156 
A CASE OF RABIES IN A CAT. 
A cat, about the 18th or 19th of January last, was supposed 
to have been bitten by a dog—there was blood about the head, 
and the ear was evidently lacerated. 
On the 1st of February the owner noticed her to be unusually 
dull. On the 2d this had evidently increased. She sat in the 
corner of an out-house, apparently half asleep and half awake, 
and took no notice of any one. 
On the 4th of February the owner, somewhat anxious about her, 
went to see what was the matter; and endeavouring to take her up, 
in order better to examine her, she bit him through the thumb, 
and made her escape into the back yard, and took refuge in the 
garden, near the rails. A boy, an apothecary^s lad apparently, 
passing soon afterwards, saw her there, and endeavoured to coax 
her towards him. For this purpose he put his hand through the 
rails. She immediately flew at his hand, and apparently bit him 
severely. Every inquiry has been made respecting this lad. 
Several persons saw him crying with the blood streaming down 
his hand ; but no farther intelligence can be obtained respect¬ 
ing him. 
On the 5th, she flew upon the dog, and sadly scratched and bit 
him. She was, with diflSculty and danger, torn away, and got 
into a basket, and conveyed to my hospital. She was there put 
into a rabbit hutch, and the door secured. 
When she seemed to be a little quiet, I began cautiously and 
carefully to examine her. There was no particular wildness in 
her eye, except when she was excited. Her lips and mouth were 
considerably swelled—her gait, as she occasionally shifted her 
position in the hutch, was staggering. If any thing was pre¬ 
sented close to the wires of the hutch, then her eyes glared fear¬ 
fully, and she darted at it with the greatest possible fury. She 
frequently darted at some object that existed only in her dis¬ 
turbed imagination. She w^as often employed in scraping the 
dung from the corners of the hutch, and she would get part 
of it into her mouth, and carry it from one place to another. 
Various things were offered her to eat, but she would not touch 
one of them. Water was within her reach, but she did not 
lap it; yet whenever a little of it was sprinkled upon her, she 
fell into violent convulsions. The staggering gait increased until 
the hind limbs were altogether palsied. 
On the 6th she died. The stomach was filled with dark vitiated 
bile, partially mingled with a thick glairy matter of a lighter co¬ 
lour. The whole of the mucous membrane of the stomach was 
dark, and highly inflamed, and particularly about the pyloric ori¬ 
fice. There was one spot of ecchymosis of a considerable size. 
