DISTEMPER. 231 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE DISTEMPER. 



BY this singular name is distinguished a prevalent disease now about to 

 come under our consideration, which was first observed on the continent. 

 The rapidity with which it spread, the strange protean appearances which 

 it assumed, and its too frequent fatal termination, surprised and puzzled 

 the veterinary surgeons ; and they called it " la maladie des chiens," the 

 disease or distemper in dogs. 



It is comparatively a new disease. It was imported from France about 

 one hundred years since, although some French authors have strangely 

 affirmed that it is of British origin. Having once gained footing among 

 us, it has established itself in our country, to the vexation and loss of the 

 sportsman, and the annoyance of the veterinary surgeon. However keepers, 

 or even men of education, may boast of their specifics, it is a sadly fatal 

 disease, and destroys fully one-third of the canine race. 



Dogs of all ages are subject to its attack. Many, nine and ten years 

 old, have died of pure distemper ; and I have seen puppies of only three 

 weeks fall victims to it ; but it oftenest appears between the sixth and 

 twelfth month of the animal's life. If it occurs at an early period, it 

 proves fatal in the great majority of cases ; and, if the dog is more than 

 four years old, it generally goes hard with him. It is undeniably highly 

 contagious, yet it is frequently generated. In this it bears an analogy to 

 mange, and to farcy and glanders in the horse. 



One attack of the disease, and even a severe one, is no absolute security 

 against its return ; although the dog that has once laboured under dis- 

 temper possesses a certain degree of immunity ; or, if he is attacked a 

 second time, the malady usually assumes a milder type. I have, however, 

 known it occur three times in the same animal, and at last destroy him. 



Violent catarrh will often terminate in distemper ; and low and insuffi- 

 cient feeding will produce it. It frequently follows mange, and especially 

 if mercury has been used in the cure of the malady. When we see a 

 puppy with mange, and that peculiar disease in which the skin becomes 

 corrugated, and more especially if it is a spaniel, and pot-bellied or 

 ricketty, we generally say that we can cure the mange, but it will not be 

 long before the animal dies of distemper ; and so it happens in three cases 

 out of four. Whatever debilitates the constitution predisposes it for the 

 reception or the generation of distemper. It, however, frequently occurs 

 without any apparent exciting cause. 



That it is highly contagious cannot admit of doubt. A healthy dog 

 can seldom, for many days, be kept with another that labours under dis- 

 temper without becoming affected ; and the disease is communicated by 

 the slightest momentary contact. There is, however, a great deal of 

 caprice about this. I have more than once kept a dog in the foul-yard of 

 my hospital for several successive weeks, and he has not become diseased. 



