DISTEMPEE.J 



THE DOG, AXD ITS VAEIETIES 



[distemper. 



(fox-glore). Should nothing new in the 

 symptoms occur, and j^our patient remain 

 strong, every third or fourth day repeat the 

 emetic, and keep the bowels open ; but now, 

 more than ever, avoid active purgation." 



The natural medicine of the dog is an 

 emetic, he being easily excited to vomit. 

 Whenever anything ails him, he himself runs 

 to the dog-grass, eats it, vomits, unloads his 

 stomach, and is at once well. In distemper, 

 therefore, a vomit is the first thing to be 

 given, no matter what form the disease may 

 have assumed. If nothing else is at hand, 

 Mr. Touatt concurs with Mr. Blaine in re- 

 commending common salt ; but the best form 

 of an emetic consists of a combination of equal 

 parts of tartar emetic and calomel. From 

 half a grain to a grain and a-half of each will 

 constitute tbe dose. "When calomel is given 

 m too strong doses, it acts with great severity 

 on the dog. The following is a case reported 

 in the second volume of the Veterinarian, 

 vFhen that medicine has been too freely ad- 

 ministered : — 



" August SOth, 1828. — A spaniel, six months 

 old, has been ailing a fortnight, and three 

 doses of calomel have been given by the 

 owner. He has violent purging, witb tenes- 

 mus and blood. Half an ounce of castor- oil 

 administered. 



" August olsf. — Astringents morning, noon, 

 and night. 



" September Qth. — The astringents have little 

 efl'ect, or if the purging is restrained one day, 

 it returns with increased violence on the fol- 

 lowing day. Getting rapidly thin. Begins to 

 husk. Astringents continued. 



" September lOi!/?.— The purging is, at length, 

 overcome ; but the huskiness has rapidly in- 

 creased, accompanied by laborious and hurried 

 respirations. Bleed to the extent of three 

 ounces. 



" September lltTi. — The breathing relieved ; 

 but he obstinately refuses to eat, and is forced 

 several times in the day with arrow-root or 

 strong soup. 



" September \%th. — He had become much 

 thinner and weaker, and died in the evening. 

 No appearance of inflammation on the thoracic 

 viscera, nor in any part of the alimentary 

 canal. The intestines contracted through 

 their whole extent." 

 48(> 



For this scourge of dogs there is unhappily 

 no specific that can act remedially in all cases. 

 It assumes such a variety of forms, that it 

 bafiles the skill of the most eminent veterinary 

 practitioners. " A disease attacking so many 

 organs," says Mr. Touatt, "and presenting 

 so many and such difierent symptoms, must 

 require a mode of treatment varying with the 

 organ attacked, and the symptom prevailing. 

 The faith in these boasted specifics is princi- 

 pally founded on two circumstances — atmos- 

 pheric influence, and peculiarity of breed. 

 There are some seasons when we can scarcely 

 serve a dog ; there are others when we must 

 almost wilfully destroy him to put him out of 

 sight. There are some breeds in which, gene- 

 ration after generation, five out of six die of 

 distemper ; while there are others in which 

 not one out of a dozen dies. "When the season 

 is favourable, and the animal, by hereditary 

 influence, is not supposed to assume the viru- 

 lent type of the disease, these two important 

 agents are overlooked, and the immunity from 

 any fatal result is attributed to medicine. 

 The circumstances most conducive to success, 

 will be the recollection that it is a disease of 

 the mucous surfaces, and that we must not 

 carry the depressing and lowering system too 

 far. Keeping this in view, we must accom- 

 modate ourselves to the symptoms as they 

 arise." 



Palsy, more or less complete, is occasionally 

 the termination of the distemper in dogs ; and 

 when accompanied by chorea, the case is gene- 

 rally beyond the reach of curative means. 



In the Transactions of the Medico-Chirurgi- 

 cal Society, we are informed that this disease 

 is not communicable to man. Neither the 

 efiluvia arising from the diseased dog, nor his 

 bite, have proved in any instance infectious ; 

 but as the disease has often been confounded 

 with canine madness, it is to be wished that 

 it was more generally understood; for those 

 who are bitten by a distempered dog, are 

 sometimes thrown into a state of such terror, 

 that actual symptoms of hydrophobia have 

 arisen from the mere workings of the imagina- 

 tion. An instance of this occurred in a gen- 

 tleman who received a severe bite from a dog, 

 and who afterwards fancied the animal was 

 ' mad. He felt a horror at the sight of liquids, 

 and, on attempting to swallow them, was 



