SOME CANINE DISEASES AND THEIR REMEDIES. 685 



consider the medicinal treatment most often needed, hoping 

 by so doing to prevent dosing at random. 



If a dog when first attacked has high fever, the following 

 may be given: Tincture of aconite root, thirty drops; 

 chlorate of potassium, one drachm ; sweet spirit of nitre, one 

 ounce; water, two ounces. Of this the dose for a dog of 

 large size is one tea-spoonful once in two hours while the 

 fever is intense. As soon as it subsides the medicine should 

 be discontinued. It would be better in every instance to 

 stop it at the end of the second day, if not earlier. 



Subnitrate of bismuth, in twenty-grain doses, acts well 

 in irritable stomach, and may be given in persistent vomit- 

 ing, as already advised. In rare cases there is exhaustive 

 diarrhea. If so, a tea-spoonful of paregoric may be admin- 

 istered once in from four to six hours. If there are no 

 more than five or six discharges each day, no treatment will 

 be required; in fact, a slight looseness of the bowels is 

 salutary. When the patient's strength appears to be fail- 

 ing, and enforced feeding is necessary, it will be well to give 

 a one-grain quinine pill four times a day. 



This is all the medicinal treatment which we can prop- 

 erly advise. Again we say to him who is unfortunate and 

 has a distemper patient to care for: Depend upon nursing, 

 and use drugs only when their need is absolute. 



After convalescence commences, the patient should still 

 be kept quiet. In giving him a more generous diet as he 

 improves, let it be done gradually, for to bring on a relapse 

 is always easy. 



About the time the disease ends and recovery commences, 

 an eruptive skin disease usually appears; it is a favorable 

 sign. 



Chorea, or twitching of certain muscles, usually of the 

 legs, is a common after-effect of distemper. It is a very 

 obstinate affection, and treatment is rarely successful. 

 There are no drugs which can be relied upon to overcome 

 it, therefore dosing is not justifiable. As the patient's 

 general health improves, the trouble in question may 

 lessen. Whether it does so or not, he should not be 



