STRANGLES. 515 



lar owner. But, on the other hand, the disease may assume a malig- 

 nant form or become complicated so as to become a most serious 

 disease, and even prove fatal in many cases. Inflammation of the 

 larynx and bronchi, if excessive, will produce violent, harsh coughing, 

 which may almost asphyxiate the animal. The large amount of dis- 

 charge may be mixed with air by the difficult breathing, and the 

 nostrils, the front of the animal, manger, and surrounding objects 

 become covered with a white foam. The inflammation may be in the 

 lung itself (lobular pneumonia) and cause the animal to breathe 

 heavily, heave at the flanks, and show great distress. In this condi- 

 tion marked symptoms of fever are seen, the appetite is lost, the coat 

 is dry, the horse stands back in its stall at the end of the halter strap 

 with its neck extended and its legs propped apart to favor breathing. 

 This condition may end by resolution, leaving the horse for some 

 time with a severe cough, or the animal may die from choking up of 

 the lungs (asphyxia). 



The swelling under the jaw may be excessive, and if the abscess is 

 not opened it burrows toward the throat or to the side and causes 

 inflammation of the parotid glands and breaks in annoying fistulas at 

 the sides of the throat and even up as high as the ears. Eoaring may 

 occur either during a moderately severe attack from inflammation of 

 the throat (larynx), or at a later period as the result of continued 

 lung trouble. Abscesses may develop in other parts of the body, in 

 the poll, in the withers, or in the spaces of loose tissue under the 

 arms, in the fold of the thigh, and, in entire horses, in the testicles. 



During the course of the disease, or later, when the animal seems to 

 be on the road to perfect recovery, abscesses may form in the internal 

 organs and produce symptoms characteristic of disease of those parts. 

 ■ Roaring, plunging, wandering in a circle, or standing with the head 

 wedged in a corner of the stall indicate the collection of matter in the 

 brain. Sudden and severe lung sjnnptoms, without previous dis- 

 charge, point to an abscess between the lungs, in the mediastinum; 

 colic, which is often continuous for days, is the result of the forma- 

 tion of an abscess in some part of the abdominal cavity, usually in the 

 mesentery. 



Pathology. — The lesions of strangles are found on the surface of 

 the mucous membranes, essentially of the respiratory system, and in 

 the loose connective tissue fibers of the internal organs and glands, 

 and consist of acute inflammatory changes, tending to the formation 

 of matter. The blood is unaltered, though it is rich in fibrin, and if 

 the animal has died of asphyxia it is found dark colored and uncoagu- 

 lated when the body is first opened. If the animal has died while 

 suffering from high fever the ordinary alterations throughout the 

 body, which are produced by any fever not attended by alteration of 

 blood, are found. 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



