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Respiratory Distress |
 | | Orthopnea - increased respiratory distress when the patient is lying down or the chest is compressed. |
 | | Abnormal sounds (stridor, wheezes), abnormal posture (orthopnea, head and neck extended, elbows abducted, sternal recumbency), abnormal mucous membrane color (cyanosis or pale), tachypnea, weakness and exhaustion, altered respiratory effort (shallow and rapid, or labored and forceful, or absent), and vigorous resistance to restraint are the typical signs present in animals with respiratory distress. |
 | | Disorders such as hyperthermia, shock, metabolic acidosis and alkalosis, hyperthyroidism, fear or anxiety, pericardial tamponade, anemia, abdominal organ enlargement or ascites, and abnormalities with central control of respiration from drugs and metabolic or organic central nervous system disease are all causes of signs that may mimic true respiratory distress. |
| www.cvmbs.colostate.edu /clinsci/wing/trauma/dyspnea.htm (3077 words) |
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