136 THE MANAGEMENT AND DISEASES OF THE DOG. 



up by decomposition, the parts remaining being verj^ putrid 

 and rotten. After removing the foetus 1 endeavored to return 

 the uterus into the abdomen, but it was so swollen and thick- 

 ened throughout that I could not do so, and as her owner did 

 not wish her to suffer any further' pain she was destroyed. On 

 further examination the bladder was found not to be included 

 in the hernia, but greatly distended by pressure of its neck 

 between the brim of the pelvis and the anterior part of the 

 vagina. Besides these lesions there was little else which re- 

 quires special mention. Allied cases to this, in which hernia 

 of the uterus exists at the base, as it were, of one of the mam- 

 mary glands, are not uncommon, and are, I believe, usually 

 met with in old bitches. This is the first case coming under 

 my notice in which the protruded portion of the uterus con- 

 tained a foetus." 



DROPSY OF THE UTERUS. 



. This uterine condition is occasionally met with in bitches 

 that have parturiated several times, are of gross habit, and 

 in which the function of oestrum has become a rare occur- 

 rence. 



Symptoms. — Dropsy of the uterus may be confounded with 

 pregnancy, or other enlargement of the abdomen. Careful 

 examination, however, will detect a notable difference be- 

 tween it and either of the latter ; the absence of solid bodies, 

 and the usual hard and tense feel in the former, together with 

 its circumscribed shape and fluctuation, point out the improb- 

 ability of pregnancy or other abdominal enlargements.- 



In the " Veterinarian " for January, 1871, Messrs. Gowing 

 and Son record the following case : 



" DISTENSION OF THE UTERUS OF A BITCH WITH PSEUDO- 

 PURULENT FLUID. 



" On November 22d our attention was called to the con- 

 dition of a small, rough terrier bitch' about ten years old. 



