206 The Diseases of Animals 
is eruel and should not be allowed. Avoid injuring 
the mother by bruising, tearing or cutting the tissues, 
as inflammation and blood - poisoning may follow. 
Sometimes the dam continues to strain after the young 
animal is born; a small rope tied tightly around the 
body, just in front of the hind legs, will usually stop 
this. In mares, the foal is sometimes too weak to 
rupture the membranes in which it may be enveloped 
when it is born; thus it is likely to suffocate if an 
attendant is not at hand. 
The young animal should be made comfortable 
and left with the mother, unless there is danger 
of its being injured. Sows sometimes eat their 
young pigs. In such eases the pigs should be 
taken away for a short time, and the sow well fed. 
The pigs, before returning to the mother, may be 
rubbed with some disagreeable substance, such as a 
weak solution of aloes; sometimes a piece of raw 
onion rubbed over the little pigs will answer the same 
purpose. When there is an abnormal discharge from 
the vagina following parturition, the uterus should 
be washed out with warm water, and a weak solution 
of earbolic acid, one part carbolic acid to forty parts 
of water, or a solution of creolin, one part to one 
hundred parts of water. This may be used daily. 
REMOVING THE PLACENTA 
In nearly all animals, with the exception of the 
cow, the placenta, or after-birth, comes away when 
the young animal is born. In the cow, it frequently 
