DOGS. 



THE DISTEMPER. 



THIS disease, to which young dogs are most liable, 

 usually attacks them about the third to the sixth 

 month of their age. It is of an inflammatory na- 

 ture at its commencement, succeeded by excessive 

 debility. 



Symptoms. Sudden loss of usual spirit, activity, 

 and appetite; drowsiness, dullness of the eyes, and 

 lying at length with the nose to the ground; cold- 

 ness of the extremities, ears, and legs, and heat of 

 the head and body; sudden emaciation, and exces- 

 sive weakness, particularly in the hinder quarters, 

 which begin to sink and drag after the animal; an 

 apparent tendency to evacuate from the bowels, a 

 little at a time; sometimes vomiting; eyes and nose 

 often, but not always, affected with a catarrhal dis- 

 charge. In an advanced stage of the disease, spas- 

 modic and convulsive twitchings occur, the nervous 

 and muscular system being materially affected; gid- 

 diness and turning round, foaming at the mouth, 

 and fits. The disease, in this stage, is often taken 

 for incipient madness, into which it might not im- 

 probably degenerate. 



Remedy. Give, daily, mild doses of from two 

 to three grains of calomel alone, in milk, and let the 

 animal lap it up: continue this for four or five days, 

 with intermissions when necessary, and it will carry 

 the dog safely through, if taken in time. James's 

 powders are also a safe and certain cure. Bleeding is 

 recommended at the commencement. While the 

 disease exists, light food should be given, a little at 

 the time, as gruel, or broth, thickened with oatmeal- 



