DISEASES FOLLOWING PARTURITION. 



By James Law, F. R. C. V. S. , 

 Professor of Veterinary Science, etc, , in Cornell University, 



FLOODING (BLEEDING FKOM THE WOMB). 



Though, not so common in the cow as in the human female, flooding 

 is sufficiently frequent to demand attention. It may depend on a too 

 rapid calving, and a consequent failure of the womb to contract when 

 the calf has been removed. The pregnant womb is extraordinarily 

 rich in blood vessels, and especially in large and tortuous veins, 

 which become compressed and all but obliterated under contraction, 

 but remain overfilled and often bleed into the cavity of the womb 

 should no contraction take place. Cox records cases in which the 

 labor pains had detached and expelled the fetal membranes, while 

 the calf, owing to large size or wrong presentation, was detained in 

 the womb, and the continued dilatation of the womb in the absence 

 of the fetal membranes led to a flow of blood which accumulated in 

 clots around the calf. Other causes are laceration of the cotyledons 

 of the womb, or from an antecedent inflammation of the placenta, and 

 the unnatural adhesion of the membranes to the womb, which bleeds 

 when the two are torn apart. Weakness of the womb from overdis- 

 tention, as in dropsy, twins, etc. , is not without its influence. Finally, 

 eversion of the womb (casting the withers) is an occasional cause of 

 flooding. The trouble is only too evident when the blood flows from 

 the external passages in drops or in a fine stream. But when it is 

 retained in the cavity of the womb it may remain unsuspected until 

 it has rendered the animal almost bloodless. The symptoms in such 

 a case are paleness of the eyes, nose, mouth, and of the lips of the 

 vulva, a weak, rapid pulse, violent and perhaps loud beating of the 

 heart (palpitations), sunken, staring eyes, coldness of the skin, ears, 

 horns, and limbs, perspiration, weakness in standing, staggering 

 gait, and finally inability to rise, and death in convulsions. If these 

 symptoms are seen, the oiled hand should be introduced into the 

 womb, which will be found open and flaccid and containing large 

 blood clots. 



Treatment. — Treatment consists in the removal of the fetal mem- 

 branes and blood clots from the womb (which will not contract while 

 they are present), the dashing of cold water on the loins, right flank, 

 and vulva, and if these measures fail the injection of cold water into 

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