360 KENNEL DISEASES. 
head when called, but soon returns and lies down; and there is no mistaking 
that he is quite ill. 
His sleep is dreamy and disturbed; his nose is hot and dry, and the 
discharge from it dries in thin crusts around the nostrils; the pulse is gen- 
erally over 100°, the urine scanty and high colored, the tongue slightly coated, 
and the secretion of saliva diminished. 
As the disease progresses the cough is more troublesome for a time, and 
may be accompanied by retching and vomiting; then it loosens as the mucous 
secretion becomes more abundant, and the huskiness disappears; so, also, 
the cough in mild cases. Except in short-headed dogs, in which it becomes 
what is termed ‘‘ sniffing,” the respiration is but little affected at first, nor as 
a rule at any time excepting in severe cases, in which it grows shorter and 
quicker. 
The teeth soon nave a thick brownish coating; while the gums are in- 
flamed, sometimes even to the extent of ulceration; and the breath is exceed- 
ingly offensive. 
When diarrhea occurs early in an attack it generally soon stops, to be 
followed for a time by constipation; or the latter may exist from the begin- 
ning, and be quite obstinate. In most cases of considerable severity, however, 
diarrhea usually comes on before the end of the second week, and then the 
discharges, as a rule, are at first black, and have much the appearance of 
liquid pitch; and if they are not soon controlled, but instead allowed to keep 
up, in time they are likely to consist largely of mucus, with more or less blood 
intermingled, and be accompanied by very painful straining. 
The loss of strength and flesh is rapid in severe attacks of this disease, 
and in the course of a week or ten days from the beginning of them many 
victims are scarcely able to stand. All seriously diseased also emit a mawkish, 
fetid odor, that is quite offensive. 
The catarrhal affection of the head is intensely severe in some cases, the 
discharge from the nose in time becoming very copious and tinged with blood, 
while the nose itself appears swollen. The eyes are also generally much 
inflamed; and in occasional instances ulceration of the cornea occurs. 
In not a few cases the membrane lining the throat and top of the windpipe 
is greatly inflamed and more or less swollen. The mucous secretion, then of 
yellowish-greenish tinge and quite copious and ropy, is expelled during retch- 
ing or attempts to vomit, which it seems to excite. With these patients there 
is difficulty in breathing, which is evident from puffing of the cheeks. 
In uncomplicated distemper the temperature may rise at first to 105°, or a 
little higher, and in the course of one or two days, under right treatment, fall 
to 104°, or possibly to 103°, and soon be down to near 102°. Such falls would 
certainly indicate that the patient was doing well and the attack likely to be 
a mild one. If, however, the temperature kept up, manifestly the inference 
