DISTEMPER IN THE DOG. 
687 
Treatment .—The different authors seem to be at variance as 
regards the treatment of this disease. Some advise purgatives, 
some emetics, others setons, blisters, etc. Some claim certain 
drugs as specifics. That there is any specific for this disease, 
is to my mind the rankest folly. Good nursing is the sheet 
anchor. The patient should be placed in a warm place, and be 
made as comfortable as possible ; cold should be particularly 
guarded against; he should be well nursed and fed on nutritious 
concentrated food, such as beef tea, mutton broth, eggs and milk 
✓ beaten up together, etc. Bulky food, as meat, should be avoided. 
If the patient will not eat, which is often the case, he should be 
fed with a spoon. The eyes and nose should be frequently 
bathed in order to remove the muco-purulent discharge that ac¬ 
cumulates in them. Vegetable tonics should be administered, 
and persevered in till the patient improves. If there are any 
respiratory complications, hot poultices should be applied to chest 
and sides ; blisters and counter-irritants are contraindicated, as 
they tend to annoy the patient. Especial care should be taken 
regarding the hygienic surroundings. If the fever is persistent 
and high, a few doses of bromo-quinia and salol may be given 
to advantage. All the treatment should tend toward the one 
main point, viz., the keeping up of the patient’s strength. As 
chorea and paralysis are liable to follow distemper, and are 
usually fatal, an effort should be made to ward them off Care 
should be taken that the-patient be kept very clean; the litter 
he lays on should be changed once a day, and burned on re¬ 
moval. The old saw that “while there’s life there’s hope,” is 
fully exemplified in this disease. I have known cases so des¬ 
perate, that it would appear to be folly to persevere any longer, 
suddenly take a turn for the better and recover. Once the 
disease takes a favorable turn, the patient usually recovers very 
rapidly. 
Post-mortem appearances .—The following is taken from Steel: 
Body emaciated, eyes and nose glued with purulent mucous ; 
lungs reddish brown, dark, dense in consistency, and their 
parenchyma infiltrated with fabrinous exudote. Commencing 
