476 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



dewlap inserted a week before the cattle are turned 

 out to graze in spring. Sulphite of sodium in ounce 

 doses daily is a valuable preventative agent. 



PARTURIENT APOPLEXY, OR MILK FEVER. 



This form of parturient disease not unfrequently 

 commences twelve or from that to thirty-six hours 

 after calving. It sometimes occurs before calving, 

 but it is seldom, and even then it may be confounded 

 with parturient paralysis. 



SYMPTOMS. Uneasiness, moving off the one hind 

 limb on to the other, swinging to and fro of the body, 

 staggering, ultimately falling down. Eyes at first 

 bright, clear, expressive of cerebral excitement. Eye- 

 lids and ears spasmodically moving. By-and-bye, 

 dullness, grinding of the teeth, head tossed from side 

 to side, coma, deep breathing, puffing of the cheeks, 

 and falling down of the lower jaw. The cow now lies 

 in a deep sleep and is perfectly unconscious. 



CAUSES. The causes of this disease hang to- 

 gether as a narrative. First, the breeding is all- 

 important ; Ayrshire and shorthorns are more prone 

 than any other, but even these, unless deep milkers, 

 escape. Second, the age of the animal is a predispos- 

 ing cause. Rarely is any cow attacked earlier than at 

 the third calving. Third, the feeding and condition are 

 powerful links in the chain of causation. Plethora (rich 

 in blood) inducing the disease. 



TREATMENT. The curative treatment of this 

 disease is frequently disappointing, whereas the pre- 

 ventative is highly satisfactory. We will first describe 

 the preventative. Bring all cows to the calving in 

 fair condition and none in a state of plethora. To 



