Care of the Parturient Animal 555 



hanging from her vulva. Under the circumstances, I was asked 

 to aid in solving the problem. Upon examination, it was found 

 that the valuable mare had indeed given birth to a foal and that 

 her uterus was vacant, while, upon examining the grade mare, 

 it was found that her foal was lying dead in her uterus. It thus 

 became clearly established that she had stolen the foal of the ped- 

 igreed mare. 



In other cases the mother, owing to some abnormal appetite, 

 proceeds to destroy her j'oung and eat them. This is especially 

 notable in the sow, which will not infrequently eat her 

 entire litter of pigs shortly after they are born. In some in- 

 stances this abnormal appetite or cannibalism does not confine 

 itself to one mother, but seems to involve an entire herd of sows 

 during a given season, so that the pig crop on a given farm may 

 be utterly destroyed by this perversion of the maternal instinct. 

 The causes of this perversity are not well understood. It occurs 

 most frequently in those sows which are kept in styes, but some- 

 times also in those which run at large. In individual cases it 

 would seem to be due sometimes to the accidental death of one 

 or more of the young, followed by the eating of it by the mother, 

 in conformity with her general omnivorous character. Once 

 having tasted this flesh, she may proceed to kill and devour the 

 others, but this does not account for the wholesale perversion 

 which is sometimes observed. 



In one instance coming to our knowledge a herd of ewes de- 

 voured their new-born lambs with great uniformity, so that the 

 entire lamb crop of a given year was virtually destroyed. We 

 have also observed the cat devour her new-born kittens. 



In these more rare cases we can only attribute it, in the pres- 

 ent state of our knowledge, to some general defect in the care of 

 the pregnant animals at the time of their giving birth to young 

 or shortly preceding. It might be well to try, in such instances, 

 the changing of the animal's food and the allowance of some al- 

 terative, such as an increased ration of salt or the administration, 

 in the food, of alkalies, like bicarbonate of soda. 



Harms recommends, as a remedy for sows which devour their 

 young, that they be watched during parturition and the fetal 

 membranes be removed so that they cannot eat them and thereby 



