566 ACCIDENTS AFTER FARTURITION. 



then horribly foetid. The hand, on being passed into the vagina, is 

 covered with the fluid, and it may encounter shreds of the placenta. 



In such cases the health of the animal often suffers ; there is dulness, 

 prostration, diminution in the secretion of milk, decreased appetite, 

 respiration perhaps quickened, temperature increased, and other indica- 

 tions of illness. 



The complications from placental retention are somewhat numerous. 

 Contact with the decomposing membranes may so irritate the interior 

 of the uterus as to occasion metritis, or even metro-peritonitis — a con- 

 dition which is always serious, and often fatal. There is also risk of 

 septicaemia ; and even under the most favourable circumstances there 

 sometimes remains a local irritation — a chronic vaginitis or metritis 

 that leads to leucorrhoea. 



Some authorities have observed trismus, tetanus, metastatic arthritis, 

 and chest affections, as seqiidcn of placental retention. 



There is no danger when the retention has only lasted for two or 

 three days, particularly if a large portion of the membranes protrudes 

 beyond the vulva, and it has a fresh tint. Attention is necessary, how- 

 ever, when the placenta begins to putrefy, and a fetid discharge com- 

 mences from the vulva ; though even so late as fifteen days after 

 parturition the membranes may be expelled spontaneously, without any 

 injury occurring from the prolonged retention. But the case is serious 

 when the animal begins to show symptoms of general illness, and par- 

 ticularly if no portion of the placenta can be seen or the os be occluded. 

 Plastic adhesion of the placenta to the uterus is also a grave complica- 

 tion, though happily rare. 



In these instances, the animal gradually becomes listless, weak, and 

 emaciated, loses its appetite and ceases to yield milk, until at length it 

 falls into a state of marasmus, and perishes from septica3mia. Or in 

 more rapid cases, with these general symptoms the lining membrane of 

 the vagina is of a deep-red colour and intensely hot, a fetid sanguineo- 

 purulent discharge escapes from the vulva ; there are tremblings over 

 the whole body, hurried respiration, intense fever, and all the other 

 signs of metritis. 



Though retention is not, in the majority of cases in the Cow, a very 

 serious affair, yet it should be attended to even in this animal. With 

 other creatures it is much more to be dreaded, as they incur greater 

 risks from prolonged retention. 



Saint-Cyr mentions the case of a fine Mare which died in less than 

 eight days from metritis, due to the foetal membranes being retained ; 

 though the cause was not ascertained in time. 



Causes. 



Eetention occurs most frequently in cases of abortion, or when birth 

 takes place some days before the proper time. It has been remarked 

 that a Cow which retained its placenta unusually long after the birth 

 of its first Calf, will do so at every succeeding parturition. A pro- 

 tracted and laborious birth is also said by some authorities to favour 

 retention, while others declare that the converse is true. The accident 

 is stated to be more frequent with old Cows, and especially when these 

 are employed in draught — as in France and other countries. Abnormal 

 adhesion between the maternal and foetal placentae would, of course, be 

 a sure cause of prolonged retention, and we have given instances of 



