832 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



PARTURIENT APOPLEXY, OB MILK - FEVER. 



This is frequently confounded with Metro-peritonjtis. Some 

 practitioners still regard the two diseases as identical, or differing 

 only in respect to violence ; but weight of authority seems to be 

 against this view. Parturient Apoplexy is a disease of the blood, 

 and follows parturition in - cows in high condition that are deep 

 milkers. Fleming says, "An animal which has calved, is like one 

 into whose circulation a certain quantity of blood has been trans- 

 fused. This superabundance of blood does not quickly disappear 

 from the body ; it takes, so to say, the place of a new organ. In 

 animals which have just brought forth, the milk secretion expends 

 this blood." It is the non-expenditure of this blood which causes 

 parturient apoplexy. It never follows difficult or protracted deliv- 

 ery, uterine hemorrhage, abortion, or retention of the after-birth. 



Symptoms. — The earliest indications are a cessation of rumina- 

 tion and appetite, grating of the teeth, uneasiness, unsteadiness of 

 gait ; the pulse is accelerated* the breathing, heavy and hurried, 

 muzzle dry and hot, eyes bright and staring, the expression anxious 

 and bewildered, the udder hot and tender, and sometimes enlarged ; 

 there is a partial suspension of milk,' and in some cases it amounts 

 to entire suspension. 



'As the symptoms advance, the animal sways from side to side, 

 reels about and falls, half rises and falls again, and so on, until at 

 last she sinks down altogether, frequently in the position shown in 

 Fig. 1098. 



The animal rapidly becomes unconscious. In some cases con- 

 sciousness returns from time to time ; in others, the coma is per- 

 sistent until recovery commences or death occurs. If the respiration 

 grows shorter and shorter, the pulse weaker, and the limbs and body 

 cold, a fatal termination may be looked for. 



The duration of the disease varies. Sometimes death takes 

 place in six hours ; on the other hand, patients'haye been known to 

 recover after lying in an unconscious state for twenty-four hours or 

 more. As a rule, the crisis may be looked for at about the twelfth 

 hour. An alternately comatose state is always an unfavorable 

 symptom. 



Treatment. — Dr. Meyer, of New York, suggests the following: 

 " Treatment for Parturient Apoplexy should be immediate. I first 

 bleed at the tail. I then apply an ammoniated liniment, strong, and 

 give 1 oz. antimony et pot. tart. ; about four hours after, 5 drams, 

 and eight to ten hours after, 3 drams. Apply the liniment about 

 every six hours for four applications. Care must be had in drench- 



