Part 22

That of the sheep, small, weak and dry.

That of the dog, also weak and dry.

A =strong, full, deep, ringing cough= is rarely heard in disease except in slight irritation of the larynx. In such cases the larynx is tender and slight handling or pinching develops the cough.

A =weak cough= wanting in resonance and heard only at a short distance from the horse, is usually associated with chronic chest diseases and the last stages of acute thoracic inflammations.

A =short=, =broken= or =abortive cough= is one which appears to be suddenly cut short and suppressed, from the pain it causes. It is seen in the early stages of inflammations of the serous membranes of the chest or abdomen, when the quick rubbing of the dry and inflamed surfaces of these membranes on each other produces exquisite pain. It characterizes especially the debut of pleurisy, pleuro-pneumonia and peritonitis. This cough is infrequent for the same reason that it is short.

A =dry=, =loud=, =rasping=, or =croupous cough= is peculiar to the early stages of laryngitis, tracheitis and bronchitis, when the membrane is swollen, tense and dry. It is equally met with in diphtheritic and croupous affections implicating the larynx.

A =small=, =weak=, =dry=, =husky cough= without any rasping is characteristic of broken wind (heaves) emphysema of the lungs, asthma, or chronic bronchitis.

A =soft=, =humid= or =rattling cough= exists in the advanced stages of laryngitis, bronchitis and pneumonia when the activity of the inflammation has given way and a free exudation has taken place from the mucous membrane. It is usually accompanied by a discharge, in solipedes from the nose, and in other animals from nose and mouth.

A =soft cough= with a peculiar gurgling in the larynx is sometimes met with in croup.

A =paroxysmal cough= is one repeated five, ten, or twenty times in rapid succession. It is common in chronic bronchitis, early heaves, emphysema, verminous bronchitis and influenza. In such cases it is observed chiefly when the subject is brought out to the cold air, when he takes a drink of cold water, or when he has just had some active exertion, or some dusty or fibrous food.

A =symptomatic cough= is one due to disease in some other organs than the respiratory, and which irritates the air passages through nervous sympathy (reflex action). It is commonly small, short and dry. Inflammation or other disease of the liver, indigestions and intestinal worms are occasional causes of symptomatic cough. In the case of worms it may be loud, clear and ringing.

OTHER MORBID SOUNDS.

Besides cough may be noticed the wheezing breathing characteristic of broken wind, chronic bronchitis and asthma, roaring, whistling, etc., as already described, and the sound between a moan and grunt, produced in pneumonia especially in the ox.

EXPECTORATION.

This escapes almost exclusively by the nose in horses, because of the length of the soft palate. It may come from the mouth of other animals, especially when they cough. In the ox the discharge from the nose is rarely seen because of his licking it out with his tongue. Rattles (râles) in the larynx, trachea or bronchia, enable us to ascertain the source of such discharges.

The nasal discharge in acute catarrh, laryngitis or bronchitis, is thin, clear, and slightly viscid, becoming thick, whitish and flocculent as the disease advances. It is yellowish, thick, flocculent and intermixed with shreds of false membranes in diphtheria or in the croup of young foals and calves. It is clear, slightly viscid and watery at the onset of bronchitis. At the debut of pneumonia it is often reddish (rusty). It is bright, red, frothy and bloody in hæmoptysis. It is scanty, clear, watery, and containing minute white flocculi in pulmonary emphysema (broken wind). It is white, thick, curdy, and devoid of viscidity in chronic bronchitis or when a pulmonary abscess is being emptied. It is grayish, thick and flocculent in advanced pneumonia in the horse.

Cows in the advanced stages of pulmonary tuberculosis expectorate a yellowish, sticky matter containing minute hard masses often cretaceous. Calves and lambs suffering from strongyli in the lungs expel these in little pellets in the midst of a thick white material.

The expectoration is fetid, dark red and grumous in gangrene of the lungs.

In pulmonary tuberculosis and glanders the expectoration usually contains the respective bacilli.

CHARACTER OF THE EXPIRED AIR.

The breath is sensibly warmer in excited breathing, high fever, and acute bronchitis and pneumonia. It is cool in most chronic diseases, in advanced consumption and hydrothorax. Its odor is vegetable and acid in the acute indigestions of cattle, and fetid in many chronic diseases of the air passages attended with destruction of tissue, or the escape of imprisoned pus, but especially fetid in gangrenous sore throat or gangrene of the lung.

MODIFICATION OF THE RESPIRATION.

The number of respirations in a given time may afford valuable indications in the horse but in the other domestic animals variation in number imports little. In the ox for instance, the respirations in health may vary from twelve to eighty per minute, according to the heat of the cowhouse, the plentitude of the abdominal organs and other circumstances. So in the sheep and dog slight causes, quite compatible with health, may cause the breathing to become short, panting and hurried.

The young horse breathes ten to twelve times per minute, the adult animal nine to ten. Any excitement accelerates. A horse walked a few hundred yards had the respirations increased from ten to twenty-eight per minute; after trotting five minutes they numbered fifty-two; after galloping five minutes sixty-five.

=Hurried breathing= occurring independently of exercise, heat of the atmosphere, or distension of the abdomen, is indicative of fever, especially if associated with rapid pulse and increased heat of the body.

Infrequent respiration appears in certain brain diseases in the intervals between the more violent paroxysms, also in poisoning by opium and other narcotics. =Tardy or slow respirations= differ from those last noticed in the act occupying a longer time. In infrequent breathing the act may be short, though there are few respirations in the minute. This is likewise seen in brain diseases and sometimes in broken wind. In the last case there is =double action of the flank=, each act of expiration being effected by two successive and distinct elevations of the flank.

=Quick breathing= in which the act occupies only a short time is usually abruptly cut off, the inspiration terminating by a catch or jerk. It is significant of the early stage of pleurisy, and arises from the desire to avoid the pain attendant on the rubbing together of the inflamed surfaces during deep inspirations. It is further seen in tetanus, peritonitis, pericarditis and pleurodynia.

=Deep breathing= with great lifting of the flanks and loins is characteristic of water in the chest, and consequent inability to inflate the lungs.