CHAPTER LXXIL 



SPOKADIC DISEASES— coTi^wmerf. 



LOCAL DISEASES— continued. 



(U.) DISEASES CONCUEEENT WITH OE IMMEDIATELY 

 SUCCEEDING PAETUEITIOK 



Accidental conditions connected with parturition, requiring the 

 aid of a surgeon, wiU be found fully described in the Frincvples 

 and Practice of Veterinary Surgery, as it is my intention to 

 confina my present observations to those of a more purely 

 medical character. 



Under the common term " milk fever," at least three separate 

 diseases are generally described, namely, parturient fever, par- 

 turient apoplexy (already described), and acute metritis. 



PARTUEIENT FEVER. 



Definition. — A benign form of fever, seen in the cow, mare, 

 &c., occurring about the second or third day after parturition, 

 and generally terminating in recovery in from twenty-four to 

 forty-eight hours. 



The symptoms are those characteristic of general febrile dis- 

 turbance ; the pulse generally full and strong, the breathing 

 accelerated, the visible mucous membranes injected, the secretion 

 of milk suspended, the mammary gland hard and sHghtly 

 erythematous, bowels constipated. The cow may assume the 

 recumbent posture, but the power of maintaining the standing 

 one is not lost, nor are there any signs of unconsciousness or of 

 cerebral disturbance. Unlike parturient apoplexy, it attacks 

 animals of all ages, but it is most commonly met with after the 

 first parturition, and is induced by cold, or some dietetic error. 



