PROTRUSION OF THE VAGINA (PROLAPSUS VAGINÆ).
During pregnancy this is common from chronic relaxation of the vaginal walls and from lying in stalls that are lower behind than in front. The protrusion is of a rounded form and smooth, and if it embraces both sides of the canal it is double, with a passage between. It may sometimes be remedied by raising the hind part of the stall higher than the front part. This failing, a truss may be applied as for eversion of the womb, and worn until the period of calving approaches. ([Pls. XXII], [XXIII].)
HERNIA (BREACH) OF THE UTERUS.
In advanced pregnancy this occurs usually from a gradual relaxation and distention of the lower wall of the abdomen in the region of the udder, so that the latter is displaced downward, and in the sac above and in front of it may be felt the form and movements of the fetus. In other cases the womb escapes through a great laceration of the abdominal muscles to one side of the udder, and the hernial mass extends down to one side of that organ. However unsightly, this often allows the animal to complete its pregnancy naturally, and a broad, supporting bandage placed around the abdomen is about all that can be recommended. After calving it is best to fatten the cow.
CRAMPS OF THE HIND LIMBS.
The compression of the nerves by the womb and fetus passing through the pelvis sometimes causes cramp and inability to move the limb, but it disappears under friction and motion and is never seen after calving.
DROPSY OF THE HIND LIMBS AND BETWEEN THE THIGHS.
In the latter months of pregnancy the hind legs may swell beneath the hocks, or a soft swelling which pits on pressure with the finger appears from the vulva down between the thighs to the udder and in front. It is mainly ascribable to the pressure of the enlarged womb on the blood vessels, is not dangerous, and disappears after calving.
DROPSY OF THE MEMBRANES OF THE FETUS (DROPSY OF THE WOMB).
The unimpregnated womb may be filled with a dropsical fluid, but the pregnant womb is more liable to become overdistended by an excess of fluid in the inner water bag in which the fetus floats. ([Pl. XII].) From an unhealthy state of this membrane or of blood of the fetus (water blood) this liquid may go on accumulating until the cow seems almost as broad as she is long. If the trouble has not originated in the ill health of the cow, the result is still to draw on her system, overtax her strength, and derange her digestion, so that the result may prove fatal to both mother and offspring. On the other hand, I have known extreme cases that came to the natural term without help and produced a living calf, after which the dam did well. The natural resort is to draw off a portion of the fluid through a hollow needle passed through the neck of the womb or through its tense wall adjacent. This may be repeated several times, as demanded, to relieve the cow from the injurious distention.