milk fever

American  

noun

1. Pathology. fever coinciding with the beginning of lactation, formerly believed to be due to lactation but really due to infection.

2. Veterinary Pathology. an acute disorder of calcium metabolism affecting dairy cows shortly after calving, causing somnolence and paralysis of the hind legs.

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milk fever British  

noun

1. a fever that sometimes occurs shortly after childbirth, once thought to result from engorgement of the breasts with milk but now thought to be caused by infection

2. Also called: parturient fever.   eclampsia.  vet science a disease of cows, goats, etc, occurring shortly after parturition, characterized by low blood calcium levels, paralysis, and loss of consciousness

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Etymology

Origin of milk fever

First recorded in 1750–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

milk fever

A young veterinary surgeon begins to practice in the remote Yorkshire Dales in 1937, treating abscesses in horses’ hooves and milk fever in cows and prescribing diets for overfed lap dogs.

From New York Times ● Jan. 10, 2021

The veterinary who attended the mother for a mild attack of milk fever says the contention, that heifer calves who have a male twin will prove to be sterile, is just a yarn without foundation.

From Time Magazine Archive

Last year one of my cows had milk fever which affected her udder.

From One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered by Wickson, Edward J. (Edward James)

Either this or cold usually produces milk fever.

From The Domestic Cat by Stables, Gordon

Breeders on the island of Jersey have found that this alone has almost abolished the mortality from milk fever.

From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry