Distemper in Dogs and Cats. 171 



Prognosis is especially unfavorable in severe eases ; in those 

 profoundly affecting the brain, lungs or liver ; in high bred or 

 pampered dogs ; in the very young ; in the debilitated, anaemic 

 or rhachitic ; in those that have been recently imported from 

 another climate and are as yet unacclimated. Puppies from de- 

 bilitated dams, or those raised in a large litter with insufficient 

 nourishment, or older dogs confined to a purely vegetable diet 

 show less power of recuperation. Profound prostration and offen- 

 sive odor, from excess of toxins are always to be dreaded. 



Incubation in inoculated cases varies from four to seven days 

 (Krajewski). When contracted by simple exposure it may seem 

 to have been extended to fourteen or even eighteen days. 



Symptoms. The earliest symptom is hyperthermia (103 to 

 104 F. ) This is accompanied and followed by prostration, dul- 

 ness, impaired appetite, erection of the hairs along the spine, 

 shivering, trembling, seeking a warm place, fatigue on slight 

 exertion, hot dry nose, burning pads of the feet, sometimes taci- 

 turnity. Later the temperature may descend even to the normal 

 or there may be alternations of rise and fall. One of the most 

 characteristic symptoms of distemper is the implication of more 

 than one set of organs, so that morbid manifestations referable to 

 the nose, eyes, throat, stomach, skin and nervous system oc- 

 curring in the same subject are to be especially noted. In 

 enumerating the prominent symptoms caused by disease of one 

 set of organs therefore, it is not to be implied that the absence 

 of others referring to a different class of organs is to be under- 

 stood. On the contrary a complication of several is especially 

 significant of this disease, though the predominance in one class 

 of organ will signify a special form of the disease. 



Respiratory Symptoms. One of the earliest symptoms is usually 

 sneezing with redness of the nasal mucosa, followed by a muco- 

 purulent blocking of the nose, and rubbing of it with the paws. 

 With the implication of the throat there is usually local tender- 

 ness and a hard, painful cough, which may be accompanied by 

 retching or vomiting. The breathing becomes snuffling, especially 

 in pugs and bull dogs, and rapid and even oppressed in case of 

 implication of the smaller bronchia and lungs. The nostrils may 

 become glued together, the discharge red or dark in color, vesicles 

 and sores may appear on the mucosa, and the cough gets 

 paroxysmal, small, weak and husky or gurgling. 



