of the vulva are 

 frequently swollen, tense and somewhat sensitive to the touch. 



When parturition or abortion approaches, the enlarged follicles 

 become less conspicuous, and finally disappear more or less com- 

 pletely from vision. As soon as the vulva and vulvar mucosa 

 become markedly edematous, when the animal is "springing", 

 the granules rapidly become less conspicuous, and sometimes 2, 3 

 or more weeks prior to parturition or abortion, the enlarged folli- 

 cles are no longer visible. After the animal calves or aborts, the 

 granules usually remain invisible for one or more weeks, until 

 the edema of the external genitals subsides, when they reappear. 



The nodules have not ceased to exist, .so far as we can deter- 

 mine, but have merely become hidden in the edema of the mucosa. 

 In some cases one may still recognize the hidden granules with 



