BIAEEHCEA 77 



also be given ; elixir of bark, pepsin and bismuth should 

 be given in teaspoonful doses before food is taken, and 

 less quantities for small dogs. 



Distemper 



It is not at all necessary that dogs should have dis- 

 temper ; good food, warm and comfortable housing, and 

 cleanliness are the great preventives. It is a difficult 

 disease to cure when it attacks a dog, as no other disease 

 prostrates the system so rapidly. In this disease all the 

 secretions are vitiated and diminished in quantity and 

 quality, all arising from the action of poison in the blood. 

 The symptoms are general debility, want of appetite, 

 feverishness, and a running at the nose and eyes, offensive 

 breath, and eruptive spots on the lower part of the body, 

 alternate iits of heat and shivering, a short husky cough, 

 and sneezing, especially when out of doors, the bowels 

 relaxed and sometimes constipated, the eyes filled with 

 thick gummy matter, and rapid loss of flesh and strength. 



When distemper is fully developed in a dog there is a 

 frothy expectoration, and after a time the mouth becomes 

 covered with brown fur. It generally runs a course of 

 from three to six weeks, and may be divided into four stages : 

 the ' incipient,' the ' reaction,' the ' prostration,' and 

 ' convalescence.' There are often several complications 

 with this disease : — Head complication, causing congestion 

 of the brain ; bronchial compliccdion, with violent cough and 

 occasionally inflammation of the lungs ; intestinal complica- 

 tion, or violent purging of black fluid, followed by watery 

 and offensive stools with pieces of whitish skin mixed in 

 with them. This is- a very bad complication, as, if not 

 checked and the dog's strength well kept up and main- 

 tained, the animal dies from exhaustion very quickly. 

 Another complication is that when it attacks the skin ; 

 when a large -number of small pustules filled with matter 

 and blood spread over the body. Unfortunately, this malady 



