COURSE, PROGNOSIS AND MORTALITY 135 
pups are far less able to withstand the infection, and 
they succumb in greater proportion. 
Dogs habitually fed on an artificial diet, which includes 
very little or no meat, may also be expected to suffer in 
greater degree than those living on flesh. Pneumonic 
lesions are undoubtedly present in the majority of cases, 
and on account of the liability to extensive pulmonary 
solidification or oedema, must be considered as very 
grave. .; 
A sudden and marked drop in temperature, unaccom- 
panied by any diminution of the distressing symptoms, is 
to be looked upon as an exceedingly sinister phenomenon ; 
and conversely, where a sustained high temperature 
supersedes upon what in the beginning was a normal or 
nearly normal temperature, it is a serious indication of 
the development or incidence of a grave complication 
connected perhaps with the lungs, nervous system, or 
alimentary tract. 
Whilst the nervous manifestations usually arise late in 
the disease, convulsions are nevertheless sometimes seen 
in the early stages, when they are not regarded quite so 
seriously, especially if the fits are few in number. When, 
however, they appear towards the end of the malady, 
prognosis becomes more than ever doubtful, death being 
a too frequent termination. 
Chorea is not necessarily lethal, but it often renders an 
animal so useless and miserable that an owner prefers to 
have the dog destroyed rather than witness its evident 
distress. Youatt remarks: “One fit is a serious thing ; 
if it is followed by a second within a day or two the 
chances of cure are diminished, and if they rapidly 
succeed each other, the dog is almost always lost.” 
In some cases the nervous symptoms are succeeded by 
general paralysis and death in a state of coma; death is 
then probably produced by paralysis of the brain. 
