104 CANINE DISTEMPER 
speedy emaciation, profuse, stinking, and sometimes 
sanguineous, nasal discharge—indicating extensive ulcer- 
ation of the nasal mucous membranes, or pus in the 
sinuses—an irritant and very excoriating ocular dis- 
charge, with, on rare occasions, an exudation from the 
ear; the faecal material is a mixture of blood, mucus, and 
offensive bile, the body of the poor wretched beast 
emitting a vile smell characteristic of distemper ; and 
after a miserable existence of varied duration, finally 
succumbing to the inevitable. 
Jaundice. — Under the heading of gastro-intestinal 
lesions one might very conveniently consider the hepatic 
symptoms which sometimes arise with or after distemper, 
since they are closely related to those of the alimentary 
canal. Jaundice is a somewhat rare, though very 
frequently fatal, complication of distemper, in which the 
bile invades every tissue of the body, wa the blood 
stream, causing a characteristic yellow hue to skin and 
visible mucous membranes. These yellow tints set in 
at a somewhat late stage of the complaint, the sclerotic 
and conjunctiva then being first invaded, followed in 
turn by the mucous membranes, skin, and urine. The 
. latter takes on a deeper hue, and the feces are variously 
black, greenish, or clay-coloured and very offensive. The 
breath is bad, vomition is sometimes excessive, and the 
vomit often mixed with blood, the animal very depressed 
and constipated. Sometimes, however, there is diarrhea, 
the excrements being bloody; or pure blood may at 
times be voided. From the moment the yellow tinge sets 
in, the faeces become greyish-white, owing to the stoppage 
of the flow of bile into the intestines, and they contain 
much undigested fat. The antiseptic effect of the bile is 
absent, which fact—coupled with the presence of un- 
digested fat in the feeces—makes the latter very foetid 
and unpleasant. 
