DISEASES AND TREATMENT OF CATTLE 



385 



hot months of spring and summer. It may, however, affect 

 poor cows. It is also noticed occasionally to affect cows at 

 almost any time of the year, even in the winter, in rare cases. 



Causes. — The exact causes of this disease are not clearly 

 understood, but it is supposed that on account of the hot 

 weather, and the cow being fat and well supplied with blood, 

 fever is set up which affects the nerves. When the nerves 

 are affected, the milk glands also become affected, and do not 

 secrete the milk, and the milk not being secreted as it should 

 be, leaves the blood charged with material which should go 

 to form milk. The blood becoming charged with this ma- 

 terial affects the brain and nerves, soon causing paralysis. 



It is usually noticed to come on in from one to eight days 

 after calving. The sooner it comes on after calving, the more 

 fatal it is. Cows taking it in one or two days after calving 

 seldom get better, but if after that time there is more chance 

 of recovery. 



Fig. 65. — Indications of Milk Fev 



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

 the eyes and very little milk in the bag, which, in most cases, 

 seems soft and flabby. In trying to walk she has a stagger- 

 ing gait. These symptoms gradually get worse. Saliva runs 

 from the mouth, and she seems greatly excited, staggers, and 

 acts like a drunken man. Finally she gets down, and is 

 unable to rise. Her head is turned round to her side. Her 

 ears are lopped over and her eyes now have a peculiar, dull, 



