THE DISEASES OF CATS, AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



367 



The lesions of the lungs may be slight, and 

 yet the symptoms may be severe ; on the 

 contrary, the lesions may be extensive, and 

 the resulting symptoms comparatively slight. 

 If the fever remains high, the appetite abol- 

 ished, the pupils dilated, the breathing plaintive 

 and very rapid, and prostration great, death 

 soon takes place from failure of the heart due 

 to intoxication. In many cases, though, the 

 fever is not intense, and yet death supervenes. 



The Abdominal, Gastric, or Gastro-enteric 

 form of distemper is oftener seen than either 

 the pharyngeal or pulmonary form, and may 

 occur as a very acute and rapidly fatal 

 manifestation, or as a chronic disease. It 

 frequently accompanies the other forms. In 

 acute cases there is sudden vomiting of food, 

 quickly followed by a frequently repeated 

 ejection of thick, slimy, and frothy mucus, 

 and ultimately by a thin, watery, serous fluid, 

 which is of an olive-green or yellowish appear- 

 ance. The thirst is intense, and no sooner is 

 water sipped than it is expelled. There is fre- 

 quent diarrhoea ; the stools at first seem fluid, 

 then become watery, sometimes bloody, and 

 very foetid. The appetite is suppressed, and 

 the animal becomes cold and indifferent to its 

 surroundings, the facial expression is pinched, 

 the eyes are semi-closed ; the coat is dull and 

 open, and on pressure over the region of the 

 stomach pain is evinced by a moan or cry, 

 and death usually takes place in a few hours. 

 There is not as a rule any discharge from the 

 eyes and nostrils. 



In the subacute cases, beyond a slight 

 catarrhal discharge from the eyes and nostrils, 

 there may be either vomiting or diarrhoea 

 often both and at other instances vomiting 

 and constipation. When the bowels are the 

 principal seat of the disease, vomiting is rare, 

 but diarrhoea is generally persistent. Thirst 

 is great, and food is refused or taken sparingly. 

 The animal is dull, cries if moved or if the 

 abdomen is manipulated ; emaciation is rapid, 

 and the animal dies in a state of exhaustion. 



In the chronic cases there may or may not 

 be any catarrhal symptoms, but there is a 

 chronic and persistent diarrhoea, and some- 

 times vomiting. The appetite is capricious 

 or sometimes ravenous, thirst moderate, and 

 emaciation gradual, and liquid faeces may be 

 expelled on the least effort, as by coughing ; 

 the fur or pelage around the tail becomes 

 soiled, and, in consequence, the animal gives 

 off an offensive odour. 



In some instances the breath becomes 

 foetid ; the teeth, gums, tongue, and lips are 

 covered with a dirty brown or greenish slimy 

 material ; and frequently the gum around the 

 neck of the teeth is spongy, and bleeds on the 

 slightest touch. Occasionally the bone into 

 which the teeth are inserted becomes exposed, 

 ulcerated, or necrosed. Ulcers are at times 

 seen on the lips and tongue. 



The Chronic Cachectic or Wasting form is 

 sometimes encountered as a chronic wasting 

 malady, not showing many symptoms beyond 

 gradual emaciation, great weakness, intense 

 thirst, ravenous or capricious appetite, and 

 occasionally diarrhoea. At other times the 

 animal goes off its appetite, sits about in a 

 mopish manner, has a staring and dull coat, 

 the mucous membranes are pallid, the haw pro- 

 truding over the front of the inner portion of 

 the eyeballs, and becomes light in weight. 



It very occasionally happens in these 

 wasting cases that the skin becomes the seat 

 of parasitic mange, and, in consequence, gives 

 off an offensive mousy or mouldy odour. If 

 treatment is not skilfully and early adopted, 

 death takes place, and on post-mortem ex- 

 amination the remains simulate those of an 

 animal having died from starvation. It may 

 follow on the other forms of manifestation. 



Skin eruptions are rarely noticed in dis- 

 temper of the cat, but sometimes one sees on 

 kittens a scabby eruption resembling ecthyma, 

 the discharge of which mats the hairs in these 

 young creatures. Female cats, when pregnant, 

 frequently abort in fact, nearly every cat in 

 this condition in a cattery affected with dis- 

 temper will miscarry, making it appear as if 

 it were a special contagious disease. 



The ears occasionally become the seat of 

 acute catarrh or ulceration, and give rise to 

 an offensive discharge. This complication is 

 mostly associated with the pharyngeal form. 



The cornea of the eye is sometimes the 

 seat of ulceration, which generally disappears 

 as the animal recovers. The whole eyeball 

 occasionally partakes of inflammation, which 

 destroys it. 



When the eyes of young kittens become the 

 seat of catarrh, the eye is generally destroyed, 

 and consequently the sight is lost. The 

 nervous type, showing itself as excitement, 

 convulsions, chorea, meningitis, or paralysis, 

 although seen, is somewhat rare in this 

 creature. 



Death may occur either suddenly from 



