VETERINARY OBSTETRICS 



INTRODUCTORY 



Veterinary obstetrics, in its most restricted sense, is a consid- 

 eration of the necessary or advisable oversight or aid during the 

 act of parturition in domestic animals. Birth constitutes one of 

 the most prominent epochs in mammalian existence, marking the 

 boundary between intra-uterine or fetal development, in which 

 the young animal is nourished and protected within the maternal 

 body by the mother, and the extra-uterine hfe, when the young 

 animal must assume more or less independence and responsibility, 

 partly or wholly secure its own food and provide for its safety. 



The giving of birth to young is the culminating act of a series 

 of complex and interesting phenomena, the perversion or inter- 

 ruption of any one of which may lead to the defeat of reproduc- 

 tion, and when the act has been completed and living offspring 

 produced, there are still incidents immediately following, which 

 are essentially dependent upon parturition and which may jeop- 

 ardize the life or usefulness of either the mother or her young. 



The subject is one of intense scientific and economic impor- 

 tance as it lies at the very foundation of livestock husbandry and 

 largely determines the xiltimate success or failure of this great 

 industry. 



It is necessary to have a full comprehension of each corollary 

 process in order that we may effectively grasp the significance of 

 the phenomenon itself. Successful parturition occurs only when 

 the prospective mother is normal in the structure and phy.siologic 

 development of all her organs of reproduction and of others 

 which may have an essential relation thereto ; and the fetus must 

 undergo a normal development ere it can be born in a viable 



state. 



We consequently habitually include under veterinary obstet- 

 rics all factors which necessarily precede and lead directly to par- 

 turition and all immediate consequences of birth which affect the 

 health of either the mother or the young. In this wider signifi- 

 cance veterinary obstetrics may be defined as the study of the 



