PARTURIENT APOPLEXY. 
19 
delivery, uterine hemorrhage, and even by some authorities, it is 
said to never follow retention of the foetal membranes; but this 
I have not found to be the case in my practice, as I have seen it 
before parturition, also in the act, and have frequently seen it in 
cases of retention of the foetal membranes. One of the exciting 
causes is the milk-forcing system. A few days before and right 
after parturition the cow usually gets in our country a bucketful 
of warm feed in the way of from two to three quarts of flour or 
mill feed, with warm water, two or three times a day, with an 
addition of some coarse feed, in order to have a large production 
of milk. Now this kind of diet forced on an animal which is not 
only rich in its products but has also a constipating effect, is not 
only calculated to produce functional derangement of the diges¬ 
tive organs, bnt constitutional and sympathetic disturbances of 
the brain and nerve centers, and as a result, apoplexy. 
Prognosis .—The prognosis in this disease is generally difficult 
if not unfavorable, as it is fatal in the majority of cases. There 
are cases that look trifling at first which have a rapid termination, 
while others that look desperate, with alarming symptoms, quickly 
recover. 
My prognosis is usually unfavorable, if the owner wants my 
opinion. If he does not, I give none from the commencement of 
the attack. 
There is no absolute case, I think, where we can positively 
say whether we can cure or whether death will take place from 
the commencement of the attack, and it often happens that the 
result contradicts the prognosis. The earlier the disease takes 
places after parturition, the more serious the case may be con¬ 
sidered, while the longer it takes to come on, the less likely to 
prove fatal. I always think it a good omen if the disease takes 
place from two to three days after parturition. When it appears 
in less than twenty-four hours after the act, it mostly or nearly 
always proves fatal, or when the attack is very sudden and power¬ 
ful, when there is marked coma, rapid and general loss of heat 
and great distention of the rumen, loss of vision, violent convul¬ 
sions, deep mucous rales in the trachea, eyes insensible to the 
touch, dropping of the lower jaw, oral breathing, relaxed sphincter, 
