482 MODERN FARRIEfe. 



lent ; yet there is a great difference between the two 

 maladies : puppies are not so liable to madness as 

 full grown dogs, but they are more liable to the dis- 

 temper. A dog seldom drinks freely in the distem- 

 per : in hydrophobia he never drinks, though he 

 may perhaps make the attempt. In hydrophobia 

 the dog loses all recollection of persons and places, 

 and will as soon bite his master as any other person ; 

 but in the distemper he retains his recollection, and 

 never bites. 



The distemper generally begins with an appear- 

 ance of dulness and want of appetite, cough, watery 

 eyes, and a discharge from the nostrils. As the dis- 

 ease advances, the dog becomes very weak, particu- 

 larly about the hind parts, and loses flesh rapidly. 

 There is generally a convulsive twitching of the 

 h?ad and one of the fore-legs ; sometimes the dog is 

 attacked with violent fits, running round and foam- 

 ing at the mouth. In some cases, the disease is ac- 

 companied with costiveness ; in others, there is a 

 purging, and such tenderness of stomach, that every 

 thing the animal swallows is soon thrown up again. 

 The disease attacks with different degrees of vio- 

 lence, and in some seasons has proved much more 

 destructive than in others. The distemper gene- 

 rally occurs between the age of four and twelve j 

 months. 



Mr. Blaine observes, that the distemper appears 

 to vary in different seasons. In one year, most of 

 the cases that occur prove distressing, from the ob- 

 stinate looseness that accompanies the disease ; in 

 the next year, fits perhaps will be the prevailing 

 symptom ; while the third year will exhibit the 

 complaint in a most putrid and malignant form.. 

 Fits are most prevalent in winter, and purging in 

 summer. The varieties are so numerous, that hard- 

 ly any two cases can be treated alike ; consequently, 

 no one remedy can be applicable to every case. 



