120 DOGS: THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



nursed, and humored all equally are its victims ; and 

 those which are most cared for fall most frequently, while 

 those which are least prized more generally survive. If, 

 therefore, privation or exposure be of any importance, 



the facts seem to infer their tendencies are either to check 



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or mitigate the attack. 



Exercise and food, however, do influence the complaint. 

 The dog that is free suffers much less severely than the 

 one that is confined. The animal that never tastes flesh 

 has a much lighter attack than the one which subsists 

 entirely upon meat. This last fact I have often proved. 

 When the distemper has made its appearance, the oppor- 

 tunity for changing the diet has passed away. We have, 

 then, only a choice of dangers. To remove the flesh to 

 which the animal is accustomed is to cause it to pine and 

 to weaken the strength, at a time when vigor is of every 

 importance ; whereas to continue the meat is mostly 

 certain death ; in this position I generally take away 

 the flesh, for by so doing I give the patient a chance of 

 recovery ; and however desperate that chance may be, 

 nevertheless it is to be much preferred to no chance at 

 all. 



The symptoms in the very early stage are not well 

 marked or by any means distinguished for their regularity. 

 They may assume almost any form ; dulness and loss of 

 appetite, purging, or vomiting, are very frequently the 

 first indications. The more than usual moisture of the 

 eyes, and a short cough, are often the earliest signs that 

 attract attention. In the bitch a desire for copulation, 



