The pharynx, a part of the canal through which the food passes, is placed behind the month, nose, and larynx.

Inflammation of the pharynx, or pharyngitis, is an affection very rarely occurring alone, but is usually associated with some other disease. When it does appear as an individual affection it is commonly caused by the lodgement of foreign bodies, such as sharp pieces of bone. When any substance becomes fixed in the pharynx, about the larynx, or in the top of the passage into the stomach, it may produce a sense of choking and fits of suffocative coughing, or symptoms less severe. A peculiar throat cough with frequent hawking is often the prominent manifestation at first.

Later on in the affection, the mucous membrane may become swollen, congested, and swallowing difficult, the throat being sensitive to external pressure, and coughing excited by it as in laryngitis. ' Sometimes, but very rarely, abscesses will form in the back part of the pharynx. Their presence may be suspected if pharyngitis has existed for several days, and the animal carries his head extended, fixed and immovable on his neck.

Treatment

Foreign bodies should be sought by exploring the throat with the finger. If removed at once no further treatment is necessary.

If repeated efforts fail to dislodge the substance, an emetic of ipecac or sulphate of zinc, dose of either fifteen grains, should be given to induce vomiting. The treatment of the pharyngeal inflammation should be the same as recommended in acute laryngitis.