16 KENNEL DISEASES. 
All who have dogs will do well to study the pulse in health, and become so 
familiar with it that they may be able to readily detect and appreciate the impor- 
tance of variations. There are several localities in which large arteries lie near 
the surface, and the pulse can be easily taken, especially the groin and inside of 
the fore leg, near the body. Or it can be taken while the hand is on the chest 
over the heart. To accurately determine the pulse and its character, two or three 
fingers should be lightly pressed over the artery, and the beats counted for a full 
minute. If the dog be excitable and a stranger to the operation, his pulse is 
quite sure to go up; therefore it should be repeated several times. In all 
instances of suspected ill-health, also, the pulse should be taken at intervals, for 
the purpose of determining positively whether or not the increase is only tem- 
porary and due to excitement, or is in consequence of disease, threatened or 
already on. 
The processes of circulation and respiration are so intimately connected that 
the influences which modify the pulse also affect the breathing. The number 
of respirations per minute in a healthy dog is about twenty; and the rate, as that 
of the pulse, is varied by age, sex, form, exertion, excitement, and many other 
influences. Not only the frequency but the character of the respiration is sub- 
ject to variations ; and among the terms in use expressive of the different modi- 
fications are “regular” and “irregular,” “easy” and “labored,” “quiet” and 
“noisy,” “deep” and “shallow.” “Wheezy respiration” is very common, and 
generally indicative of nasal obstruction. “Stertorous respiration” is noisy, 
each breath being accompanied by a snoring sound. In man it is an evidence 
of profound insensibility; but in some breeds of dogs, as pugs and bulldogs, 
whose nasal passages are very narrow, it cannot be considered an abnormal sign, 
while it may be produced in other breeds by nasal inflammation or accumula- 
tions of mucus. 
Cough is almost always associated with severe disturbances of the respiratory 
organs, and it may be somewhat suggestive of the existing disease, although not 
plainly indicative. Accumulations in the air passages are usually expelled dur- 
ing retching or vomiting, and their character would be of significance and assis- 
tance in making diagnoses were it possible to determine with certainty whether 
they came from the stomach or from the lungs. 
Much about the bodily temperature and use of the thermometer will appear 
in the discussion of Distemper. In health it varies slightly in different parts of 
the body, being about rox” F. in the rectum, roo° in the groin, and 984° in the 
mouth. Many disorders of the system are accompanied by decided elevations in 
temperature. In some these changes are among the earliest, if not the very 
first, symptoms manifested; and the most pronounced outward signs of them, 
aside from the heat of the skin, are trembling or shiverings, hot and dry nose, 
and thirst. In certain diseases, as pneumonia, the rise is rapid and sudden; 
while in others equally as serious, notably distemper, there may be at first only 
