. _ CHAPTER XII 
TREAI TMENT AND CONVALESCENCE 
_ TREATMENT. 
I may state at the outset that there is absolutely no 
specific cure for distemper, as no agent has yet been 
discovered possessing the property of killing the causal 
organism of this disease. Thus all the advertisements 
one reads of “sure remedies for the cure of distemper” 
must be regarded as calculated deliberately to deceive 
the public into buying concoctions which can no more 
perform what is claimed for them than can the bottles in 
which they are contained. 
Quack Remedtes.—It is really surprising what faith 
some members of the community place in these quack 
nostrums, and withal rather pathetic to think of the poor 
sick dog being regularly dosed with them, irrespective of 
whether they are suited to his particular case or harmful. 
He is lucky in the possession of the power of voluntary 
emesis. In view of the diversity of this disease, it must 
be obvious to all how impossible it is to expect to derive 
benefit from any ove prescription. Each case must be 
treated on its merits, and since no specific therapeutic 
agent exists, one must necessarily treat the symptoms as 
they arise. 
All “doggy” persons appear to have their own pet 
quack remedy by which they swear, yet their dogs 
continue to die in about the same proportion as ever, 
and probably very often as a result of the treatment. 
Gray humorously remarked: ‘“ Even at the present time, 
we have those who believe in the virtue of a ‘piece of 
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