330 THE VETERINARY DOCTOR. 
DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT.* 
HY DROPHOBIA.—RABIES.—MADNESS. 
This fearful malady is liable to occur in any dog, and is therefore a 
source of dread to many people when near one of the species. It results. 
from a specific virus which passes into the system by infection, whether by a 
bite or by any other means of introduction through a break in the skin or 
mucous membrane. The most playful bite of an affected animal has the 
same effect as a malicious one. It affects either sex, not the male only, as 
has been supposed. It is more prevalent in winter and the damp cold 
weather of spring, and is not, 7 azy sense, peculiar to “dog days” and 
other hot weather, as is popularly believed. 
Symptoms.—The wound from the bite rapidly heals, usually without 
inflammation. During a period thereafter, varying from three weeks to 
eight months, though usually not more than six weeks, no symptoms are 
noticeable. The disease, after this period, will develop in one of two 
forms, the vzolent or the szédlen, a distinction too often unobserved. In the 
violent form, after the weeks of incubation, the animal is sullen for a few 
hours, or even three or four days; then is irritable or violently mad for three 
or four days, and in the third stage becomes more calm, weaker, and dies 
after being in this stage a few days. In the sw//ex form, the dog passes 
through the first and third of the stages just indicated, the violent period 
being absent or being much less marked by excitement, motion and biting. 
The absence of this violence should not be considered proof that hydro- 
phobia does not exist. Mr. Youatt, who is widely quoted as the highest 
authority on this malady in dogs, has epitomized the detailed symptoms in 
the two forms substantially as follows: 
1. In the v/olent form, after the period of sullenness, which lasts a 
few hours, possibly days, there are increased sensitiveness and muscular activ- 
ity, a disposition to bite, and a continued peculiarity in the bark, the last 
being a very noticeable indication. The animal becomes changed in habits 
and disposition, licks or carries stones, sticks, and like substances, is restless and 
snaps in the air, though still obedient and kind to his master. Soon the appe- 
tite is disgustingly depraved, so that the urine and excrement from the bowels 
are eaten, or there is a loss of appetite and thirst; swelling of the tongue 
and mouth; redness, dullness, and half-closing of the eyes; wrinkling of 
the skin on the forehead; roughness and staring of the hair; unsteadiness 
and staggering in the gait; periodic biting, snapping immediately after ap- 
* Read the remarks on ‘“‘Anatomy and Physiology” page 41. 
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