138 DOGS* THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



excrements pass involuntarily, and death soon takes 

 place. 



The cries, however, are not heard in every instance 

 even of this kind, and the abdomen is not generally 

 sensitive to pressure. When the belly is handled, the 

 dog, by contracting the muscles covering the parts, may 

 denote some small degree of resistance ; but I have never 

 known it to struggle during the operation. The curving 

 of the spine, the occasional looks towards the seat of 

 agony, and the efforts made to press or draw the belly 

 upon the ground, will indicate the inflammatory charac- 

 ter and the locality of the disease. The pulse does not 

 materially aid the judgment ; it becomes c[uicker and 

 more sharp, but hardly to such an extent that depend- 

 ence can be placed on its indications. The discharges 

 often cease when the disease, in an acute form, becomes 

 concentrated upon the contents of the abdomen ; but the 

 nose is almost always hot and harsh, though in a few cases I 

 have known the part remain cold and moist even to the 

 last. As the close draws near, a very peculiar smell, not 

 absolutely powerful, but more sickly than offensive, is 

 emitted. This odor is consequent upon the faeces, and 

 when it is detected the animal seldom or never sur- 

 V7ves. 



The brain, both Blaine and Youatt speak of as subject 

 to inflammation during the latter stage of distemper. As 

 diseases are peculiarly liable to change, and the appear- 

 ances assumed at different times are by no means uniform, 

 I may not say those estimable writers never beheld it in 



