618 ACCIDENTS AFTER PARTURITION. 



catgut. Cold-water dressings may then be applied ; or styptic colloid, 

 iodoform, boric acid, collodion, or carbolised glycerine may be employed. 

 The parts must be kept as clean as possible, and the animal not dis- 

 turbed or allowed to lie down until union has been effected. With this 

 object a narrow stall is to be preferred. The sutured septum should be 

 supported from the vagina, by a tampon placed therein. This will tend 

 to prevent the pressure of faeces tearing away the sutures in the floor of 

 the rectum, and this result will also be greatly obviated by administer- 

 ing enemas frequently, and covering the mucous membrane with lard. 

 Sloppy food should be given as diet. Fever and other unfavourable com- 

 plications must be treated according to their indications. Opiates will 

 prove of great service ; if there is much local. disturbance or straining, 

 suppositories of opium are to be recommended. 



Vesico-Vaginal Fistula. — When the floor of the vagina is ruptured, 

 it may happen that the neck or walls of the bladder are involved in the 

 lesion, just as that viscus may, as we have seen, become prolapsed or 

 hernied through the vaginal rent. When rupture of the bladder occurs 

 in this manner, the case is indeed serious. The urine is no longer con- 

 fined to its receptacle, but escapes through the laceration and becomes 

 infiltrated in the pelvic connective tissue. Hence arise most serious 

 complications — pelvic cellulitis and urine-abscess, which rapidly lead 

 to a fatal termination. In less formidable cases the urine may escape 

 by the vagina, but involuntarily ; so that incontinence of urine not only 

 proves a troublesome infirmity, but the constant passage of this fluid 

 over the membrane lining the vagina gives rise to intense inflam- 

 mation of that canal, and leads to the formation of a vesico-vaginal 

 fistula. This fistula may also be produced by pressure or bruising. 

 When the foetus is very large it occasions over-stretching of the vagina, 

 Ij and if it remains for any length of time in the passage the distention 



I weakens the vitality of the soft tissues ; so that the compression to 



which they are submitted between the foetus and the floor of the pelvis 

 will produce mortification, which may extend to the neck of the bladder. 

 The resulting sloughing, should the creature survive, will establish a 

 direct communication between the vagina and bladder. 



An animal may live with a fistula of this description, provided urine- 

 abscess, uraemia, or other serious complications, do not occur. 



The symptoms need not be specified. The chief is incontinence of 

 urine. When this fluid is observed to be constantly dribbling from the 

 vulva after parturition, the existence of the accident may be suspected, 

 and an examination j;cr vaginam will confirm the suspicion. 



Treatment must be mainly palliative. 



I Occlusion of the Vagina. — This has occurred after parturition, as 



' a result of injury to the mucous membrane of the canal during delivery 



— union taking place between the sides of the vagina. Occlusion may 

 jL be more or less complete, and its seat at any part of the canal, but 



I always beyond the meatus urinarius. Such cases have been observed 



' in the Mare and Cow. A careful manual examination will detect the 



state of affairs, and if cicatrisation is recent the new tissue may be 

 broken down by the finger, finger-nail, or finger-knife (figures on 

 pp. 535, 536) ; but should it have become firm and unyielding, then 

 careful dissection will be necessary to separate the sides. If the adhe- 

 sion is situated some distance from the vulva, the operation will be 

 facilitated by employing a vaginal dilator. 



