DISEASES OF DOGS: DISTEMPER. 319 



are those above stated. Occasionally also the eyes 

 are more than usually affected. See diseases of 

 the eyes {post, chap, xvi.) 



Very few dogs escape this disease, and it often 

 conies on without any perceptible cause whatever; 

 exposure to cold and wet, or a scanty allowance of 

 food, will often induce it : contagion is also a com- 

 mon source. 



I consider the distemper to be a fever accom- 

 panied with a peculiar inflammation of one or more 

 parts of the mucous membrane ; as the mucous 

 membrane of the nose, and lachrymal passages of 

 the eyes, which inflammation increases, and alters 

 the discharge from these parts : also the mucous 

 membrane lining the windpipe, the bronchial tubes, 

 and the lungs themselves, is most commonly in- 

 flamed in distemper, which irritates and obstructs 

 these passages, causing cough and often a rattling 

 in the throat. The mucous membrane lining the 

 bowels is sometimes inflamed, and then a purging 

 is usually the consequence ; and when the mucous 

 membrane of the stomach is inflamed, it produces 

 sickness and sometimes vomiting. 



The treatment of distemper greatly depends 

 upon the symptoms that accompany it, and this 



