AILMENTS AFFECTING AIR-PASSAGES 61 



There is a cough, sore throat, and the cat refuses 

 all food, even the most tempting morsels. These 

 symptoms continue for a week or so, and if all goes 

 well recovery may be established in from ten days 

 to a fortnight. This is feline distemper in its simple 

 or uncomplicated catarrhal form. Unfortunately for 

 pussy, matters do not always run so calm a course, 

 but a more stormy state of constitutional destruc- 

 tion frequently ensues. The lungs, the liver, the 

 stomach and bowels, or a combination of these 

 may be implicated. Before proceeding further 

 the reader must be given to understand that the 

 earliest indication of all /. e. during the incubative 

 stage is indicated by using the clinical thermo- 

 meter, the mercury of which rises several degrees. 

 The normal temperature of the cat ranges from 

 1 00 to 101 Fahrenheit ; but in feline distemper 

 it may read 105 or 106 ; the progress of the 

 malady is assuredly indicated by the use of this 

 instrument night and morning, and a note should 

 be made of the temperatures registered. Take 

 the temperature in the rectum by inserting the 

 bulb into this, whilst an assistant holds the cat. 

 The index, i. e. a small, detached rod of mercury, 

 must be set at 97, done by shaking the thermome- 

 ter: the stem bears three kinds of marks long, 

 medium and short. The long marks are placed 

 at 95, 100, 105, 1 10, and between 95 and 100 are 

 four medium length marks indicating intermediate 



