Heart and Lung Sounds

Question 1

What makes for a good auscultation

Answer 1

1. Good stethoscope 2. Quiet room 3. Patient in proper position

Question 2

What frequency does the diaphragm of the stethoscope detect?

Answer 2

Higher frequency

Question 3

What frequency does the bell of the stethoscope detect

Answer 3

Lower frequency noise

Question 4

How are dogs and cats best auscultated?

Answer 4

Standing (or sitting)

Question 5

How are rabbits best auscultated?

Answer 5

Sitting

Question 6

What are the normal heart sounds in small animals?

Answer 6

S1 and S2

Question 7

You are auscultating a Jersey cow and hear the S4 sound should you be worried?

Answer 7

No, both the S3 and the S4 sounds can be normal in large animals

Question 8

Where do you listen for the heart in a dog?

Answer 8

On the left, the pulmonary valve sits cranioventral to the aortic valve at the heart base. Here S2 is loudest. Distinguishing between these valves in cats and small dogs is difficult. S1 is loudest ventrocaudally at the cardiac apex. On the right, the tricuspid valve is heard at approximately the fourth intercostal space

Question 9

Where do you listen for the heart in the cat?

Answer 9

Same as the dog, but heart sounds are often loudest over the sternum, as the chest cavity acts as a sounding board, like the body of a guitar, amplifying the sounds produced

Question 10

How do you listen to the lungs in a small animal?

Answer 10

The lung fields are large areas on both sides of the thorax. Both sides are auscultated, starting over the heart base and moving cranially, caudally, dorsally and ventrally to cover the whole lung area on each side. Tracheal auscultation may allow differentiation of noise referred from the upper respiratory tract.

Question 11

What is the full set of normal heart sounds and what do they correspond to?

Answer 11

b-Lub-dup-d b= S4 = atrial contraction Lub= S1= Closure of AV valves dup=S2=closure of semi lunar valves d=S3= filling of ventricles