Contagious Abortion in Cattle. 



67 



disinfection should be completed by giving him one or two 

 injections into the sheath. 



The age, breed, or condition of the cow has no influence 

 whatever on abortion. Cows in calf for the first time are as 

 much subject to it as any others. 



A cow about to abort does not appear sick. She is lively, 

 eats, drinks, chews the cud, and milks as well as usual. 

 Nevertheless, a careful and attentive herdsman can generally 

 foresee that a particular cow is on the point of aborting. The 

 usual signs of the approach of calving are apparent. The 

 vulva is slightly swollen, the hip bones are more project- 

 ing, the ligaments become slackened (" the cow gets un- 

 hooked 5 '); and if it be her first calf, the udder develops 

 just as it does before a normal birth. These symptoms 

 call for the immediate isolation of the suspected animal. 



The ejection of the calf takes place without any difficulty. 

 The cow does not appear to notice it, and does not cease 

 to eat or chew the cud ; and the abortion is too small to 

 become stopped in the passage. The after-birth or " cleans- 

 ings, 5 ' on the contrary, is seldom expelled regularly ; inmost 

 cases it has to be delivered by hand, and the operation is 

 troublesome on account of its great adherence. 



The fluids (or waters) are nearly always altered, dirty, and 

 clotted ; the after-birth appears dried up or sodden, and 

 covered with matter, and the cow for a long time after 

 delivery continues to pass foul and purulent discharges. 



The calf, the fluids, and the purulent discharges which the 

 cow passes after, and sometimes before, aborting, contain in 

 considerable quantities the germs of the disease ; these 

 spread the contagion. 



It is through the vulva (the opening into the genital 

 passages) that the contagium usually enters the genital 

 organs of the dam, and, after a long interval, exercises its 

 harmful action on the organism of the calf. Cows become 

 infected mostly when lying down, by the direct contact of the 

 lips of the vulva with the infectious matters with which the 

 soil or floor is contaminated. 



Mode of Prevention, 



From the preceding data it is easy to arrive at a simple 

 and effective method of prevention. F 2 



