172 The Management and Diseases of the Dog. 



SEPTIK^MIA PUERPERALIS. 



"Inflammation of the uterus and septikceinia puerperali^ 

 3ccur in all the domesticated animals. The latter would 

 ippear to be very frequent in the bitch."* 



Parturient septiksemia may arise from the retention and 

 putrefaction of a dead foetus.t or the introduction of putre- 

 fying matter into the blood through inoculation. 



Symptoms. — Increase of temperature, rigors, hurried 

 respiration, small frequent pulse, nose dry, mouth hot and 

 slimy, visible mucous membranes injected, extremities soon 

 become cold, coma speedily sets it, frequently accompanied 

 by delirium, and death quickly follows. 



F ost-mcrtem Examination. — In those cases in which 

 death has taken place, and an examination of the body has 

 been made, the local and essential lesions are found in the 

 genital organs and peritoneum, and when puerperal septi- 

 kaemia has been present, there are observed indications of 

 cjeneral infection of the body. Decomposition sets in early, 

 the tissues are dark-green and foetid, and meteorism is 

 largely developed. 



" It is seldom, indeed, that the puerperal or septic 

 inflammation is limited to the mucous membrane. Nearly 

 always it extends to the submucous connective tissue 

 {inetritis phlegmonosd), which is infiltrated with an 

 cedematous transudation ; or it becomes the seat of acute 



• Fleming's " Veterinary Obstetric," p. 632. 



t " It is well known that bitches which retain the foetus in the genital 

 canal for any length of time (eighteen hours or therabouts), frequently 

 perish from septikamia puerperalU. This appears to be due to the 

 fact that the puppy so retained quickly dies : owing to the shortness of 

 the umbilical cord, the early separation of the placenta, and birth 

 taking place in the amnion. The young creature also speedily putre- 

 fies, and the large raw surface formed by the maternal placenta is a 

 ready inlet for the direct introduction of the septic material into the 

 blood. Speedy death of the bitch is the consequence." — Fleming's 

 " Veterinary Obstetrics," p. 639. 



