Book VII. DISEASES OF DOGS. 1081 



attacks before the animal arrives at eighteen months old. When it comes on very early, the chances of 

 recovery are very small. It is peculiarly fatal to greyhounds, much more so than to any other kind of 

 dog, generally carrying them off by excessive scouring. It is very contagious, but it is by no means neces- 

 sary that there should be contagion present to produce it ; on the contrary, the constitutional liability 

 to it is such, that any cold taken may bring it on : and hence it is very common to date its commencement 

 from dogs being thrown into water, or shut out on a rainy day, &c. There is no disease which presents 

 such varieties as this, either in its mode of attack, or during its continuance. In some cases it commences 

 by purging, in otliers by fits. Some have cough only, some waste, and others have moisture from the eyes 

 aiid nose, without any other active symptom. Moist eyes, dulness, wasting, with slight cough and sick- 

 ness, are the common symptoms that betoken its approach. Then purging comes on, and the moistui-e 

 from the eyes and nose from mere mucus becomes pus, or matter. There is also frequently sneezing, with 

 a weakness in the loins. When the disease in this latter case is not speedily removed, universal palsy 

 comes on. During the progress of the complaint, some dogs have fits. When one fit succeeds another 

 quickly, the recovery is extremely doubtful. Many dogs are carried off rapidly by the fits, or by purging; 

 others waste gradually from the running from the nose and eyes, and these cases are always accompanied 

 with great marks of putridity. 



74iy. The cure. In the early stages of the complaint give emetics ; they are peculiarly useful. A large 

 spoonful of common salt, dissolved in three spoonfuls of warm water, has been recommended ; the quan. 

 tity of salt being increased according to the size of the dog, and the difficulty of making him vomit ; 

 while a dog remains strong, one every third day is not too much. The bowels should be kept open, but 

 active purging should be avoided. In case the complaint should be accompanied with excessive loose- 

 ness, it should be immediately stopped by balls made of equal parts of gum arable, prepared chalk, 

 and conserve of roses, with rice milk as food. Two or three grains of James's powder may be advantage- 

 ously given at night, in cases where the bowels are not affected ; and in the cases where the matter from 

 the nose and eyes betokens much putridity, we have witnessed great benefits from balls made of what is 

 termed Friar's balsam, gum guaiacum, and chamomile flowers in powder : but the most popular remedy 

 is a powder prepared and vended under the name of distemper powder, with instructions for the use 

 of it. Dogs, in every stage of the disease, should be particularly well fed. A seton we have not found 

 so useful as is generally supposed : where the nose is much stopped, rubbing tar on the upper part is 

 beneficial ; and when there is much stupidity, and the head seems much aflected, a blister on the top is 

 often serviceable. 



7413. Fits. Dogs are peculiarly subject to fits. These are of various kinds, and arise from various 

 causes. In distemper, dogs are frequently attacked with convulsive fits, which begin with a champing of the 

 mouth and shaking of the head, gradually extending over the whole body. Sometimes an active emetic 

 will stop their progress, but more generally they prove fatal. Worms are often the cause of fits in dogs. 

 These deprive the animal wholly of sense; he runs wild till he becomes exhausted, when he gra- 

 dually recovers, and perhaps does not have one again for some weeks. Confinement produces fits ana 

 likewise costiveness. Cold water thrown over a dog will generally remove the present attack of a fit ; 

 and for the prevention of their future recurrence, it is evident that the foregoing account of causes must 

 be attended to. 



7414. Inflamed bowels. Dogs are very subject to inflammation of their bowels, from costiveness, from 

 cold, or from poison. When inflammation arises from costiveness it is in general very slow in its progress, 

 and is not attended with very acute pain, but it is characterised by the want of evacuation and the vomiting 

 of the food taken, though it may be eaten with apparent appetite. In these cases the principal means to 

 be made use of are, the removal of the constipation by active purging, clysters, and the warm bath. Calo- 

 mel with aloes forms the best purge. But when the inflammation may be supposed to arise from cold, 

 then the removing of any costiveness that may be present is but a secondary consideration. This active 

 kind of inflammation is characterised by violent panting, total rejection of food, and constant sickness. 

 There is great heat in the belly, and great pain ; it is also accompanied with great weakness, and the eyes 

 are very red. The bowels should be gently opened with clysters, but no aloes or calomel should be made 

 use of. The belly should be blistered, having first used the warm bath. When the inflammation arises 

 from poison, there is then constant sickness ; the nose, paws, and ears are cold; and there is a frequent 

 evacuation of brown or bloody stools. Castor oil should be given, and clysters of mutton broth thrown up ; 

 but it is seldom any treatment succeeds. 



7415. Inflamed lungs. Pleurisy is not an uncommon disease among dogs. It is sometimes epidemic, 

 carrying off great numbers. Its attack is rapid, and it generallv terminates in death on the third day, by 

 a great effusion of water in the chest. It is seldom that it is taken in time ; when it is, bleeding is useful, 

 and blisters may be applied to the chest 



7416. Madness. The symptoms of madness are concisely summed up by Daniel, in the following words : 

 *' At first the dog looks dull, shows an aversion to his food and company, does not bark as usual, but seems 

 to murmur ; is peevish and apt to bite strangers ; his ears and tail droop more than usual, and he appears 

 drowsy : afterwards he begins to loll out his tongue and froth at the mouth, his eyes seeming heavy and 

 watery. If not confined he soon goes off, runs panting along with a dejected air, and endeavours to bite 

 any one he meets. If the mad dog escapes being killed, he seldom runs above two or three days, when he 

 dies exhausted with heat, hunger, and disease." As this is a subject of no slight importance, we shall 

 stand excused for introducing the criteria as described by Blaine, whose account of the disease, founded 

 on long experience and attentive observation, is calculated to remove many unfounded and dangeroiu 

 prejudices relative to it. He describes it as commencing sometimes by dulness, stupidity, and retreat 

 from observation ; but more frequently, particularly in those dogs which are immediately domesticated 

 around us, by some alteration in their natural habits ; as a disposition to pick up and swallow every 

 minute object on the ground ; or to lick the parts of another dog incessantly ; or to lap his own urine, &c. 

 About the second or third day the disease usually resolves itself into one of two types. The one is called 

 raging, and the other dumb madness. These distinctions are not, however, always clear ; and to which is 

 owing so much discrepancy in the accounts given by different persons of the disease. 



7417. The raging madness, by its term, has led to an erroneous conclusion, that it is accompanied with 

 violence and fury ; which, however, is seldom the case : such dogs are irritable and snappish, and will 

 commonly fly at a stick held to them, and are impatient of restraint : but they are seldom violent except 

 when irritated or worried. On the contrary, till the last moment they will often acknowledge the voice 

 of their master and yield some obedience to it. Neither will they usually turn out of their way to bite 

 human beings ; but they have an instinctive disposition to do it to dogs ; and in a minor degree to other 

 animals also : but, as before observed, they seldom attack mankind witnout provocation. 



7418. Dumb madness is so called because there is seldom any barking neard, but more particularly 

 because the jaw drops paralytic, and the tongue lolls out of the mouth, black, and apparently strangulated. 

 A strong general character of the disease is, the disposition to scratch their bed towards their belly ; and 

 equally so is the general tendency to eat trash, as hay, straw, wood, coals, dirt, &c. : and it should be 

 remembered, that this is so very common and so invariable, that the finding these matters in the stomach 

 after death, should always render a suspicion formed of the existence of tTte disease confirmed into 

 certainty. Blaine is also at great pains to disprove the notion generally entertained, that rabid dogs are 

 averse from water ; and neither drink nor come near it This error he contends has led to most dangerous 

 results ; and is so far from true, that mad dogs from their heat and fever are soHcitous for water, and lap 

 it eagerly. When the dumb kind exists in its full force, dogs cannot swallow what they attempt to lap ; 

 but still they will plunge their heads in it, and appear to feel relief by it : but in no instance out of many 

 hundreds did he ever discover the smallest aversion from it. He lays very great stress on the noi.sc made by 



