FATTY HEART 611 



the underlying disease, such as rheumatism, pleurisy, pneumonia, 

 or hog-cholera. If the disease which is causing the trouble be 

 relieved, the heart will usually clear up of its own accord with a few 

 days of rest and light diet. 



In cases of myocarditis complicating pneumonia, and in which 

 the animal is threatened with acute heart failure, the administra- 

 tion of 15-drop doses of tincture of digitalis and l-gr. doses of 

 strychnin, with a tablespoonful of whisky every two hours, is indi- 

 cated. Blistering liniments applied to the chest wall over the re- 

 gion of the heart may prove beneficial in some cases. For this 

 purpose a liniment, consisting of equal parts of ammonia-water and 

 cotton-seed oil, is quite useful. 



FATTY HEART (FATTY DEGENERATION OF HEART) 



Causes. — Fatty degeneration of the heart muscles is a condition 

 which results from overfeeding and lack of exercise. It is especially 

 liable to occur in pure-bred animals that are being too rapidly 

 crowded in order to get a rapid growth and fattening for show pur- 

 poses. In such cases there is an accumulation of fat in large masses 

 around the heart, and the fat finally is deposited between the cells 

 of the heart muscles and pushes them apart. In many cases the 

 fat even seems to replace the muscle cells, and in this manner the 

 heart is very much weakened. 



Symptoms. — There are no prominent symptoms of this disease 

 beyond the fact that the animal is very easily winded, and the least 

 exertion brings on an attack of rapid, difficult breathing. In many 

 cases the animal drops dead after any rapid exercise, as running by 

 dogs or by the owner in an attempt to load the animal for shipment. 

 Where fat hogs are driven to market it is not unusual for one or 

 more of them to drop dead by the roadside as a result of this fatty 

 degeneration of the heart, causing that organ to give out upon this 

 unusual exertion. 



In some of the more advanced cases rapid irregular heart action 

 may be noticed even when the animal is at rest, and when examined 

 the pulse is found to be rapid, weak, and irregular. 



Treatment consists in avoiding this overcrowding of the herd 

 beyond reasonable limits. Where animals are intended for im- 

 mediate sale and slaughter the condition is of little importance if 



