Stricture or Atresia of the Teats 993 



the apex to the base, and spreading somewhat over the contiguous 

 udder. Generally they are not particularly sensitive, but some of 

 them are markedly so, and under certain conditions and situations, 

 because of being pinched in the process of milking, they may be 

 quite painful, and cause the animal to become uneasy, and resist 

 milking by stamping or kicking. 



If the warts are causing no annoyance to the cow and are not 

 in the way in milking, they should be left alone. If they are 

 causing annoyance they may be very safely chpped off with 

 shears, under local anaesthesia, or cauterized with silver nitrate or 

 with the thermocautery, during the dry period. One of the most 

 efl5cient and convenient remedies for warts is the application of 

 strong nitric acid. The end of a small glass rod is dipped 

 in the acid, and with this the surface of the wart is cautiously 

 moistened. This may be repeated every two or three days, until 

 the wart contracts and the small, hard eschar drops away. If 

 carefully done, not too much of the acid applied, and none al- 

 lowed to touch the normal skin, no pain will be caused what- 

 ever. This is of importance as affecting the temper of the 

 cow. In young animals they tend after a time to disappear 

 spontaneously. They may also be caused to disappear in some 

 cases by the internal administration of arsenic. 



23. Stricture or Atresia of the Teats. 



In cows there not infrequently occurs stricture or atresia of the 

 milk orifice, the cistern, or the milk canals, which may either 

 render milking very tedious and difficult or completely prevent the 

 withdrawal of the milk from the gland. While it is possible for 

 similar lesions to occur in other animals, such as the ewe and 

 goat, from an economic standpoint the condition is confined to 

 the cow, where it exerts a very great influence upon the produc- 

 tion of milk and offers an exceedingly complicated and difficult 

 problem to the veterinarian, because in the present state of our 

 knowledge the handling of this group of affections is exceedingly 

 unsatisfactory. 



The teats of cows show as great variety in their internal 



structure and arrangement as they do in their external form and 



size. They may show upon the internal wall of the cistern small 



gland-like prominences of a spherical form, but having no special 



63 



