238 DISTEMPER. 



should be pursued in usual cases until two or three emetics have been 

 given, and a ball morning and night on the intermediate days. Should 

 the huskiness not diminish after the first two or three days, if the dog has 

 not rapidly lost flesh, I should be disposed to take a little more blood, and 

 to put a seton in the poll. It should be inserted between the ears, and 

 reaching from ear to ear. 



When there is fever and huskiness, and the dog is not much emaciated, 

 a seton is an excellent remedy ; but, if it is used indiscriminately, and 

 when the animal is already losing ground, and is violently purging, we shall 

 only hasten his doom, or rather make it more sure. 



It is now, if ever, that pneumonia will be perceived. The symptoms 

 of inflammation in the lungs of the dog can scarcely be mistaken. The 

 quick and laborious breathing, the disinclination or inability to lie down, 

 the elevated position of the head, and the projection of the muzzle will 

 clearly mark it. More blood must be subtracted, a seton inserted, the 

 bowels opened with Epsom salts, and the digitalis, nitre, and James's pow- 

 der given more frequently and in larger doses than before. 



Little aid is to be derived from observation of the pulse of the dog ; it 

 differs materially in the breed, and size, and age of the animal. Many 

 years' practice have failed in enabling me to draw any certain conclusion 

 from it. The best place to feel the pulse of the dog is at the side. We 

 may possibly learn from it whether digitalis is producing an intermittent 

 pulse, which it frequently will do, and which we wish that it should do : it 

 should then be given a little more cautiously, and in smaller quantities. 



If the pneumonia is evidently conquered, or we have proceeded thus 

 far without any considerable inflammatory affection of the chest, we must 

 begin to change our plan of treatment. If the huskiness continues, and 

 the discharge from the nose is increased and thicker, and the animal is 

 losing flesh and becoming weak, we must give only half the quantity of 

 the sedative and diuretic medicine, and add some mild tonic, as gentian, 

 chamomile, and ginger, with occasional emetics ; taking care to keep the 

 bowels in a laxative but not purging state. The dog should likewise be 

 urged to eat ; and, if he obstinately refuses all food, he should be forced 

 with strong beef jelly, for a very great degree of debility will now 

 ensue. 



We have thus far considered the treatment of distemper from its com- 

 mencement ; but it may have existed several days before we were con- 

 sulted, and the dog may be thin and husky, and refusing to eat. In 

 such case we should give an emetic, and then a dose of salts, and after 

 that proceed to the tonic and fever balls. 



Should the strength of the animal continue to decline, and the discharge 

 from the nose become purulent and offensive, the fever medicine must be 

 omitted, and the tonic balls, with carbonate of iron, administered. Some 

 veterinary surgeons are very fond of gum resins and balsams. Mr. Elaine, 

 in his excellent treatise on the distemper in his Canine Pathology, 

 recommends myrrh and benjamin, and balsam of Peru and camphor. I 

 much doubt the efficacy of these drugs. They are beginning to get into 

 disrepute in the practice of human medicine ; and I believe that if they 

 were all banished from the veterinary Materia Medica we should experi- 

 ence no loss. When the dog begins to recover, although not so rapidly 

 as we could wish, the tonic balls, without the iron, may be advantageously 

 given, with now and then an emetic, if huskiness should threaten to return ; 



