336 DISEASES OF DOGS. 



with that disorder, distemper may be banished, and 

 the living animal, notwithstanding, carry about the 

 heavy burden of a body whose motions are inde- 

 pendent of the will. 



Exercise is always bad in chorea. The body has 

 more than a sufficiency of motion ; let the animal 

 therefore rest. Treat for distemper, and do nothing for 

 the chorea, save only bestow a little extra attention 

 upon the probably disabled animal. 



The distemper having been destroyed, and the dog 

 surviving, do all you can think of to strengthen and 

 to support the system. The chorea may be out- 

 grown as the young dog leaves puppyhood behind. 

 Above all others, avoid every thing calculated to ex- 

 cite the sufferer. A blow, an intemperate chiding, or 

 even a loud word, by alarming the nervous system, 

 will always increase the twitchings, and these will not 

 always subside after the cause is forgotten. Good 

 food, healthy lodging, kind treatment, but no nursing, 

 are the best restoratives in chorea, which, like the 

 majority of nervous diseases, is often er outgrown by 

 the increasing strength, than cured by the employ- 

 ment of medicine. 



CHAPTER XL 



FITS. 



No animal is so subject to fits as the dog. A puppy 

 when cutting or changing the teeth is very subject to 

 fits : worms will produce them : dogs that are too 



