DYSTOKIA FROM DISPLACEMENT OF THE UTERUS. 303 



An external examination must, therefore, be relied upon, and this is 

 easier and more certain than with the larger creatures. By it the size 

 of the abdomiual rent will be ascertained, and also whether the foetus 

 can bo passed through it into the abdomen ; though this is rarely 

 possible, owing to the hernia occurring when the uterus was empty, 

 and when it could pass through an opening which would not bo sulli- 

 cient for a fcetus when fully developed. 



All manipulatory operations on the Bitch should be practised with as 

 much tact and gcntleuess as possible, as the young are readily killed, 

 while the female itself is very liable to metritis. 



Indications. 



Animals suffering from uterine hernia sometimes bring forth their 

 young spontaneously, and without any bad results to themselves or 

 their progeny ; thus proving that the uterine contractions alone will 

 expel the fcetus, and that the aid of the abdominal muscles is not 

 absolutely necessary. More especially is this the case with the 

 larger animals. Leconte mentions a ]Mare whose career he traced for 

 five years, and which, notwithstanding the existence of this condition, 

 brought forth four living foals — three without assistance, the fourth 

 being in a wrong position. Cows which had most alarming hernias 

 have even brought forth twin Calves spontaneously. 



But, as a rule, with these larger uniparous animals parturition is 

 always more protracted and dillicult than in ordinary circumstances, 

 and the assistance of the veterinary obstetrist is needed to effect 

 delivery; and this, after all, is in some instances impossible, and the 

 mother and offspring are lost. This is more particularly the case with 

 multiparous animals, and especially the Bitch, in which it is generally 

 all but impossible to reduce the hernia or remove the foetuses by the 

 natural passage. Roll has, nevertheless, described the case of a Bitch 

 suffering from uterine hernia, which brought forth its progeny in a 

 natural manner ; and Prange, in 1844, published the liistory of another 

 Bitch that, unaided, gave birth to three Puppies which liad been lodged 

 in a hernia of this kind. A case occurred in my own experience of a small 

 terrier Bitch, which, when I saw her, had what the owner and others 

 thought was a very large mammary tumour. Soon after she brought 

 forth two Puppies — one dead, the other, the largest, alive — and without 

 help, when the supposed tumour completely disappeared. Sheather^ 

 describes a case of this kind, in which five Puppies were expelled 

 without assistance. 



When there are several fcctuses, some of them may be contained in 

 a non-hcrniaod cornu, and so can readily be born ; while tliose in the 

 extruded horn may experience ditliculty, and if the hernial sac is con- 

 stricted at its neck birth may be impossible. So that if the Bitch lives 

 and no operation is performed, the imprisoned fretuses may be ulti- 

 mately expelled by a process of ulceration of the abdominal walls. 



At a meeting; of the Medicftl Society of Strasburp, M. Kopp {OazeUe Midicale dt 

 Sfrwihourf), 1875) exhibited the uterus and it« apjHindages bt'lunpinj,' to a Ritch upon 

 which he had operated in order t<> extract .a firtus which was loflt'ed in onu of the uterine 

 cornua. The animal had been restlesA for nome twenty-four hours, when Kopp was 

 called in to examine it. He found every indication of approaching ))arturition ; but 

 notwithstanding this, and the C"n»iderable volume of the abdomen, the oa titeri was 

 almost closed — a circumstance which decided him to wait. During the night the Bitch 



> Vthriiiary Journal, 1887, p. 234. 



