This is inflammation of the serous membrane which invests the lungs and lines the walls of the thoracic cavity. It is a very frequent concomitant of pneumonia.

Symptoms

The symptoms begin with shivering, followed by febrile excitement; quiet breathing, inspiration being short and suppressed, expiration full; short dry cough; pulse small and hard; the sides are tender when pinched or tapped; the dog sits up; the secretions are scanty and the appetite impaired. In the early stage, rubbing friction sounds can be heard on listening at the affected side.

The disease terminates either in return to health, or in dropsy of the chest. In the former case, the pleura may or may not become adherent to the inner surface of the ribs; in the latter, fluid accumulates in the sac of the pleura, compressing the yielding lung, interfering with its function, and displacing adjacent viscera. Diminution of pain, respiration becoming less frequent and less constrained, and the pulse getting lower, indicate return to health; whereas, when death is at hand, the breathing becomes more and more difficult and suffocative, the pulse weaker and quicker, and a watery swelling, which pits on pressure, appears on the lower part of the chest, belly, scrotum, and legs.

An examination of the chest leaves no doubt as to the nature of the case, when the disease has reached the stage of effusion. The natural murmur of health is absent in the lower part of the affected side up to the level of the fluid, and increased in intensity in the upper part, and on the opposite healthy side. Over the effusion there is distinct dulness on percussion. When the dog is placed on his side or back, the dulness follows the fluid to the most dependent parts, and permits the respiratory murmur to be heard where no sound was previously audible. The affected side expands less during breathing than the other, and the space between the ribs is bulged out.

Treatment

Aconitum* is indispensable in the early stage, when there are the usual symptoms of febrile excitement.

Bryonia is a valuable remedy for the following symptoms: - Pain on applying pressure between the intercostal spaces; this pressure causes the animal to whine or groan; frequent, short, suppressed cough; pulse frequent, hard, small, or irregular; thirst; tongue dry and brown; vomiting of mucus or biliary matter; constipation. Bryonia and Aconitum should be given alternately in severe cases when the symptoms point out their conjoint use.

* For the dose, etc., refer to the "Introductory Remarks."

Sulphur should be given after the acute symptoms have subsided, in order to expedite convalescence.

For the treatment of the dropsy, that so frequently follows pleuritic affections, consult the article on "Dropsy."

Food, Etc

See remarks under "Bronchitis" and "Pneumonia."

Note. - Of the three foregoing inflammations of the lungs, bronchitis has its seat in the mucous membrane of the air-passages; pneumonia in the proper substance, or parenchyma of the lung; and pleurisy in the serous membrane, which invests the lungs and lines the inner surface of the thorax. In practice, it is rare to find these diseases so well marked individually as the foregoing descriptions of their symptoms would imply. Bronchitis is frequently associated with pneumonia, and then we have broncho-pneumonia; and pleurisy with pneumonia, and then the disease is known as pleuro-pneumonia. It is from a consideration of the general symptoms, the physical signs, and the progress of each of these diseases, that the practitioner is able to determine what particular structure of the pulmonary apparatus is affected in any given case.