COUGH.
The cough so varied in health and in disease deserves careful practical study. It can usually be excited in solipedes, sheep and dogs by pinching the first ring of the windpipe between the thumb and first two fingers. In oxen it is best produced by compressing the anterior part of the larynx. In old cattle it is difficult to produce coughing. In no animal should the attempt be made rudely nor unnecessarily repeated, as it may tend to excite or to aggravate already existing sore throat.
The cough of the healthy horse is sharp, loud and ringing, often repeated two or three times and followed by a snort (clearing of himself). It is weaker in young horses and shorter and drier in the aged.
The usual cough of the ox is weak, dry, slightly husky and prolonged.
That of the sheep, small, weak and dry.
That of the dog, also weak and dry.
A strong, full, deep, ringing cough is rarely heard in disease except in slight irritation of the larynx. In such cases the larynx is tender and slight handling or pinching develops the cough.
A weak cough wanting in resonance and heard only at a short distance from the horse, is usually associated with chronic chest diseases and the last stages of acute thoracic inflammations.
A short, broken or abortive cough is one which appears to be suddenly cut short and suppressed, from the pain it causes. It is seen in the early stages of inflammations of the serous membranes of the chest or abdomen, when the quick rubbing of the dry and inflamed surfaces of these membranes on each other produces exquisite pain. It characterizes especially the debut of pleurisy, pleuro-pneumonia and peritonitis. This cough is infrequent for the same reason that it is short.
A dry, loud, rasping, or croupous cough is peculiar to the early stages of laryngitis, tracheitis and bronchitis, when the membrane is swollen, tense and dry. It is equally met with in diphtheritic and croupous affections implicating the larynx.
A small, weak, dry, husky cough without any rasping is characteristic of broken wind (heaves) emphysema of the lungs, asthma, or chronic bronchitis.
A soft, humid or rattling cough exists in the advanced stages of laryngitis, bronchitis and pneumonia when the activity of the inflammation has given way and a free exudation has taken place from the mucous membrane. It is usually accompanied by a discharge, in solipedes from the nose, and in other animals from nose and mouth.
A soft cough with a peculiar gurgling in the larynx is sometimes met with in croup.
A paroxysmal cough is one repeated five, ten, or twenty times in rapid succession. It is common in chronic bronchitis, early heaves, emphysema, verminous bronchitis and influenza. In such cases it is observed chiefly when the subject is brought out to the cold air, when he takes a drink of cold water, or when he has just had some active exertion, or some dusty or fibrous food.
A symptomatic cough is one due to disease in some other organs than the respiratory, and which irritates the air passages through nervous sympathy (reflex action). It is commonly small, short and dry. Inflammation or other disease of the liver, indigestions and intestinal worms are occasional causes of symptomatic cough. In the case of worms it may be loud, clear and ringing.