Table 1.

Definitions used for disease diagnosis during veterinary examinations of dairy cows in early lactation

Postpartum disease	Definition	Reference
Milk fever	Cow requires Ca injections due to hypocalcaemia, based on clinical signs such as muscular weakness or lying cow unable to rise.	Duffield et al. (1999); LeBlanc et al. (2002); DeGaris and Lean (2008)
Retained placenta	Failure to pass placenta within 24 h after calving	Duffield et al. (1999); LeBlanc et al. (2002)
Mastitis	Visually abnormal milk appearance and/or changes in the appearance of the udder (inflammatory signs, swollen or hard quarters)	Duffield et al. (1999); LeBlanc et al. (2002); Pérez-Cabal et al. (2009)
Displaced abomasum	Presence of gas-filled abomasum on left or upper right flank, based on a characteristic “ping” sound at auscultation or percussion, confirmed by surgery	Duffield et al. (1999); LeBlanc et al. (2002
Lameness	Abnormal findings during claw examinations (such as interdigital and digital dermatitis) and/or lameness with a locomotion score1 of ≥3 (scale of 1 to 5)	Duffield et al. (1999); LeBlanc et al. (2002); Thomsen et al. (2008)
Metritis	Enlarged uterus and/or purulent, smelly uterine discharge associated with systemic signs (fever2, inappetence/anorexia, inactivity, decreased milk yield)	Duffield et al. (1999); LeBlanc et al. (2002); Sheldon et al. (2006)
Clinical ketosis	Decreased milk production, reduced feed intake or inappetence, reduced activity, positive blood, milk or urine ketone test, absence of displaced abomasum or other primary disease, ketone odor in breath or milk	Duffield et al. (1999); LeBlanc et al. (2002)

¹Scale 1 to 5.

²Body temperature > 39.5 °C.