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OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



XV. Diseases and Death of Dogs 

 We have now arrived, in our rapid survey 

 of the dog and his life, to the old age of that 

 faithful companion who, indeed, has a right to 

 be well treated to his last hour. Though old 

 age begins with his ninth or tenth year, dis- 

 eases may appear earlier, and whether it is 

 a question of prize winning or not, his master 

 is bound to study the means of curing them. 

 In all books treating of the canine race a cer- 

 tain number of recipes will be found ; but the 

 best advice that we can offer is to send for a 

 veterinarian and not attempt the treatment 

 yourself. Of cmirse, if it is merely a Cjuestion 



Tr,\ined to hunt Rats 



of worms, you can safely administer the pow- 

 der called kamala ; or if the dog is slightly 

 wounded, you can treat him as you would 

 yourself. If complications arise, send at once 

 for the veterinarian. 



Still it is as well to have a knowledge of the 

 most frequent diseases. Every one who buys 

 a dog ought first to know if he has already 

 had distemper {fcbris catarr/ialis cpizooticum 

 caiium), for though many dogs escape it, it is a 

 very general and extremely uncomfortable trib- 

 ulation, and is even dangerous for young dogs. 

 This disease, which is not new, for we hear of 

 it in Spain in 1752, appears in about the same 

 form among cats, wolves, fo.xes, and some 

 other species of animals. It is contagious, and 

 is communicated by nasal mucus and other 

 deposits coming from the body of the infected 

 animal ; it is also in the atmosphere and in- 



spires a natural dread in all proprietors of large 

 kennels. It is most frequent in young clogs, 

 older ones having had it and therefore being 

 immune, but no one race of dogs is more pre- 

 disposed to it than others. In ordinary cases it 

 lasts from three to four weeks, and it can be 

 fought as well undeveloped as symptomatically ; 

 that is to say, in the germ by carbonate of soda, 

 bismuth, etc., or in the symptoms by febri- 

 fuges, emetics, and remedies against mucous 

 and skin diseases. 



After distemper the disease most univer- 

 sally known and feared is rabies (hydrophobia), 

 caused by some contagious matter in the brain 

 and spinal cord. It came first 

 from southern Russia and 

 made a circuit through Europe 

 and the United States, sparing 

 neither man nor beast. There 

 are hundreds of cases which 

 ignorant persons call rabies 

 which are not that disease at 

 all. It is enough to hear of one 

 real case to find the number of 

 imagined ones increased with 

 such terrifying rapidity as to 

 justify all precautions, be they 

 needless or premature. This 

 disease attacks no dog or other 

 animal unless it has been bitten by a rabid ani- 

 mal, usually a dog. Such dogs run at large and 

 to great distances, biting, as they go, both men 

 and animals that come in their way ; and the 

 e.xtent of the evil is incalculable if the authori- 

 ties do not promptly interfere. Unfortunately, 

 the order to muzzle dogs, which is nearly all 

 they can do, is absolutely insufficient, because 

 in spite of regulations many dogs are not muz- 

 zled, and also because the muzzles that are 

 officially recommended are worth nothing. It 

 is strange that Philippe le Bel, king of F" ranee, 

 who hated dogs and invented muzzles, did not 

 make a better model than a " bag of iron wire "; 

 and stranger still is it that the authorities of our 

 day, who could have the advice of scientists and 

 breeders, have as yet invented nothing better. 



Some mad dogs, however, never bite. Most 

 of them are mute, or else they emit a low yelp ; 



