PARTURITION.
The approach of the period of farrowing is marked by the immense size of the belly, by a depression of the back, and by the distension of the teats. The animal gives evident symptoms of acute suffering, and wanders restlessly about, collecting straw, and carrying it to her sty, grunting piteously the while.
As soon as this is observed, she should be enticed into a separate sty and carefully watched. On no account should several sows be permitted to farrow in the same place, as they will inevitably irritate each other, and devour their own or one another's young.
The young ones should be taken away as soon as they are born, and deposited in a warm spot, for the sow being a clumsy animal, is not unlikely, in her struggles, to overlay them; nor should they be returned to her until all is over, and the afterbirth has been removed, which should always be done the moment it passes from her; for young sows, especially, will invariably devour the afterbirth if permitted, and then, the young being wet with a similar fluid and smelling the same, will eat them one after another. Some persons advise washing the backs of the young pigs with a decoction of aloes, colocynth, or some other nauseous substance, as a remedy for this; but the simplest and easiest one is to remove the little ones until all is over and the mother begins to recover herself and seeks about for them, on which they should be put near her.
It has been frequently observed that each little pig has its own peculiar teat, and will not willingly suck from any other; therefore, as the front teats yield most milk, the smallest pigs should be placed to them. If more young are farrowed than the mother has teats, the most weakly-looking must be destroyed, unless it should so happen that there is another sow at hand which has fewer pigs than teats, in which case they may be put to her, if this can be done without her knowledge; though some writers affirm that a sow will give her teats indifferently to her own offspring or to that of a stranger.
It does not, however, always happen that the parturition is effected with such ease. Cases of false presentation, of enlarged fœtus, of debility in the mother, often render it difficult and dangerous. The womb will occasionally become protruded and inverted in consequence of the forcing pains of difficult parturition, and even the bladder has been known to come away. These parts must be returned as soon as may be; and if the womb has come in contact with the dung or litter and acquired any dirt, it must be first washed in luke-warm water, and then returned and confined in its place by means of a suture passed through the lips of the orifice. Some foreign veterinarians place a pessary high up the vagina, and secure it in its situation by means of an iron ring or wire; but this is a
