MILK FEVER ITS SIMPLE AND SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT. 899 



IV. Causes. 



There are few diseases among our domesticated animals regarding the 

 exact cause of which more widely different theories have been advanced 

 than that- of milk fever. The causes may properly be divided into two 

 kinds — predisposing and direct. Experience shows one of the most 

 prominent predisposing causes to be the great activity of the milk-secret- 

 ing structure, namely, the udder. This organ is most active after the 

 fourth, fifth, and sixth parturition, and this is the time of life when the 

 vast majority of cases occur. The disease is almost unknown in heifers 

 with the first calf and decreases in frequency steadily after the most active 

 milking period is past. It is rarely, if ever, met with in pure beef breeds, 

 such as the Shorthorn, Angus, and Hereford, while its main inroads are 

 made into the heavy-milking breeds, such as the Holstein, Jersey, and 

 Guernsey. 



Regarding the direct cause of milk fever numerous theories have been 

 advanced by various investigators, but only to be abandoned as further 

 discoveries in pathology were made. Thus Schmidt, of Miihlheim, basing 

 his theory upon the striking resemblance of the symptoms of milk fever 

 to those of sausage poisoning, claimed that the former was due to an 

 aiuto-intoxioation, produced. by the absorption of toxins from the uterus. 



V. How to Know It. 



This disease in its typical and most common form is comparatively 

 easy to diagnose and one which almost every dairyman knows immedi- 

 ately before the arrival of the veterinarian. It usually comes on within 

 two days after the birth of the calf and is practically never seen after 

 the second week. In isolated instances it has been observed a few days 

 before calving. At the commencement of the attack there is usually 

 excitement; the cow is restless, treads with the hind feet, switches the 

 tail, stares anxiously around the stall or walks about uneasily. She may 

 bellow occasionally, show slight colicky symptoms, and make ineffectual 

 attempts at relieving the bowels. These symptoms are rarely recog- 

 nized by the owner, but they are followed within a few hours by begin- 

 ning paralysis, indicated by a staggering gait, especially in the hind legs, 

 and by weakening of the knees and fetlocks in front. The patient now 

 becomes quieter, the gait more staggering and weak, and finally the 

 animal goes down and is unable to rise. The paralysis by this time is 

 general, the calf is unnoticed, and the cow lies perfectly quiet with the 

 eyes partly closed and staring and showing a complete absence of winking 

 when the eyeball is touched. She is absolutely unheedful of her sur- 

 roundings and flies may alight with impunity on all parts of the body 

 without causing the slightest movement to dislodge them. While down 

 the patient assumes a very characteristic position, which is of great 



