250 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



Meanwhile there is not only loss of muscular power and inability to 

 stand, but also considerable dullness of sensation, pricking the skin 

 producing no quick response, and even touching the edge of the eye- 

 lids causing no very prompt winking. Unless she gets relief, however, 

 the case develops all the advanced symptoms of the more violent form 

 and the animal perishes. 



In advanced and fatal cases of either form the insensibility becomes 

 complete; no irritation of skin or eye meets any response; the eye 

 becomes more dull and glassy; the head rests on the ground or other 

 object; unless prevented the cow lies stretched fully on her side; the 

 pulse is small, rapid, and finally imperceptible; the breathing is slow, 

 deep, stertorous, and the expirations accompanied by puffing out of the 

 cheeks, and death comes quietly or with accompanying struggles. 



For such fatal disease prevention is of far more consequence than 

 treatment. Among the most efficient preventives may be named a spare 

 diet (amounting to actual starvation in very plethoric, heavy-milking 

 cows), for a week before calving and at least four days after. A free 

 access to salt and water is most important, as the salt favors drinking 

 and the water serves to dilute the rich and dense blood. Iced water, 

 however, is undesirable, as a chill may favor the onset of fever. A dose 

 of Epsom salts (1 to 2 pounds) should be given twelve to twenty -four 

 hours before calving is due, so that it may operate at or just before that 

 act. In case calving has occurred unexpectedly in the heavy milker, 

 lose no time in giving the purgative thereafter. If Epsom salts are not 

 at hand use saltpeter (1 ounce) for several days. If the udder is greatly 

 engorged before calving it may be milked for several days before, and 

 should be not less than thrice a day after. A hungry calf is a good 

 auxiliary, but for a very heavy milker the new-born calf gives but a 

 very imperfect relief, and must be supplemented by the hand of the 

 milker. Daily exercise is also of importance, and excepting in mid- 

 summer, when the heat of the sun may be injurious, the value of open 

 air is unquestionable. Even in summer an open shed or shady grove is 

 incomparably better than a close, stuffy stall. A rich pasture (clover 

 especially), in late May, June, or July, when at its best, is to be care- 

 fully avoided. Better keep the cow indoors on dry straw with plenty 

 of salt and water than to have access to such pastures. It is safest to 

 avoid breeding again from a cow that has once suffered. 



Treatment of the most varied kind has succeeded in particular cases 

 and failed in others. Cows attacked in the first two days after calving 

 usually die, but not always ; those attacked at the end of a week nearly 

 all recover. In those attacked from the third to the seventh day the 

 mortality steadily decreases. In the following suggestions for treat- 

 orient a distinction is made between the two extreme types of the dis- 

 ease the congestive and the pareiic, or tvrpid. 



If the cow is seen before she goes down the abstraction of blood is 

 demanded, and may usually be carried to the extent of 4 or even C 



