COMMONER AILMENTS OF THE JXKi IN CHINA AND SOME SIMPLE REMEDIES 67 



SYMPTOMS.~Uiimistakable. A distressed facial appearance, shivering frame, disinclination 

 for food, in fact, inability to take it, a purulent discharge from eyes and nose, loss of 

 flesh and general wasting and great lassitude. 

 Causes. — Contagion is the great cause, developed by poor or improper food and bad 

 kenneling. The celebrated doctors Pasteur and Koch, than whom there are no 

 known higher authorities, have made it clear that distemper is due to the presence 

 of a distinct bacteria or microbe, and that by contagion is meant the transmis- 

 sion of that microbe from a diseased to a healthy body, whether direct or by 

 means of an intermediary. In his informing book "Diseases of the Dog " Mr. Hugh 

 Dalziel states that "Mr. Everett Millais has succeeded in cultivating the microbe 

 artificially, so that puppies can be infected as easily as by inoculating them with 

 matter from a diseased dog, and that we may look with confidence to a time near at 

 hand when an attenuated virus of distemper so cultivated may be used to produce a 

 mild attack in puppies which will shield them from contracting the disease in the 

 natural way and preserve them from the disastrous and highly fatal effects of this 

 scourge of our kennels." Distemper is much more prevalent amongst highly bad 

 dogs than amongst cross-bred animals, and that, perhaps, is why it is that puppies 

 in China enjoy such freedom from this decimating scourge. 

 ^ Suggested remedies. — Immediate isolation in a warm but airy resting place. 



A mild emetic of salt and mustard: of each a teaspoonful in warm water. 



As a laxative a teaspoonful twice a day of the castor oil mixture. 



Great care must be taken to keep the eyes and nose free from the discharge, and 

 no better washes are to be had than weak solutions of vinegar and water or Jeye's 

 fluid. Warm and good nursing are indispensable. The food should be of a mild 

 and sloppy nature, but a little chopped raw lean beef might be offered to tempt the 

 patient. But the trump card is sensible careful nursing. 



DYSENTERY. 



This is one of the great curses of a sporting dog's life in China. Few hard worked 

 dogs escape an attack, and with many a poor animal the complaint becomes chronic. 



Symptoms. — "Dysentery may be described as diarrhoea in its most aggravated form : the 

 evacuations are often very offensive and are generally followed by discharge of a 

 gelatinous-like substance mixed with blood." (Dalziel). 



Foul, mucous discharge, often pure blood, great emaciation, a worn look, 

 offensive breath, little appetite, great thirst. 



Causes. — Very much the same as those which characterize diarrhoea, viz., overwork, not 

 being properly dried after work, sleeping on damp straw, bad kennel ventilation, 

 especially as in some old time houseboats where the poor animal after a hard day's 

 work is thoughtlessly, not wilfully, relegated to a damp litter in a dark, unventilated 

 forehold. 



Suggested Remedies.— Immediate separation from all kennel companions: perfect 

 cleanliness in every surrounding : warm, dry, sawdust bedding : disinfection of the 

 kennel with Jeye's fluid, which is as good and as well known as any ; and very gentle 



