PRESENTING HISTORY AND CLINICAL SIGNS Since acute lung injury
and ARDS are secondary disease processes, animals may have a
variety of historical findings and clinical signs based on the
primary disease. Animals will usually be hospitalized for the
primary disease before acute lung injury or ARDS becomes
apparent. It often takes one to four days for acute lung injury
or ARDS to develop after the onset of the initial inflammation,
so patients may originally be presented without marked
respiratory signs and develop these complications later. If
respiratory disease was a patient's admitting complaint, a
failure to improve or a decline in respiratory status may
indicate acute lung injury or ARDS. Tachypnea, respiratory
distress, cyanosis, hypoxemia, and, potentially, coughing are
some of the more common clinical signs.6 On physical examination
increased respiratory noises may be heard, including loud
bronchovesicular sounds or crackles. The patient may also
display abdominal breathing, orthopnea, or foamy pink exu