5 8 A MANUAL OF TOY DOGS 



that a canine patient should have skilled advice as that 

 it should be called in for his master that is, if his 

 recovery is desired. 



Roughly speaking, then, there are two kinds of dis- 

 temper that which affects the nose, throat, and chest, 

 and in slight cases may pass as being only a very bad 

 cold, and that which affects the intestinal canal, in- 

 volving the whole alimentary system. This latter is 

 certainly the more troublesome for an amateur to treat, 

 and decidedly the more fatal ; but, fortunately, the 

 former is the more common. It is very easy to tell 

 when a dog is the subject of distemper in the catarrhal 

 form, and when in this state he is, I think, much more 

 likely to do well if carefully nursed at home ; but in 

 the typhoid form it requires skilled nursing to do the 

 case justice, and the physical conditions are such that 

 if it is a big " if " the right sort of vet can be found, 

 the dog has a better chance with him. 



The symptoms of catarrhal distemper are shivering, 

 feverishness temperature generally not very high at 

 first, but a degree or two over the normal profuse 

 discharge from the eyes and nose, and, in short, all 

 those of a bad, feverish cold ; and the treatment may 

 be exactly that which we should give a child under the 

 same circumstances. The great thing, in both forms, 

 is to keep up the strength from the very beginning ; 

 this is far more important than giving medicine of 

 any kind, and if the patient will not eat, he should 

 be given food forcibly. I do not by this mean that 

 a large quantity of food should be forced upon the 

 unwilling animal ; he should have about two teaspoon- 

 fuls of some invalid nourishment every two hours, and 

 this should be as varied as possible, and kept as sweet 

 and dainty as if for a human patient. A raw egg 

 beaten up with the smallest possible quantity of milk ; 

 a little good beef-tea, made by cutting lean, raw beef 

 into small cubes, and slowly drawing all the goodness 

 out of it in an earthenware jar, tightly covered, in the 

 oven, only two tablespoonfuls of water to the pound of 



