SPECIFIC INFECTIVE DISEASES 151 



in his hands. The food in both strangles and catarrh 

 should consist of scalded oats, bran and hnseed, scalded 

 hay and green food, when such can be obtained. 



Influenza 



A large percentage of cases which it has been customary 

 to speak of as influenza are nothing but catarrh or 

 strangles. It would, however, be injudicious to speak of 

 typical cases of influenza as belonging to either of the 

 foregoing diseases. Influenza is one of those troubles 

 which are often present in horses coming from dealers, 

 and, like catarrh and strangles, it follows the lines of 

 traffic. It is customary to speak of the malady as being 

 a specific infective disease, accompanied by a consider- 

 able degree of prostration, loss of appetite, catarrh, and 

 a harsh and persistent cough, rendering swallowing 

 difficult. The internal temperature ranges up to 107° 

 Fahr., and it is quite common to find horses with a 

 temperature of 105° and ig6°. At first the nasal mucous 

 membrane is heightened in colour and its surface dry, 

 but this is soon followed by moisture, and later on by a 

 purulent discharge from the nose. Influenza assumes 

 various forms, such as the respiratory, the hepatic, the 

 intestinal, and the cerebral, all of which symptoms 

 merely represent the predominating cHnical features of 

 the disease. The pneumonic form accounts for the 

 greatest number of deaths, whilst the ordinary respiratory 

 one is indistinguishable from catarrh. The supervention 

 of pneumonia is indicated by a rise of the bodily tempera- 

 ture, increased respirations ; in short, the animal begins 

 to " blow hard," and the nostrils are dilated, becoming 

 more and more so as the disease in the lungs advances. 

 The pulse is greatly increased in number, sixty to seventy 

 per minute, whilst if pleurisy is an accompaniment the 

 animal has a short suppressed cough and very often 

 grunts when it moves. All horses when they have got 



