436 Veterinary Obstetrics 



bly a result of periodic opthalmia and had but remote, if any, 

 relation to pregnancy. 



* * * * 



St. Cyr and other authors refer to the rare occurrence during 

 pregnancy, of eclampsia (especially in bitches), parturient 

 paresis and mammitis. They have little special significance and 

 will be considered later, when dealing with those maladies, occur- 

 ring post-partum. 



Rupture of the Prepubian Tendon. 

 Edema of the Abdominal Floor. 



Writers on veterinary surgery and obstetrics generally include 

 rupture of the prepubian tendon among the ventral hernise, 

 without directing special attention to this characteristic and 

 very serious lesion with its premonitory symptoms. 



The eventual lesion consists of a transverse rupture of the 

 prepubian tendon, immediately in front of the pubis, between 

 the two abdominal rings. Both of these rings are usually in- 

 volved and, when the rupture becomes complete, obliterated, all 

 tissues between the two openings being torn asunder. 



The disease or accident is practically confined to the mare ; we 

 have seen one instance in the cow, and have found no record of 

 its occurrence in other animals. 



So far as known, the rupture takes place only in advanced 

 pregnancy, rarely prior to the close of the tenth, usually during 

 or after the completion of the eleventh month. 



The causes, so far as determined, are : 



1. The increased strain upon the abdominal floor caused by 

 the presence of the gravid uterus, which represents at the close 

 of pregnancy probably 30 to 40 per cent of the total weight of 

 the abdominal contents. 



2. Degenerative changes in the tissues of the abdominal floor, 

 including the prepubian tendon, closely associated with profuse 

 edema of this region. 



3. Very rarely there is a definite history of violence. In one 

 instance observed by the author, a mare, becoming mired in deep 

 mud with her hind- feet, over-exerted herself in gaining the bank 

 of the stream, thus pulling the hind limbs forcibly backwards, 

 and with them the pubis, causing its chief anterior stay, the 



