432 THE MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF CATTLE 



condition of tlie eye, sudden constipation and a checked 

 milk flow. According to Dr. j\I. H. Reynolds in " Vet- 

 erinary Studies," if these occur within two days of calv- 

 ing they should be taken as danger signals. 



Prominent among the diagnostic symptoms are sud- 

 den manifestations of dullness, uneasy movements of the 

 hind limbs and increasing weakness leading to inability 

 to rise. As the disease progresses the cow lies stretched 

 out with the head on the ground or stable floor; the 

 eyes become glazed and the pupils dilated; the fore and 

 hind legs struggle convulsively through unconscious 

 nervous spasm ; the insensibility is complete, and death 

 may follow without a struggle. In the torpid type, the 

 symptoms are much akin to those of the other type, but 

 they act more slowl}% and, in the absence of recovery, 

 they merge into those of the other type. 



The losses from milk fever, especially to those en- 

 gaged in dairying, have been heavy in the aggregate 

 during recent years, as under what is now called the old 

 treatment a majority of the cases were fatal, and the 

 stricken ones were the choicest animals in the herd, 

 viewed from the dairyman's standpoint. Happil}% this 

 costly disease may be almost, if not entirely, prevented 

 by the adoption in time of the measures that conduce 

 to such an end, and the new treatment makes it pos- 

 sible to cure nearly all cases when it is properly admin- 

 istered. Prevention in this, as in all other diseases, is 

 immensely ahead of cure, as it saves much labor and 

 expense without in any way hindering production. 



Prominent among preventive measures are: (i) A 

 diet spare, light, laxative, and easily digested for a week, 

 or even longer, before parturition, and for four or five days 

 subsequently. (2) Abundant exercise during the later 

 months of pregnancy. (3) The administration of a mild 

 laxative within two to five days of calving, and a cathar- 

 tic within 12 hours after calving. (4) Refraining from 

 drawing milk for 12 to 24 hours after calving. Rich 



