I 
OX THE DISTEMPER OF DOGS. 
85 
and the animal is losing flesh and getting weak, we must give 
hair the quantity of the sedative and diuretic medicine, and add 
some mild tonic, as gentian, chamomile, and ginger : with occa¬ 
sional emetics; and take care to keep the bowels in a lax but not 
purging state. The dog should likewise be urged to eat; and if 
he obstinately refuse all food, he should be forced with strong 
beef jelly, for a very great degree of debility will now frequently 
ensue. 
We have thus far considered the treatment of distemper from 
its commencement; but it may have existed several days before 
we are consulted, and the dog may be thin, and husk, and scarcely 
eat. In such case give an emetic, a dose of salts, and then pro¬ 
ceed to the tonic and fever balls. 
Should the strength of the animal continue to decline, and the 
discharge from the nose become purulent and offensive, the fever 
medicine must be omitted, and the tonic balls, with carbonate of 
iron, administered. 
Some veterinarians are very fond of gum resins and balsams. 
My late partner, Mr. Blaine, in his excellent treatise on the dis¬ 
temper, in his “ Canine Pathology,” recommends gum Myrrh and 
gum Benjamin, and balsam of Peru, and camphor. I much 
doubt the efficacy of these drugs. They are beginning to get 
into disrepute in the practice of human medicine ; and I believe 
that if they were all banished from the veterinary materia medica 
we should experience no loss. When the dog begins to recover, 
although not so rapidly as we could wish, the tonic balls, with¬ 
out the iron, may be advantageously given, with, now and then, 
an emetic, if huskiness should threaten to return; but mild and 
wholesome food, and country or good air, will be the best 
tonics. 
If the discharge from the nose becomes very offensive, and the 
lips swelled and ulcerated, and the breath foetid, an ounce of 
yeast may be administered every noon, and the tonics morning 
and night; while the mouth is frequently washed with a solution 
of chloride of lime. 
At this period of the disease the submaxillary glands are some¬ 
times very much enlarged, and a tumour or abscess is formed, 
which, if not timely opened, breaks, and a ragged ill-conditioned 
ulcer is formed, very liable to spread, and very difficult to heal. 
It is prudent to puncture this tumour as soon as it begins to 
point, for it will never disperse. After the opening, a poultice 
should be applied one day to cleanse the ulcer, and it should 
then be daily washed with the compound tincture of Benjamin, 
and dressed with calamine ointment. Tonic balls should be 
given, and the animal liberally fed. 
VOL. III. N 
