MEANS OF DIAGNOSIS. 535 



about by over-exertion or confinement in a close room, especially after a full meal. Difficulty 

 in breathing is always a dangerous symptom. It is present in many diseases, in pneumonia 

 and pleurisy, where we have other signs of inflammation to guide us to a correct diagnosis. 

 The air-cells may be blocked up with exudation, or exudation into the pleura may be 

 pressing on the lungs and impeding the breathing. The calibre of the bronchi or trachea, or 

 larynx, may be narrowed by the products of inflammation, and cause dyspnoea. In these 

 latter we should have the characteristic stridulous or whistling breathing. But from whatever 

 cause dyspnoea may arise, it must always be looked upon as a very serious symptom indeed, 

 for if the blood cannot be properly oxygenated, it is of course poisoned. Snoring- is present 

 in disease of the brain : it is called by medical men stertorous breathing. So long as the 

 breathing is regular and comparatively easy, it is not a dangerous symptom. If, however, this 

 is not the case, and the breathing is slow and laboured, and the animal cannot be roused, the 

 case is bad indeed. Snoring in simple sleep is nothing to speak of, but it points to deranged 

 digestive organs, and ought to be looked to. Abdominal breathing points to pleurisy or some 

 other painful disease of the chest. Thoracic breathing again, when the abdomen does not 

 partake of a share in the rise and fall, points to some mischief in the regions below the 

 diaphragm. Coughing is either dry or moist. Whenever the discharge from the mucous 

 membranes of the chest is abundant, it is moist. In the first stages of catarrh and bronchitis, 

 while yet the membranes are merely roughened, the cough is dry ; and in pleurisy, unconnected 

 with bronchitis or pneumonia, it will continue dry. The cough of chronic laryngitis is harsh, 

 that of croup a ringing cough. The cough of emphysema, again, is a soft, wheezy, voiceless 

 kind of a cough, for the air-cells are enlarged, and have not the power properly to expel the 

 air. Other dry coughs are caused by reflex action, indicating various diseases teething, worms, 

 indigestion, &c. &c. 



6. The secretions in disease of an inflammatory nature are diminished, the urine, for 

 instance, is scanty and high-coloured, there may be more or less of constipation, and the skin 

 becomes dry and hot. The secretion of the inflamed surface, say of a mucous membrane as 

 in bronchitis, or a serous membrane like the pleura, is at first dried, and afterwards increased 

 and perverted. 



7. The state of the boivels and kidneys should never be overlooked in disease, though a 

 person should not jump to the conclusion that constipation and scanty urine alone determine 

 the presence of fever without other symptoms. However, an abundance of pale urine proves 

 directly that no fever is present. 



8. Loss of appetite is usually, but not always, present in disease ; hence the fallacy of 

 believing that so long as a dog takes his food well he is all right. Dogs are like children, 

 they will often eat when they really are not hungry ; besides, in some diseases the appetite is 

 either voracious, fickle, or depraved. 



9. Thirst alone does not indicate fever ; any large discharge, either from the intestines or 

 the kidneys, induces it. In diuresis, and diabetes, and diarrhoea, there is thirst. 



10. Pain does not, as some people imagine, always indicate inflammation. There are 

 nervous pains, hysterical pains, and pains of a dozen different descriptions. 



11. Tenderness. This is an important point in our diagnosis, for the pain of inflammation 

 is generally, almost invariably indeed, of a tender nature, that is, it is increased by pressure, 

 and sometimes cannot be felt without pressure. 



12. Vomiting. A dog can vomit at will, or by merely eating a little grass or some 

 rough leaf, such as that of vegetable marrow. The character of the vomit is often characteristic 



