THE COW IN HEALTH AND DISEASE 139 



the fingers. Do not use strings or rubber bands 

 to keep the air in the teats. 



This treatment is known in most districts 

 simply as the air treatment, but originally these 

 cases were treated by injecting into the udder 

 solutions of potassium iodid in water, and then 

 a salt solution, and this was followed by pure 

 oxygen gas, to be later replaced by simple 

 atmospheric pressure. 



The cow should be treated just as soon as 

 possible after being found and, even when she 

 has been neglected so long that treatment might 

 seem to be useless, she may recover. We have 

 had cows in our practice that would recover per- 

 fectly after they were apparently dead. So in 

 this condition as long as there is a spark of life 

 there is good hope for recovery. 



Under no conditions is it advisable to attempt 

 to give a cow suffering with milk fever any 

 medicine by way of the mouth. The throat is 

 partially paralyzed and the medicine might pass 

 into the lungs and kill the cow. 



In a short while after the cow's udder has 

 been inflated she will begin to regain her senses ; 

 her breathing gets better and she gets brighter; 

 after a while she will straighten up and swallow 

 a few times and begin to act natural. As soon as 

 she can be induced to attempt to get on her feet, 

 she should be helped, and if she succeeds in get- 

 ting up she should be steadied for a few minutes 

 until she can stand alone. 



A cow that lies stretched on her side when in 



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