192 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



In this disease, even more than in difficult and protracted par- 

 turition or retained placenta, the attendants must carefully guard 

 against the infection of their hands and arms from the diseased 

 parts. The hand and arm before entering the passage should always 

 be well smeared with lard impregnated with carbolic acid. 



MILK FEVER (PARTURITION FEVER, PARTURIENT APOPLEXY, OR PAR- 

 TURIENT COLLAPSE). 



The common name for this malady milk fever is an errone- 

 ous and misleading one, as in reality fever is usually absent; instead, 

 there is generally an actual reduction in body temperature. A far 

 better and more distinctive term and one that describes the actual 

 condition much more precisely is parturient paresis. The disease 

 has also several other names in various parts of the country, such as 

 calving fever, parturition fever, parturient apoplexy, parturient col- 

 lapse, puerperal fever, yitulary fever, and dropping after calving. 



Description of Disease. Milk fever is a disease of well-nour- 

 ished, plethoric, heavy-milking cows; it occurs during the most ac- 

 tive period of life (fourth to sixth calf), and is characterized by its 

 sudden onset, and the complete paralysis of the animal with loss of 

 sensation, and by following closely the act of calving, or parturition, 

 terminating in a short time in recovery or death. One attack pre- 

 disposes the animal to a recurrence of the trouble. While this dis- 

 ease may occur at any time during the whole year, it is seen princi- 

 pally during the warm summer season. The affection is almost en- 

 tirely confined to the cow, although a few cases have been reported 

 an the sow and goat. Sheep are entirely free from the disease. 



Predisposition and Cause. 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 predispos- 

 ing causes to be the great activity of the milk-secreting 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 ma- 

 jority of cases occur. The disease is almost unknown in heifers with 

 the first calf and decreases in frequency steadily after the most ac- 

 tive 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. Another factor that is probably of 

 equal importance with the activity of the udder in producing the dis- 

 ease is the existence of a plethoric condition of the system, the result 

 of excessive feeding and lack of exercise before calving. In heavy- 

 milking cows all the food eaten in excess of that required to make up 

 for the normal waste of the system is turned into milk and not used 

 for the laying on of flesh or fat. Fleshiness is therefore an unnat- 

 ural condition in these animals, and the period during which they 

 are "dry" is usually very short ; indeed, many of these cows continue 

 to secrete milk right up to the time of calving. In those cases where! 

 the animals go dry the excess of nutriment in the food has no avenue 



