30 RURAL VETERiyARY SECRETS 



INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS (Pneumonia) 



Pneumonia exists in various forms, the details of which will 

 be too technical for the average farmer and stockman to under- 

 stand. We will, therefore, discuss pneumonia in its general term, 

 giving its general appearance, symptoms and treatment. 



Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lung. The existence of 

 pneumonia as a primary disease in animals is open to question. 

 At any rate, it has not been proven. 



SYMPTOMS 



The onset of the disease is usually sudden. Without warning 

 the patient is seized with fever, which in the case of the horse may 

 reach 104 to 106 degrees F. in a few hours. The patient is stupid, 

 languid, and loses appetitie. In some cases a pronounced chill 

 ushers in the disease symptoms. The fever is of the continuous 

 type, remaining up for seven to nine days, when it drops rapidly 

 to normal, or on the third or fourth day may begin to gradually 

 decline, reaching normal in four to eight days following. Cough 

 is short, painful, and frequently restrained. At first it is dry, later 

 moist in character. Nasal discharge is not always present, espe- 

 cially in continuously stabled horses. In some cases, during the 

 second stage, a rusty brown ("prune juice") discharge occurs 

 which may last only twenty-four to forty-eight hours. In the third 

 stage a yellow-colored discharge may appear. The pulse at first 

 is not much affected, but as the disease progresses, due to cloudy 

 swelling of the heart, its frequency is increased to 60 or 80, or even 

 higher. Quite often the pulse remains high after the fever has gone 

 down. The respirations are accelerated early and the patient 

 breathes with distended nostrils. The mucous membrane of the eye 

 in severe cases often assumes a spotted mahogany color. The 

 sounds (on pressure with the fingers) vary with the stage of the 

 disease. In the earliest stage (congestion) there is little appre- 

 ciable change; in the second stage a flat sound is emitted. The 

 sound begins about the second day and is retained three to five 

 days. During the third stage the sound becomes drum-like. The 

 area of dullness is usually confined to the lower portion of one lung, 

 its upper limits often describing an upward curved line. Upon 

 listening, fine crackling sounds (like hair rubbed between the fin- 

 gers) are heard in the first stage. These sounds are usually present 

 for the first twenty-four hours, then pass away. In the second 

 stage there is either no respiratory sound audible or tubular breath- 



