76 MILK FEVER. 



The exciting causes, or those to which the com- 

 plaint is more immediately traceable, are the 

 following : Exposure to cold or wet ; driving the 

 cow a long journey ; giving too much or too rich 

 food after calving, etc., 



Symptoms. Milk fever begins shortly after calv- 

 ing, and in the majority of cases, within twenty- 

 four hours ; if three or four days pass over, the 

 cow may be considered safe from an attack. The 

 following are the symptoms : The cow refuses her 

 food, or eats only very little of it ; she is de- 

 pressed, hangs her head, and looks dull ; the horns 

 are hot ; the nose, instead of being damp with the 

 healthy dew, is hot and dry ; the urine is scanty ; 

 the bowels are confined, or, if moved, the dung 

 is hard and lumpy ; the pulse is quicker and fuller 

 than in health ; the breathing is quickened, and 

 attended with heaving at the flanks. To these 

 warning indications there succeed, with more 

 or less rapidity, those unmistakeable symptoms 

 which are perhaps the first to awaken the owner's 

 attention. The milk is reduced in quantity or en- 

 tirely stopped ; the eyes glisten, and look bright 

 and staring ; the white of the eye is covered with 

 numerous red streaks, or it is of a leaden color ; 

 the eyeballs are thrust forward from their sockets, 

 giving the cow a wild and somewhat anxious 

 expression ; the hind legs seem weak, and are 

 separated a little from each other ; she appears to 

 stand uneasily upon them, first rests upon one for 

 a short time and then changes to the other ; this 

 paddling and shifting about from one leg to its 

 fellow continues until the difficulty of standing 

 increases,, and the animal supports herself against 

 the wall or stall ; she does not chew the cud ; all 

 discharge from the bearing is stopped ; the calf is 

 neglected; the pulse is now slower than before, 



