page_title: Milk fever
section_title: Treatment
hierarchical_section_title: Milk fever / Treatment
caption_attribution_description: Walon: touma del velêye&#160;: flataedje et pixhaedje tins do médiaedje å calciom English: milk fever in a dairy cow&#160;: miction and defecation during calcium treatment
context_page_description: Milk fever, postparturient hypocalcemia, or parturient paresis is a disease, primarily in dairy cattle but also seen in beef cattle and non-bovine domesticated animals, characterized by reduced blood calcium levels. It occurs following parturition, at onset of lactation, when demand for calcium for colostrum and milk production exceeds the body's ability to mobilize calcium. "Fever" is a misnomer, as body temperature during the disease is generally not elevated. Milk fever is more commonly seen in older animals and in certain breeds.
context_section_description: Treatment generally involves calcium injection by intravenous, intramuscular or subcutaneous routes. Before calcium injection was employed, treatment comprised inflation of the udder using a pneumatic pump. Inflation of the udder worked because the increased pressure created in the udder pushed the calcium in the udder back into the bloodstream of the cow.
  Intravenous calcium, though indicated in many cases, is potentially fatal through "heart blockade", or transient high calcium levels stopping the heart, so should be administered with care.
  Cows are to be fed jaggery along with the lime water mixture.
  In unclear cases of downer cows, intravenous calcium injection can lead to diagnosis. The typical reaction will be a generalized tremor of the skeletal muscles, and sometimes cardiac arrhythmia. Defecation, urination and eructation are frequent during the treatment, due to pharmacological effect of calcium on the smooth muscles.
caption: Urination and defecation commonly occurring during calcium treatment
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