TETANUS Q37 
fore legs are extended forward and laterally and the hind ones back- 
ward and laterally. They are bent at the joints only with difficulty. 
The contraction of the muscles of the abdomen gives the animal 
a tucked up appearance and the spasms of the muscles of respiration 
render breathing difficult. 
Besides the spasms the animal shows an increased reflex irritability 
and heightened sensibility. These manifest themselves in excitement, 
timidity and intensified muscular contractions if irritated. Sweating 
is common, especially in severe cases. In mild cases it may be absent. 
There is usually little or no change in the internal temperature. In 
fatal cases the temperature is usually constantly high toward the last. 
The high temperature (104° to 106° F.) usually continues for some 
time after death. Bayer has observed in a horse, 24 hours before 
death, a temperature of 102° F.; one and a half hours before death, 
105° F.; at the moment of death, 111° F.; and fifty minutes after 
death, 113° F. There is frequently no increase in the number of pulse 
beats until severe exacerbation sets in. The frequency of the pulse 
is much greater in animals which continue recumbent than in those 
which keep upon their feet. The pulse is often hard and small and the 
walls of the arteries are spasmodically tense. In many cases, how- 
ever, it is full, soft and easily compressible. There is, as a rule, an 
increase in the number of respirations, which may become very high 
if the respiratory muscles are attacked. The number varies accord- 
ing to the excited condition of the animal. The respirations may 
increase four fold without a corresponding increase in the pulse beat. 
The breathing may reach from 80 to 100 per minute. In character 
the respirations are shallow on account of the fixed condition of the 
ribs and the spasms of the muscles which compress the abdomen. 
There may be cyanosis and catarrh of the nasal mucosa, coughing 
and in fatal cases symptoms of hyperemia and edema of the lungs and 
often pneumonia (usually aspiration in nature). There is constipa- 
tion due to lack of peristalsis and the rigid condition of the muscles 
which compress the abdomen. Micturition becomes less frequent 
and more difficult. Complete retention of urine is said to occur in 
some cases. The urine has a high specific gravity and occasionally 
contains albumen. Some animals can eat readily while others eat, 
if at all, with great difficulty. They like to play with drink set 
before them and often try to satisfy their thirst, which seems to 
increase as the disease advances. In fatal cases the animals seem to 
