3S8 The Management and Diseases of the Dog, 



on its side, and presents much the same appearance as if 

 poisoned by strychnine, uttering strange hoarse cries be- 

 tween fear and pain.* 



Death may result from asphyxia, exhaustion, or — though I 

 believe it to be exceedingly rare — spasmodic contraction 

 of the heart. 



Post-mortem Appearances. — These vary somewhat : most 

 frequently the spinal cord and its membranes are con- 

 gested ; occasionally the brain and dura mater exhibit a 

 similar appearance, but more particularly so in general and 

 protracted tetanus. In cases of traumatic tetanus, this 

 condition is more apparent in the nerve tissue near the seat 

 of injury ; while the muscles in the same locality are soft, 

 dark, and gorged with blood. In severe cases they are 

 sometimes ruptured. 



Treatment. — A late eminent lecturer on this subject, as 

 affecting the horse, was wont to observe, in producing a 

 stable door-key, that that was the best measure we could 

 adopt in this disease, and the same meaning he intended to 

 convey is equally applicable to the dog. Perfect quietude, 

 moderate warmth, and subdued light, should always be en- 

 forced in the treatment of canine tetanus. The person the 

 animal is most accustomed and attached to, is the fittest 

 attendant ; the susceptibility to excitement is so intensef 

 that the presence of a stranger, rough handling, or loud 



* I have heard it frequently argued that tetanus is not a painful 

 disease, and that m the horse the profuse perspirations which accom- 

 pany it are merely the result of absolute fear. This theory I cannot 

 subscribe to, and never have agreed with. I do not for a moment dis- 

 pute the presence of fear, or that it is a cause of perspiration; but my 

 reply has always been that pain must be, at all events for a time, an 

 inevitable result of sudden and inordinate stimulus by the nerves 

 supplying the muscles so affected. Long-continued pressure may, and 

 we know will, in time produce numbness or paralysis ; but in tetanus 

 there being remissions of convulsion, each sudden contraction when a 

 spasm comes on must produce intense pain. 



