A New Treatment for Distemper in Dogs 



By Dr. George W. Little 



Chief Surgeon of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 



NO other disease of dogs is more 

 prevalent and, with the exception of 

 rabies, more fatal, than "distemper," 

 a disease peculiar to dogs and young 

 horses. Its cause is a specific infection or 

 poison finding its way into the system 

 through the lungs and air passages. Young 

 and growing animals 

 are generally at- 

 tacked. It runs a 

 course as a catarrhal 

 fever, affecting all 

 of the mucous mem- 

 branes of the body 

 and is in many cases 

 accompanied with 

 certain nervous 

 symptoms and erup- 

 tions of the skin. 



Distemper is 

 highly contagious 

 and is communicated 

 only by infection. 

 The Scotch term for 

 it is "the snifters," 

 which conveys 

 graphically to the 

 mind one important 

 characteristic of the 

 disease, namely, the 

 snifting noise — half 

 sneeze, half cough 



which demonstrates the effort on the part 

 of the animal to rid himself of the mucus 

 which accumulates in the air passages. 



In the treatment of dog distemper many 

 things must be impressed upon the nurse 

 and the owner as of the utmost importance. 

 Strict attention should be paid to the diet. 

 No meat whatsoever should be given. 

 Boiled rice, the broth of meat with fat re- 

 moved, dog biscuit, milk and stale bread 

 can be given. Vegetables such as peas, 

 beans and asparagus may be mixed with 

 the rice or other food. Food not 'eaten 

 should be taken away immediately after- 

 ward. 



Regarding the medicinal treatment of 

 distemper, more specifics have been used 

 and recommended than in any other disease 

 in the category of dog ills. After numer- 

 ous experiments and the use of all available 



Injecting inula and 

 distemper out of 



medicines, vaccines and antitoxins, I have 

 found only two medicines that have proved 

 of exceptional value. These drugs are 

 inula and echinacea. They are non-poison- 

 ous and work together to raise the natural 

 resisting power of the blood against invad- 

 ing bacteria and disease. 



Administered in 

 hypodermic injec- 

 tions into the mus- 

 cles every twenty- 

 four hours, inula and 

 echinacea kill dis- 

 temper, finally driv- 

 ing it out of the 

 system. Five or six 

 hypodermic injec- 

 tions are usually nec- 

 essary, alternating 

 first on one side and 

 then on the other 

 side of the body. 

 These must be made 

 by a veterinary who 

 understands intra- 

 muscular injections. 

 The improvement 

 in the patient after 

 two or three injec- 

 tions is remarkable. 

 The dog, seemingly 

 in the last stages of 

 distemper, revives and recovers his appetite 

 and there is a corresponding decrease in the 

 severity of all the symptoms of the disease. 

 The recovery is so rapid that the dog does 

 not become debilitated to any great extent. 

 I have treated eighty cases of distemper, 

 using inula and echinacea. The percentage 

 of mortality in these cases is the only tangi- 

 ble proof, aside from the rapid recovery of 

 the animals, upon which the efficiency of 

 the compound can be based. Of the eighty 

 cases treated, sixty-eight have recovered. 

 The mortality, therefore, is fifteen per cent 

 of the total number. The usual death 

 rate according to the best authorities is 

 from sixty to seventy per cent. The dogs 

 treated were in all stages of the disease. 

 Some had very high temperatures with 

 pneumonia, bronchitis, bronchial coughs 

 and typhoid symptoms. 



echinacea to drive 

 the dog's system 



434 



