72 SPECIAL EQUINE THERAPY 



COUGHS 



Coughing in horses is a subject worthy of a separate 

 chapter in any book on equine therapeutics. To prop- 

 erly diagnose and correctly treat coughs in their varied 

 forms is no small accomplishment. It is to be regretted 

 that for many veterinarians a cough is merely a cough. 

 The same ' ' cough mixture ' ' or treatment does service for 

 some practitioners whether the cough be due to a cold, 

 laryngitis, or heaves. 



While in a great many cases a cough is merely a symp- 

 tom of other disease conditions, there are presented for 

 our consideration fully as great a number of cases in 

 which the cough is the chief symptom — in fact, the only 

 symptom that we are expected to correct. All of us 

 are familiar with the "Doctor, can you give my horse 

 something for his cough?" question; we hear it almost 

 daily. If we are anxious to do our client a good turn, and 

 our profession credit, we do not settle this question with 

 a dose of made-to-order "cough mixture." We make 

 an effort to get a good history of the case first of all. 

 How long has the horse been coughing? When does he 

 cough most; in the morning, after eating, while eating; 

 or does he cough at all hours with equal severity? 



When we have ascertained this, we are ready to exam- 

 ine the patient, and the examination usually follows a 

 line that has been suggested by the client's replies to our 

 questioning. We always take the patient's temperature 

 before we do anything else. The thermometer can be 

 relied upon to indicate whether we are dealing with an 

 acute or a chronic condition ; and many times that is the 

 most important item to consider in the treatment of a 

 cough. The client's statements are not always reliable. 



When we have assured ourselves that the cough is not 

 the result of an acute disturbance, such as colds, bron- 



