Parturient Eclampsia in the Bitch

Parturient Eclampsia in the Bitch

68 THE VETERINARY JOURNAL injections and a compound sulphur ointment applied with friction. Her feeding at home was always unsatisfactory, consistin...

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THE VETERINARY JOURNAL

injections and a compound sulphur ointment applied with friction. Her feeding at home was always unsatisfactory, consistin.g of any quantity of kitchen refuse from an hotel.

Examination.-When attended four days after the onset of the first lesions on the abdomen the bitch was in a fair state of general health, if rather thin. She appeared slightly more listless than usual. Her temperature was 106.60 F. ; pulse 160 and strong. On removal to hospital it was found that her appetite was enormous and the action of her bowels and kidneys normal. Examination of skin scrapings failed to reveal any parasites, as had scrapings taken from the eczematous patch three months before. Later, pus from the lesions gave a mixed culture, streptococci of a short-chained variety predominating. Diagnosis.-The disease was diagnosed as impetigo. Apparently the condition is known to kennelmen as blotch. Prognosis.-It was considered doubtful if the animal would live owing to the high temperature, and her poor condition. Her large appetite was considered as a hopeful sign. Treatment.-Treatment consisted of applications to the lesions of nearly every skin dressing in the dispensary, including tinct. iodine, iodex, calamine lotion, fecto, storaxol, compound sulphur ointment, compound zinc dressings and salicylic acid. The bitch was portioned out, several dressings being applied at one time, but the lesions persisted in clearing up in twelve to sixteen days after the appearance of the vesicles. Autohcemotherapy was tried, 10 C.c. of the bitch's own blood drawn off from the internal saphena vein being injected intramuscularly into the thigh on three occasions at three days' interval. General treatment consisted of a liberal supply of milk, meat and kennel meal, together with tonic and febrifuge medicines. The temperature dropped by about half a degree every twenty-four hours to 101.50 F. ten days after admission to hospital, after which it fluctuated between 100.5° and 102.50 F., finally steadying down to 1020 F. three weeks after admission. Discussion.-It is considered that this was a case of infection of the skin in a dog having a low resistance owing to poor constitution and unsatisfactory feeding, and is of interest, as it reveals one of the organisms present in what may have been a case of the condition known as blotch.

Parturient Eclampsia in the Bitch. By G. MAYALL, M.R.C.V.S. CALLED to a Manchester terrier bitch, " Peggy," on November 20th-cight years old, with four puppies ten days old. Symptoms.-Animal lying on her side with legs sticking out stiffly, muscles tense and hard, tongue protruded, respirations quick, pulse small and hard,

FIBROMA IN A RING-NECKED PHEASANT

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anxious expression of face; eyes wide open, no loss of consciousness, but unable to get up; temperature normal. She had given birth to four well-developed puppies on November 10th, and up to the time of this attack had been lively and well. Treatment.-The bitch seemed in such an exhausted state that I considered, from her general condition and rate of the pulse and hurried breathing, that a remedy to strengthen and regulate the pulse was the first consideration. I therefore gave her 20 minims of Lacarnol (Bayer) with half a teaspoonful of brandy in half a teaspoonful of water, and ordered two more doses to be given at intervals of four hours. At 10 o'clock next day the bitch was up and moving about and looking for her puppies. She was still somewhat stiff in her movements, but pulse was steady and regular, so gave her 1 drachm of chloroform syrup (3 minims of chloroform to the drachm of syrup), and ordered two more doses to be given during the day. Next day she went back to three puppies (one puppy bitch being done away with), and she made an excellent recovery.

Remarks.-Text-book canons, which generally advise morphia and chloroform for a start, were igI}ored, and I do not think they are often indicated from the symptoms in these cases. Chloral hydrate and bromide, too, are hardly desirable in animals that may become comatose and die in forty-eight hours. Some observers state that eclampsia in the bitch may occur as late as fifty days after parturition.

Fibroma in a Ring-Necked Pheasant. By D. S. LAUD, G.B.V.C., F.Z.S.

Superintendent, Victoria Gardens, Bombay, India. IN the August issue, 1933, of THE VETERINARY JOURNAL, on page 378, there appears a short note on Tumour in a Hen, recorded by Mr. G. Mayall. Similarly there was an interesting case of a fibrous tumour which appeared on one of the toe-nails of the left leg of the ring-necked pheasant of the Zoological Collection of the Victoria Gardens. But for hindrance when walking, the bird was all right. T?e tumour was removed on August 12th, 1933, and weighed about one ounce. It was sent to Dr. Dhaygude, M.D., acting Professor of Pathology and Bacteriology of the Seth Governhandas Medical College of Bombay, who reported that the tumour was a fibroma. After a week's treatment the bird was all right.