Parturition Fever, etc. 309 



This is a disease of the first six days after parturition, rarely 

 seen in the second week, and never after the fourteenth da3^ It is 

 very exceptional before parturition, yet Miiller quotes 47 cases in 

 1 107 births. The breed, condition, milking qualities, plethora, 

 feeding, etc., of the patient are, as already noted important data 

 in diagnosis. The onset is sudden without premonitory symptoms. 



Two very distinct types are met with, the comatose ^w^l vio- 

 lent or spasmodic, which, however, merge into each other by 

 in.sensible gradations, and may follow each other. 



From twelve to .seventy hours after an easy parturition there 

 suddenly appear signs of discomfort. Feeding and rumination 

 cease, the calf is neglected, there maj- be plaintive moaning, the 

 eyes seem dull and clouded, the eyelids drooped, the conjunctiva 

 red, the pulse normal for parturition, sometimes extra strong, the 

 breathing excited often with moans or grunts. The senses are 

 dulled, the walk is unsteady, the feet being abducted and planted 

 like clumps, or the legs sway, perhaps cross each other, remain 

 semi-bent, and soon give way leaving the animal prostrate, rest- 

 ing on the sternum and abdomen, or later on the ribs, with head 

 extended. Attempts may still be made to rise, but this is rarely 

 accomplished unless when improvement .sets in. This is the con- 

 dition in which the patient is usually found, being the first to 

 be noticed by the owner. The bowels are torpid, the urine 

 retained in the bladder, and the animal may remain thus in a 

 drowsy condition, without changing from the sterno-ventral de- 

 cubitus, or dropping the head on the ground until improve- 

 ment sets in. The head rests on the shoulder or upper flank. 

 If held outward or forward the upper border of the neck has 

 an S shaped outline. 



More commonl}- the somnolence increases, passing into a 

 complete torpor and insensibilit}', the eye may be touched 

 without causing winking, pricking or other injury causes no 

 further re.sponse, the patient turns upon its side, with its head 

 extended on the ground. She may lie in this condition with 

 no sign of vital activity .save pulsation and breathing, and the 

 latter is liable to be slow and stertorous by reason of the paraly- 

 sis of soft palate and larynx. The jugulars usually show a 

 venous pulse. Fermentations in the inactive paunch cause the 

 evolution of gas with tympany, which still further ob.structs the 



