Milk Fever 



213 



down. The nose is usually turned toward the flank. 

 In severe cases the cow is totally unconscious, and 

 in most cases is only partially conscious. Often there 

 is a slight moan wdth the breathing, due to the stupor. 

 There may be some excitement in the early stages of 

 the disease. 



The cow should be made as comfortable as possible 

 and kept propped up on her brisket, with the head 

 elevated. If she can swallow, a small dose of three- 

 fourths of a pound of Epsom salts should be given as 

 a drench. Great care must be taken to prevent chok- 

 ing, as she is often unable to swallow prop- 

 erly, and medicine getting into the lungs is 

 liable to choke her to death or to set up 

 pneumonia that will prove fatal. The most 

 satisfactory method is the Schmidt treatment. 

 This consists in injecting into the udder a 

 solution of three drams of iodide of potash 

 dissolved in one quart of clean boiled water. 

 The milk is first stripped from the udder and 

 the solution injected by means of a small 

 rubber tube about three feet long, in one 

 end of which is inserted a milking tube, and 

 in the other a small funnel. Fig. 42. The 

 milking tube is inserted into the milk -duct, 

 the funnel held as high as the tube wdll al- 

 low, and the solution poured in. As much 

 of the solution as possible is injected into Schmidt 

 each quarter by working and manipulat- apparatus, 

 ing the udder. In many cases it is impossible to 

 get more than a pint into the udder at once. If no 



