406 



DISEASES OF THE GENITAL ORGANS. 



give expression to their pain by low groans ; they avoid all move- 

 ments of the head and extremities^ which gives the impression of 

 a paralysis ; they are apathetic, the look is dull and sad, the eye- 

 lids are half shut, there is sometimes a rolling of the eyeball. The 

 temperature is irregularly distributed ; in the rectum it is from 40° 

 to 41.5°, and the pulse beats as much as 140 times per minute ; 

 the hair is rough, the skin is hard and dry, and behind the ears 

 and upon the legs is of a red tint, more or less dark ; we observe 

 trembling of certain muscular groups. The vulva and the mucous 

 membrane are dark-red and slightly tumefied ; there is a whitish 

 vaginal discharge, which is mucous, thick, and not very abundant. 

 The respiratory movements, which are from 20 to 40 per minute, 

 are accompanied by a slight complaint. The peristaltic movements 

 are suppressed, and there is constipation. 



The course is rapid. The cure is produced, as a rule, after one 

 or two days, more rarely toward the fifth day. In some cases the 

 disease is complicated by weakness or paresis of the hind quarters 

 and by interstitial mastitis. 



Symptoms of parturition fever in the sheep and goat. 

 The patients are downcast, they hold the head low and refuse food ; 

 the abdomen swells and becomes sensitive, the back is arched ; we 

 observe colics which are similar to the pains of parturition, and 

 also violent expulsive exertions (Sturm). The muscles are red, the 

 temperature rises to 41°, later great weakness and stupefaction 

 occur. The external genital organs are more or less tumefied ; 

 the vaginal mucous membrane presents dark-red stripes and ulcer- 

 ations. The duration of the affection varies from a few hours 

 to a day or more; ordinarily all the affected animals perish 

 (Deigendesch, Schleg). Very likely most of the affections of the 

 sheep designated as gangrene of the uterus are but varieties of par- 

 turition fever. 



Symptoms of parturition fever in the bitch. The dis- 

 ease is announced by the symptoms of septic metritis : tumefaction 

 of the genital parts, fetid vaginal discharge, of foul appearance ; 

 high fever (41° or more), inappétence, permanent decubitus, a 

 sleepy and comatose state. The course is rapid; at the end of 

 twelve to twenty-four hours there is either an amelioration or a 

 fatal ending, and considerable lowering of the temperature. When 

 recovery takes place we very often see chronic endometritis persist, 

 as in the cow. 



