CHAPTER II 
SCOCEPTISILAITY 
Animals Susceptible—The dog is undoubtedly most 
receptive of the infection of distemper, the cat being © 
Susceptible in a much lesser degree ; and observers have 
Stated that foxes, jackals, wolves, hyzenas, and monkeys 
are also liable to attack, though I—in common with most 
other veterinary surgeons—have had no opportunity of 
verifying the latter assertion or recording any cases 
among the wild animals. 
I have nevertheless come in contact, on several occa- 
sions, with sickness among ferrets used for rabbiting— 
the symptoms of which have simulated those of canine 
distemper—and even among the rabbits themselves. It 
may perhaps be assumed that the primary infection in 
these cases has been disseminated by the farm dog 
employed in rabbiting operations. 
Several foreign bacteriologists have stated positively 
that canine distemper may be transmitted experimentally 
from the dog to the cat and vice versa, and Laosson per- 
formed ninety-eight inoculation experiments on dogs and 
cats, which appeared to show (1) that canine and feline 
distemper are identical; (2) that they are reciprocally 
transmitted; (3) that young dogs and cats became 
infected almost without exception; (4) that mature and 
old cats and dogs were less susceptible; (5) that the nasal 
discharge loses its virulence in fourteen days; and 
(6) that the contents of the pustules were ineffective for 
the purposes of the experiment. 
In spite of these experiments, however, it has been my 
experience that a cat will not xaturally contract distemper 
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