592 DISEASES OF SWINE 



gives the germ a chance to secure a foothold, and inflammation of 

 the lungs is the result. 



Symptoms.— Pneumonia may be preceded for a few days by the 

 symptoms of a bronchitis and sore throat. This is especially Ukely 

 to be the case in bronchopneumonia. In the true lobar pneumonia, 

 however, there are rarely any warning symptoms, and the disease 

 starts suddenly and violently. The onset is with a severe chill in 

 most cases. The temperature rises very rapidly after this chill 

 and the animal becomes very sick. In some cases death follows 

 within a few hours, and the animal may be dead before the owner 

 even notices that there has been anything wrong. 



In the cases that run a Httle longer course there is loss of appe- 

 tite, marked dulness following the initial chill, and rise in tempera- 

 ture. The animal stays in the nest and lies on the belly or on the 

 affected side. Breathing is rapid and shallow and apparently 

 painful. The animal has an anxious expression, and it is easy to 

 see that it is severely ill. Cough becomes an early sjrmptom, and 

 is of a dry, harsh character at first, later becoming more moist and 

 accompanied by a discharge from the nose. This nasal discharge 

 is often streaked with blood, and in some cases there may be consid- 

 erable bleeding from the nose. The lining membrane of the nose 

 and mouth is congested and dry in appearance. 



The pulse is rapid and strong early in the disease. Later on it 

 becomes very weak, and just before death it may be impossible to 

 feel the pulse. The increase in rate of the pulse is not in proportion 

 to the increase in the rate of breathing, and in severe oases the 

 I)reathing may be as rapid as the pulse. 



Pneumonia has a peculiar tendency to end by crisis in those 

 animals which recover. At this time all the symptoms suddenly 

 become less severe, the temperature falls, and the animal makes a 

 decided change for the better in a very few hours. 



During the course of a pneumonia, examination of the chest, 

 by placing the ear over the ribs, is of considerable value, especially 

 if the animal is not too fat. In very fat animals the chest wall is 

 so thick that it is impossible to hear very distinctly any sounds from 

 the lungs. 



Where it is possible to hear the sounds from within the chest 

 early in pneumonia a peculiar suppressed breath murmur is heard. 



