UISKASKH IXCIhKSTAL TO rRKGXAXCV. 183 



ooiulitions which have been noted in animals are pica or mnlacia, 

 rickets and osteomalacia, coiistipation, vomitiny, colic, oidcvui, hydrops 

 amnii, paraplegia, cramp, eclampsia, cerebral congestion, atitaurosis, 

 cough, albuminuria, mammitis, and red colostrum,. 



Pica. 



We have ah-eady noted that the appetite of pregnant animals is some- 

 times depraved, and that they will ingest foreign matters — such as 

 plaster licked from the walls, wood gnawn from their stable-fittings, 

 eartli, etc. 



When depending on derangement of the digestive functions — on a 

 neurosis of the stomach — this depraved appetite may be corrected by 

 the careful administration of tonics, antacids, and attention to the 

 quantity and quality of the food. The Herbivora should be allowed 

 conmion salt in their food, or to lick. 



Rickets and Osteomalacia. 



Disease of the bones, tending to softening or fragility, has been fre- 

 quently observed in pregnant animals, and especially those which are 

 young ; the two conditions being observed independently or coincident 

 in the same creature. There is considerable increase in the organic 

 matter of the bones, and a corresponding decrease in the inorganic 

 constituents, especially of calcium phosphate ; the long bones are more 

 particularly affected, thougli the whole skeleton may be involved. The 

 bones become softened, are often enlarged, and are friable and brittle; 

 so that in advanced cases fractures occur readily, while deformity is not 

 at all rare. The disease has been witnessed in an en/.oiitic form on the 

 Continent in large breeding establishments, among Mares and Cows ; 

 flocks of Sheep have also been artected, and it is not uncommon in 

 Bitches and Swine. It is generally due to the animals receiving insufli- 

 cient food, or eating that which is deficient in mineral matters — such as 

 lime and phosphorus — as well as in nitrogenous constituents. When 

 pregnant animals are not well fed, the fa3tus makes such demands upon 

 them for growth materials that they must suffer, and that speedily, in 

 their osseous structure. 



The early symptoms are often those of pica, the animals instinctively 

 seeking for lime salts. But frequently the first indication of this condi- 

 tion is the occurrence of fracture of one of the limb or pelvic bones 

 from some slight cause — as getting up from the recumbent position, 

 slipping, or a blow. The pelvis appears to be very liable to such frac- 

 tures, though the long bones, ribs, scapula, and even the sternum, are 

 commonly damaged in this way. Sometimes, before these fractures 

 occur, the animals appear to be stifT, and walk as if suffering from 

 paresis or debility, and the joints begin to swell ; then the recumbent 

 position is assumed and maintained, unless strong persuasion is applied. 

 The condition is always more or less serious, though there may be difti- 

 culty in diagnosing it, unless careful examination and inquiry is made. 

 Prevention lies in giving pregnant animals good food, keeping them in 

 a healthy state, and not breeding from them when too young. The 

 curative treatment is simple, and is mainly centred in offering nutri- 

 tious food rich in lime salts — as crushed oats and beans for ^Fares, and 

 even for Bovines (which may have them scalded or boiled), with green 

 forage or good hay ; nerve tonics — as strychnine or nux vomica, and 

 preparations of calcium phosphate, may also be administered in serious 



