260 CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES. 



motor nerves going to the liver — " glycosuria." The same results 

 may be produced by certain poisons — coal-gas, amyl nitrite, prussic 

 acid, and in some cases it is produced by morphia and chloral 

 hydrate. Another peculiar condition is also seen in cases of con- 

 cussion of the brain, fracture of the skull, and epilepsy, in which 

 sugar may be found in large quantities in the urine as a result of 

 this disease. Some observers have noticed it in true infectious 

 diseases, such as distemper. 



Clinical Symptoms and Course. The author has not been 

 able to find any sugar (grape-sugar) in the urine of dogs, notwith- 

 standing the fact that he has made a large number of tests. 

 According to our text-books, the symptoms of diabetes are as fol- 

 lows: Depression, duluess, great emaciation, in spite of the fact 

 that the animal has an enormous appetite; there is increased thirst, 

 and the animal passes an ordinary amount of urine with a high 

 specific gravity, containing from 7 to 12 per cent, of sugar. (The 

 method used for the detection of sugar in urine will be found under 

 Examination of Urine.) In many cases cataract may develop in 

 both eyes, causing total blindness. In other cases the hair falls 

 out ; chronic bronchial catarrh, phthisis of the Jungs, persistent 

 diarrhoea, and some have noticed an ulceration of the skin and 

 cornea. 



The course of the disease is gradual; emaciation and debility 

 increase until finally the animal sinks into a deep coma, accom- 

 panied, as a rule, with convulsions, and finally death. The prog- 

 nosis in all cases should be unfavorable. 



Therapeutics. The treatment of diabetes consists of feeding 

 the animal on food which does not contain any carbon, or as little 

 as possible. This may be accomplished to a certain extent by a 

 meat-diet, and even this diet cannot be followed up for any great 

 length of time. 



Diabetes Insipidus. 



This form of diabetes, while considered rare, is seen in 

 dogs of highly nervous organism that have been closely 

 bred, and where they have passed through great excitement. 

 Some forms of indigestion and a succession of fits, co- 

 incident with teething, seem to favor it. In this disease we 

 have an abnormal increase of the urine without the presence of 

 any sugar. It is more frequently found in young than in old 



