518 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



The appetite is diminished, but the animal chews constantly. Deglu- 

 tition, either of food or water, is frequently the cause of spasms of 

 coughing, and these in turn seem to warn the animal against attempts 

 at swallowing. On percussion no alteration of resonance is to be 

 detected. On auscultation of the lungs mucous rales are heard, with 

 at times tubular breathing; the latter, however, we will study under 

 the complications, as also the friction warning of pleurisy. Through- 

 out the course of the disease we have still one constant and charac- 

 teristic symptom — nervous irritability. With temperature of 104° to 

 107° F., the horse still flinches to the touch on the loins; it stands 

 frequently with the head up, and is on the alert for the entrance of 

 anyone to the stall. The previously good-tempered and quiet horse 

 will turn and bite, will strike with the hind legs, or at the first touch 

 to the side, head, or throat will half rear and back into the corner 

 of the box, or, breaking the halter, turn backward out of the stall. 



The course of the disease is from five to eight days, but the cough 

 may continue for two or three weeks with variable elevation of tem- 

 perature. As a stable plague the course is from two to three months, 

 as the contagion is much more uncertain than in strangles or influ- 

 enza. The termination is by resolution and recovery or by complica- 

 tions. In resolution the temperature drops, the cough becomes less 

 frequent and less spasmodic in character, the appetite returns, and no 

 sign is left of the disease except the fever mark on the hoof. 



Complications. — The complications are excessive spasms and pleu- 

 risy. In the former the cough may be so violent as to convulse the 

 whole animal, the legs are spread and fixed, with the hind ones drawn 

 slightly under the body. The head and neck are extended, with the 

 muscles tense. The cough comes out b}^ rapidly succeeding efforts, or 

 with the first sound the larynx seems to close for a moment before the 

 rest can follow. In two cases of my own the spasm has been so great 

 that the animal has fallen to the ground. During these accesses the 

 respiration becomes accelerated, and on auscultation of the trachea 

 and lungs the tubular murmur of an apparent pneumonia can be 

 heard. This false murmur, however, disappears at the end of the at- 

 tack. In the case which fell to the ground the horse would lie for a 

 moment or two absolutely motionless. ( In the first I believed that he 

 had broken his neck.) The rapid respiration was then followed by a 

 long inspiration, the animal regained his feet, the respiration became 

 almost normal, and the tubular murmur had disappeared. I have seen 

 no fatal termination from this spasm of the pneumogastric, but can 

 readily believe that traumatisms resulting from such attacks might 

 prove fatal, or that the spasm might continue long enough to produce 

 asphyxia. The fatal complication is pleurisy. This occurs when the 

 horse has been kept at work after the development of the disease 



