100 THE CAT 



of the various organs of the body. Distem- 

 per is usually a disease of young cats, which, 

 having once had it and having recovered, are 

 protected from future attacks. It is, however, 

 sometimes seen in older cats, especially so when 

 the disease occurs in enzootic or epizootic form. 

 Fleming, in his work upon " Sanitary Medi- 

 cine," tells us that in the fifteenth century, and 

 at several periods later, there were extensive 

 epizootics of distemper, which destroyed num- 

 bers of cats throughout central Europe and the 

 British Islands. The last considerable epizootic 

 in England was in 1796. This extended also to 

 the Low Countries, or the Netherlands. The 

 same epizootic extended to America in 1803. 



The first symptoms of distemper are those of 

 fever, with the combination of symptoms which 

 are described above under Evidences of Dis- 

 ease. These may be more or less severe ac- 

 cording to the gravity of the attack. Shortly 

 after the commencement of the fever we find a 

 watery discharge from the eyes, which may be- 

 come mattery later j a discharge from the nos- 

 trils of a thick mucus at first, and matter later, 

 which may even be tinged with blood. The 



