168 DISTEMPER 



eyes sponged away as gently as possible with warm water, bo as not to 

 disturb the patient. The food offered should be highly nutritious and 

 easily digestible, such as beef tea or mutton broth thickened with rice or 

 well boiled oatmeal. The feeding dishes and drinking pans must be 

 scrupulously clean, as dirty pans will nauseate a sick animal and destroy 

 what little appetite it may have. Scraped raw beef is very nutritious 

 and can be mixed with gelatine; a dog will frequently eat this when it 

 will refuse everything else. "When the appetite fails altogether and the 

 animal refuses to eat, food must be forced down its throat at least four 

 times a day. For this use beef extracts or beef tea with the addition of a 

 raw egg, a cupful at a time four times a day for a fifty-pound dog; and 

 if that quantity irritates the stomach it must be divided and given oftener. 

 If the patient becomes very weak a little sherry or brandy must be given 

 in milk punches to keep up the general strength. 



"In the first stage of the disease the bowels are generally irregular, 

 due to the accumulation of undigested matter in the intestines; it is ad- 

 visable to move this by a dose of castor oil, varying in quantiy from a tea- 

 spoonful for a small dog to an ounce and a half for a large dog. 



"After this has operated the most useful drug I have found for rati- 

 fying the system against the ravages of the poison and checking what 

 would otherwise be a severe attack is hyposulphite of soda. The particular 

 property of this drug either within or without the system is to destroy fer- 

 ments and bacteria, and experiments have conclusively proven its benefits 

 in all diseases where morbid poisons are at work. Blood drawn from dogs 

 that have been given thirty grains a day for five days kept fresh for three 

 weeks; the blood of dogs similarly treated with the exception of not having 

 the sulphate became putrid in three or four days. Dogs that had re- 

 ceived the sulphite in thirty grain dosps with their food for five days and 

 were then injected with fetid pus or the purulent discharge from a glan- 

 dered horse reeled, tottered, and were unable to walk for a few hours, 

 but at the end of five davs recovered their health and appetite, the wound 

 where the injection had been made healing nicely. Dogs treated similarly 

 in every way with the exception of not having previously received the 

 hyposulphite died in from the fourth to the sixth day with a purulent dis- 

 charge from the eyes and nostrils, and the point where the injection was 

 made became gangrenous. The dose of this drug is from two to twenty 

 grains, depending upon the age and size of the patient, and the condition 

 of the bowels; if they become too loose the dose must be decreased. 



"Quinine Is another drug of great value in the treatment of distemper 

 and all febrile conditions. Its use is, however, abused from a failure to 

 understand its real action! as a rule too large doses are given and at too 

 frequent intervals. The action of quinine, besides lowering temperature 

 and pulsation, is in small doses tonic and stimulating, increasing the 

 apnetite and all digestive secretions; in large doses continued it is de- 

 pressing and destrovs the appetite. It has remarkable antiseptic proner- 

 ti>s, attacking and destroying all pernicious micro-organisms. A full dose 

 (five grains for a St. Bernard) given at the first sign of lassitude and de- 

 fection of nremonitorv svmptoms of an attack of distemper, while it mav 

 Tint prevpnt the disease, will certainly moderate it. Its use should 

 then be discontinued until the fifth or sixth day of the disease, when 

 small doses of from one to five grains should be given three times a day, 

 but discontinued if any signs of disagreeing with the dog are shown. 



"Pulmonary complications can be relieved bv applying hot flannels to 

 the sides or the use of hot water bags. Hot fomentations or bandages 

 wrung out of warm water do more harm than good, as the animal gen- 

 erally gets chilled while they are being used. 



"Nitrate of potash may be given in the dog's drinking water or in 

 s'x to fifteen grain doses; it reduces fever and stimulates the action of the 

 kidneys. 



"If the pulse and temperature are very high a few doses of veratrum 

 can be given with advantage, but not continued for more than two daya. 



