ON T1IE DISTEMPER OK DOGS. 
79 
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The liuskiiiess will be more frequent and troublesome, and the dis¬ 
charge from the nose will have greater consistence. It will be 
often and violently sneezed out, and will become more or less pu¬ 
rulent. It will stick about the nostrils and plug’ them up, and 
thus afford a considerable mechanical obstruction to the breathing. 
The young practitioner must beware that this difficulty of breath¬ 
ing, which may be removed by merely sponging the nostrils, be 
not mistaken for the laborious respiration of pneumonia. 
The progress of the disease is now uncertain. Sometimes fits 
come on, speedily following the intense inflammation of the eye ; 
or, the inflammation of the nasal cavity appears to be communi¬ 
cated, by proximity, to the membranes of the brain. One fit is a 
serious thing. If it be followed by a second, within a day or two, 
the chances of cure are diminished; and if they rapidly succeed 
each other, the dog is, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, lost. 
These fits seldom appear without warning ; and i f their approach 
be carefully watched, they may possibly be prevented. However 
indisposed to eat the dog may have previously been, the appetite 
returns when the fits are at hand, and the animal becomes abso¬ 
lutely voracious. Nature seems to be providing for the strange 
expenditure of animal power which epilepsy will soon occasion. 
The mucus almost entirely disappears from the eyes, although the 
discharge from the nose may continue unabated ; and for an hour 
or more before the fit there will be a champing of the lower jaw, 
frothing at the mouth, and discharge of saliva. The champing 
of the lower jaw will be seen at least twelve hours before the first 
fit, and will a little while precede every other. There will also 
be twitchings of some part of the frame, and usually of the mouth, 
cheek, or eyelid. It is of some consequence to attend to this, 
as enabling us to distinguish between the fits of distemper and 
those of teething, worms, or unusual excitement. The latter come 
on suddenly. The dog is apparently well, and racing about 
lull or spirits; and without a moment s warning he falls into vio¬ 
lent convulsions. 
We may here, likewise, be enabled to distinguish between 
rabies and distemper. When a person unacquainted with dogs 
sees one of these animals struggling in a fit, or running along 
unconscious of every surrounding object, or snapping at eveiy 
thing in his way, whether it be a human being or a stone, he 
raises the cry of “ mad dog,” and the poor brute is immediately 
sacrificed. The very existence of a fit is proof positive that the 
dog is not mad. No epilepsy accompanies rabies in any stage 
of that disease. 
The inflammation of the membrane of the nose and fauces is 
sometimes propagated along the mucous membrane of the wind- 
