334 THE MANAGEMENT AND DISEASES OF THE DOU. 



Stiffly, or, as it were, all CT apiece. The ears are pricked, the 

 tail is carried out straight and has a quivering motion ; the 

 affected muscles have, a tense corded feel, and the limbs are 

 straight and set. During a spasm the animal falls over on 

 its side, and presents much the same appearance as if poi- 

 soned by strychnine, uttering strange hoarse cries between fear 

 and pain.* 



Death may result from asphyxia, exhaustion, or— -though I 

 believe it to be exceedingly rare — spasmodic contraction of 

 the heart. 



Post-mortem Appearances.— These vary somewhat: most 

 frequently the spinal cord and its membranes are congested; 

 occasionally the brain and. dura mater exhibit a similar ap- 

 pearance, but more particularly so in general and protracted 

 tetanus. In cases of traumatic tetanus, this condition is more 

 apparent in the nerve tissue near the seat of .injury ; while 

 the muscles in the same locality are soft, dark, and gorged 

 with blood. In severe cases they are sometimes ruptured. 



Treatment. — A late eminent lecturer on this subject, as 

 affecting the horse, was wont to observe, in producing a stable 

 door-key, that that was the best measure we could adopt in 

 this disease, and the same meaning he intended to convey is 

 equally applicable to the dog. Perfect quietude, moderate 

 warmth, and subdued light, should always be enforced in the 

 treatment of canine tetanus. The person the animal is most 

 accustomed and attached to, is the fittest attendant ; the 



* I have heard it frequently argued that tetanus is not a painful dis- 

 ease, and that in the horse the profuse perspirations which accompany it 

 are nierely the result of absolute fear. This theory I cannot subscribe to, 

 and never have agreed with. I do not for a moment dispute the presence 

 of fear, or that it is a cause of perspiration ; but my reply has always been 

 that pain must be, at all events for a time, an inevitable result of sudden 

 an iiiordinate stimulus by the nerves supplying the muscles so affected. 

 Long-continued pressure may, and we know will, in time produce numb- 

 ness or paralysis ; but in tetanus there being remissions of convulsion, 

 each sudden contraction when a spasm comes on must produce intense 

 pain. 



