SYMPTOMS OF DISTEMPER. 425 



that is, when contracted by contagion, or clearly epidemic. (On 

 the other hand, when it is developed in consequence of neglect, 

 it comes on at the end of some other attack of disease, which 

 may have existed for an indefinite time.) Almost always the 

 first thing noticed is a general dulness or lassitude, together 

 with loss of appetite. In a day or two there is generally a 

 peculiar husky cough, which sounds as if the dog were trying 

 to get a piece of straw out of his throat, and always comes 

 on at exercise after a gallop. With this there is also a ten- 

 dency to sneeze, but not so marked as the " husk " or " tissuck " 

 which may occur in common " cold " or influenza, but is then 

 usually more severe, and also more variable in its severity; soon 

 going on to inflammation, or else entirely ceasing in a few days. 

 In distemper, the strength and flesh rapidly fail and waste, 

 while in common "cold," the cough may continue for days 

 without much alteration in either ; and this is one of the chief 

 characteristics of the true disease. There is, also, generally a 

 black pitchy condition of the fceces, and the urine is scanty and 

 high-coloured. The white of the eyes is always more or less 

 reddened, the colour being of a bluish red cast, and the vessels 

 being evidently gorged with blood. When the brain is attacked, 

 the eyes are more injected than when the bowels or lungs are 

 the seats of complication. The corners of the eyes have a small 

 drop of mucus, and the nose runs more or less, which symptoms, 

 as the disease goes on, are much aggravated, both being 

 glued up by brownish matter, while the teeth also are covered 

 with a blackish brown fur. Such are the regular symptoms of 

 a severe attack of distemper, gradually increasing in severity to 

 the third, fourth, or fifth week, when the dog dies from ex- 

 haustion, or from disease of the brain, lungs, or bowels, marked 

 by peculiar signs in each case. In this course the disease may 



