300 Veterinary Medicme. 



in udder. Treatment : in early stages bleeding, purgatives, peristalsis 

 stimulants, antiseptics, injections, stimulants, rubefacients or cold sponging, 

 elevation of the head, udder massage, milking, iodine injection of the 

 manimte. 



Definition. A nervous disorder which develops suddenly in 

 plethoric cows, heavy milkers, after calving, and is characterized 

 by loss of senses, of consciousness and of muscular control, by 

 hypothermia or hyperthermia, convulsions, coma, and mellituria. 



Causes. While one cannot speak positively as to the essential 

 cause of this disease, certain conditions are so constant and 

 prominent that the^^ must be given a high value a.s pre-disposiiig 

 catises. 



Genns and Breed. Milking Capacity. This is essentially a 

 disease of cows, probably largely because of all domestic animals, 

 cows only have been long and systematically bred to secure the 

 greatest power of digestion and assimilation and the highest yield 

 of milk. It is the disease not only of cows, but of milking 

 breeds, and preeminently of individuals that give the most abun- 

 dant dairy product. It is rare or unknown in .scrub or common 

 herds, while common and fatal in the best milking breeds, in ad- 

 vancing ratio about as follows : short horn, red polled, Normand, 

 Swiss, Ayrshire, Flemish, Dutch, Alderney, Jersey, Guernsey, 

 and Holstein. Heredit}' may be claimed, as the special pre-dis- 

 posing equalities are here4itar3'. 



Age has a marked influence, but this is subsidiar}^ to the milk- 

 ing qualities. The disease rarely attacks a cow after the first or 

 second calving when the system is as yet immature, and the milk 

 yield has not reached its maximum : nor one that is past its 

 prime and already failing in vital energy and milking qualities. 

 The following table is from statistics compiled from veterinary 

 records in Denmark and Bavaria : 



Age, yrs — 3 45 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 and over. 



Cases — 8 21 65 160 171 202 117 124 44 70 78 



It will be noted that it is in the period of the most vigorous, 

 mature life, from the 6th to the loth 3'ear inclusive that the great 

 majority suffer. In a judiciousl}^ managed dairy it is the best 

 cows that are carried at these ages, and although the very best 

 are kept on into old age the}' show a steadily decrea.sing number 

 of cases as they begin to fail. The disease is all but unknown 

 in primipara. 



