DISEASES. AND TREATMENT OF CATTLE. 275 



one or two days after calving- seldom g^et better, but after that 

 time there is more chance of recovery. 



Symptoms. — At first there is a wild, glary appearance of the 

 eyes, and when you go to milk her there will be very little milk in 

 the bag, which, in most cases, seems soft and flabby. In trying 

 to walk she has a staggering g^ait. These symptoms will gradu- 

 ally get worse; saliva will run from her mouth, and she will seen* 

 greatly excited ; keeps staggering, and acts like a drunken man. 

 Finally she gets down, and is unable to rise; her head is turned 

 around to her side ; her ears are lopped over, and her eyes no"w 

 have a peculiar, dull, glassy appearance ; the pupils of the eyes 

 are enlarged; she breathes a little heavy; her nose is dry, and 

 she does not take any notice of things around her. If you go tc 

 milk her only a little will come out at a time. There is very little 

 or no passage from the bowels, and if you prick her with a pin 

 she cannot feel it. A few hours after this, if she does not gel 

 relief, she becomes delirious, moans heavy, lies stretched out, and 

 keeps tossing her head about. The bag keeps getting softer, and 

 after a while, when you try to milk her, you cannot get any. 

 She gradually gets worse and soon dies. We will relate a case 

 where a cow was stricken with milk fever, and owing to the 

 distance we had to go, when called to treat the case, it took four 

 hours to reach her from the time she took sick, and on arriving 

 she was breathing her last. This shows the necessity of every 

 stockowner understanding this disease thoroughly, so he can 

 treat them as soon as they are noticed sick ; for this is the only 

 way to treat milk fever successfully. 



Treatment. — The treatment must be quick. If you notice 

 her sick before she gets off^ her feet, bleed her; take away from 

 half a pail to a pailful of blood; put her in some shady, cool place 

 and give the following : 



Epsom Salts .- 1 pound. 



Bitter Aloes 2 ounces. 



Nitrate of Potash or Saltpetre 1 large teaspoonful. 



Mix in a quart of luke warm water and give as a drench. 



If you do not bleed her, add to the above drench ten to fifteen 



drops of Fleming's tincture of aconite according to how fat the 



cow is; this has a similar action to bleeding. As soon as you 



give the drench, blanket her, and apply five or six pounds ol 



ice broken up, in a bag, to her head between the horns; this will 



give her great relief. After this, bathe the bag with luke warm 



