Hygiene of Pregnant Animals 409 



would be improper in case of a non-pregnant animal, and in real- 

 ity we have no clear clinical evidence that a draft of such cold 

 water causes abortion. In those pregnant animals which are 

 much out of doors during cold weather and which go to water at 

 will, there seems to be no danger whatever from drinking the 

 cold water, because it is taken very slowly, as a rule, so that the 

 shock is not so great. It is common to note that these animals, 

 after drinking of ice-cold water, shiver somewhat in the cold, 

 but this does not seem to have any special danger for the hfe of 

 the fetus. 



Some vyriters also speak very unfavorably of allowing pregnant 

 animals to eat frozen food, or herbage which is covered with 

 frost. This notion also seems to be quite erroneous. Upon the 

 western plains the animals which are left out during the entire 

 winter, whether pregnant or not, must habitually paw or dig 

 the snow from the scanty herbage in order to procure food and 

 consequently eat with the grass a considerable amount of snow, 

 which may be at a temperature of as much as — 40° or — 50° F. 

 Yet, pregnant animals do not suffer from this cause. In the 

 Mississippi Valley, during the earlier periods in the settlement of 

 the country, almost all pregnant animals were fed out of doors in 

 the winter time and the food had to be taken from the ground, 

 which was largely covered with snow and frequently at quite a 

 low temperature. Yet, these pregnant animals almost never 

 aborted under any conditions whatever. We must admit, how- 

 ever, as we have done in reference to the drinking of cold water, 

 that some foods may be so damaged by cold as to make them un. 

 digestable and injurious, alike for pregnant and non-pregnant 

 animals. Succulent foods, like roots, clover or green vege- 

 tables, which are normally killed by a moderately low tempera- 

 ture, may be so frozen as to be quite injurious. Naturally, they 

 should not be allowed to pregnant animals, nor to those which 

 are non-pregnant. 



The housing of pregnant animals should not differ in any ma- 

 terial respect from that of the non-pregnant. The same rules as 

 to light, air, ventilation and the amount of cubic space per ani- 

 mal applies alike to all, whether pregnant or not. A stall that 

 is good for a non- pregnant animal is sufficient for a pregnant one. 

 It is of course desirable that the stalls for pregnant animals should 



