The circulation is weak, and the entire intra-pelvic region painful; the large nervous trunks are affected, exertion becomes difficult, and the animals refuse to rise. At this stage they should not be forced to do so.
In two to three weeks improvement may occur and lead to recovery but in many instances various complications in the nature of purulent infection or septicæmia set in, or the animals are previously slaughtered.
Diagnosis. The diagnosis can only be determined after the symptoms develop. Confirmation might in some cases be obtained by rectal exploration made methodically and gently.
Prognosis. The prognosis is grave.
Treatment. Treatment should be based on disinfection of the uterus by injections of boiled water or warm iodised solutions and drainage by means of strips of iodoform gauze. The animals should be placed on a thick and scrupulously clean bed, and as far as possible be spared any considerable exertion for a fortnight. By changing their position once or twice a day complications may be avoided.
UMBILICAL PHLEBITIS OF NEW-BORN ANIMALS.
One of the most serious conditions met with in practice is that known as umbilical phlebitis of new-born animals. Whilst in fact it is easy to deal with phlebitis of the jugular or mammary vein, surgical or medical assistance becomes extremely difficult in this case, because the inflamed vein is deeply situated in the abdomen and passes through one of the most important internal organs, viz., the liver. When it is added that umbilical phlebitis is in 95 per cent. of cases of a suppurative character, the reader may form some idea of its gravity.
Unless the condition is early diagnosed and measures are at once taken, such complications as infectious hepatitis, purulent infection, and septicæmia cannot be avoided. Death is then inevitable.
In order clearly to understand this phlebitis, however, it is necessary to recall the anatomical formation of the umbilical region in the new-born animal.
At birth the umbilical cord is represented by a cylindrical mass, surrounded by the terminal portion of the amnion. It enters the abdomen through a circular perforation in the abdominal wall known as the umbilical ring. This ring may be divided into two parts, one deeply seated, the fibro-aponeurotic ring, consisting of an aperture in the white line; the other the superficial or cutaneous ring, formed by the skin, which is wrinkled all round it, and constitutes a kind of sleeve about an inch in length. This cutaneous sleeve is continuous with the amniotic tissues. The entire umbilical cord is therefore enveloped in an amniotic-cutaneous sheath.