The Dog

The genital organs rarely escape altogether. A thick purulent discharge, or one of a glairy nature, is often present in the male throughout the attack, and nearly always during recovery. In both sexes the bladder in the latter stages is apt to be paralysed, and the accumulation of the urine then becomes a prominent symptom. The recovery often commences after relief has been obtained, but if the necessity be overlooked, death generally ensues.

Paralysis of the hind extremities is occasionally witnessed, and when seen is generally sudden in its appearance. Sometimes, however, the loss of power is gradual, and when such is the case the hopes of a cure are always diminished. If the power of motion be lost suddenly, costiveness mostly exists; and if, on the other hand, it should be gradual, there may be diarrhœa, which will terminate in death.

Twitches, choræa, or Saint Vitus's dance, are not very usual, and may continue for months after every other symptom has subsided. All four limbs are sometimes violently agitated, and even during sleep are not quiescent. The motion is incessant, and when this is the case the animal dies, worn out by the want of bodily rest. In the majority of instances only one limb is affected; and a species of independence of volition, or incapability of controlling its movements, accompanies the affection. Though never still, the leg is comparatively useless, and is carried in a manner which denotes this fact. The muscles of the trunk are less commonly attacked, but they do not always escape. When the legs have not been thus affected, I have known the abdominal and thoracic muscles to be troubled by continuous twitchings; which, however, have been for the most part slight, and have subsided more quickly than have those of the extremities, when they have been diseased. Cholera comes on gradually; its commencement is hardly to be perceived, and it is seldom observed before the distemper is fully developed – even sometimes only when the disorder appears to be subsiding. It is not rare for it to start up while the animal is apparently recovering; and when it does so, it is always most difficult to remove. No pain is felt in the affected limb; the part rather seems to lose some portion of its sensibility.

When the hind parts are paralysed, feeling may be entirely gone; so that a pin thrust into the flesh of those parts does not even attract the notice of the dog. This does not occur in choræa, but the consciousness is dulled by that affection. The convulsed limb may be more roughly handled than the healthy ones; but violence will excite those answers which truly indicate that insensibility is not established in it. If nothing be done for the twitchings, the limb will waste; at last the general system will be sympathetically involved, and the body will grow thin. This, however, may not happen until long after all signs of distemper have disappeared; for choræa, though well known to be often fatal, is always slow in its progress, and never attended with immediate danger.

Such is an outline of the leading symptoms; and it now remains only to more particularly point out those which indicate death and denote recovery. The third or fourth week is the time when the dog mostly dies, if the disorder terminates fatally; and six weeks is the average continuance of the attack. Rapid loss of flesh is always a bad sign, and it is worse in proportion as the appetite is good, because then nature has lost the power of appropriation. The presence of vermin is likewise a circumstance which in some measure is deserving of notice. If a dog becomes, during the existence of this disorder, unusually infested with fleas, or more especially if lice all at once cover its coat, – as these parasites ever abound where the body is debilitated and the system unhealthy, – they are at such a period particularly ominous. The coat cannot, while the disease prevails, be expected to look sleek; but when it becomes more than usually harsh, and is decidedly foul, having a peculiar smell, which is communicated to the hand when it is passed over the body, the anticipations are not bright. The most marked indication is, however, given by the tongue. When this is only a little whiter than it was in health, we may hope for recovery; but if it becomes coated, discolored, and red and dry at its tip and edges, the worst may be foretold. The warning is the more decided if the breath be hot and tainted, and the belly and feet cold to the touch. While the dog can stand and walk, however feebly, there is no reason to despair; but when it falls down, and lies upon its side, rarely is medicine of much avail. Even then, however, it will sometimes recover; but if, while in this state, injections are returned as soon as they are administered, the chance that it can survive is indeed remote.

Recovery, in extreme cases, usually commences after diarrhœa which had set in has subsided, rather than during its attack. This is the only semblance to anything approaching a crisis which has come hither under my observation. If simultaneously the eyes lose their red and glassy aspect, and the cough returns, the danger may be supposed to have been passed. For weeks, however, the animal will require attention; for the convalescence is often more difficult to master than the disease itself is to cure; and relapses, always more dangerous than the original attack, are by no means unusual. The recovery may not be perfect before one or even two months have expired; but usually it is rapid, and the health is better than it was previous to the disease. A dog which would before never make flesh, having had the distemper, will often become fat. I once tried all in my power to relieve a Newfoundland dog of worms, but though I persisted for months, I was at last reluctantly obliged to admit the case was beyond any treatment I dared employ. A fortnight after I had given it up, the same animal was brought to me, suffering under evident distemper. I was not displeased to see it in that state, for I felt I could overcome the disease; and I told the proprietor that with the distemper the worms would depart. So it proved, and the dog has not since been subject to the annoyance.

When the violence of the disorder has declined, the skin generally peels, the cuticle is cut off, and the hair is scurfy. I have even known the soles of the feet to cast their outer covering, and in one case three of the nails were shed. The teeth, also, are coated with a thick fur, and the breath is offensive; but as the strength returns at the same time, these circumstances are not to be viewed in a serious light. In one or two instances, where the system seemed to be so shaken that it retained no strength to cast off the lingering remnant of the distemper, mange has burst forth, and proceeded very rapidly; but it yielded with equal speed to mild external remedies, and is therefore only to be feared inasmuch as it disfigures the dog for a time, retarding the ultimate restoration to health by further taxing the enfeebled body.

During the recovery from distemper, small and delicate animals – terriers and spaniels – are very liable to faint; the dog is lively, perhaps excited, when suddenly it falls upon its side, and all its limbs stiffen. A series of these attacks may follow one another, though generally one only occurs; when numerous and rapid, there is some danger, but, as a general rule, little apprehension need be entertained. The fainting fits are of some consequence, if they exist during a sickening for, or maturing of, distemper. In pups that have not passed the climax of the disease, they are not unseldom the cause of death; but, even in that case, I have never been convinced that the measures adopted for the relief did not kill quite as much or even more than the affection. When the symptom is mistaken, and wrong remedies are resorted to, the fainting fit will often continue for hours, or never be overcome. When let alone, the attack mostly does not last longer than a quarter of an hour, and under judicious treatment the consciousness almost immediately returns. When the fainting fits occur during the progress or advance of the disease – that is, before the symptoms have begun to amend – it is usually preceded by signs of aggravation. For twelve or twenty-four hours previously the dog is perceptibly worse; it may moan or cry, and yet no organ seems to be decidedly affected more seriously than it was before. I attribute the sounds made to headache; and, confirming this opinion, there is always some heat at the scalp. The animal is dull, but immediately before the collapse it attempts to wander, and has begun to move, probably panting at the same time, when it falls without a cry, and stiffens. In this state – the rigidity occasionally being less, but the unconsciousness continuing unchanged – it will remain; the eyes are turned upward or into the skull, the gums and tongue are pallid, the legs and belly cold: the appearances are those of approaching death, which, unless relief is afforded, may in a short time take place. When the fainting occurs after convalescence is established, the attack is sudden, the symptoms are less violent, and the coma of shorter duration. In this last case there is generally little danger, but there is always sufficient reason for alarm, and help ought never to be delayed. These attacks are commonly confounded with true distemper fits, from which they are altogether distinct; and from which they may be readily distinguished by the absence of the champing of the jaw, the want of any disposition to bite, the immediate insensibility which ensues, the shrieks not being heard, and the urine or fæces not being voided. Nevertheless, the two are usually confounded, and hence many persons are found asserting that distemper fits are easily cured; and several dogs have been shown to me at different times, which their owners were confident had been attacked by distemper fits, and radically cured by the most simple, and often ridiculous specifics. I have sometimes in despair – even against my reason – tried these boasted remedies, but in no instance has the result rewarded me. Where there was real occasion for a potent medicine, and little hope that any drug could benefit, the nostrums have, without a single exception, belied the confident recommendations with which they were offered, and either have done harm or proved inoperative.

The symptoms of distemper, as the reader will, after wading through the foregoing description, have perceived, are numerous and complicated; they admit of no positive arrangement, being both eccentric in their order and appearances. Redness of the eyes, with discharge from both eyes and nose, accompanied with ordinary signs of illness, are the early indications; but even these are not to be sought for, or to be expected in any single form. The judgment must be exercised, and study strengthened by experience will alone enable any man to pronounce the presence of distemper in many cases; while, perhaps, without knowledge or practice any person may recognise it in the generality of instances.

The treatment is rendered the more difficult because of the insidious nature of the disorder, and the uncertain character of its symptoms; under such circumstances, it is no easy task to make perfectly clear those instructions I am about to give. I am in possession of no specific; I do not pretend to teach how to conjure; I am going only to lay down certain rules which, if judiciously applied, will tend to take from this disease that fatal reputation which it has hitherto acquired. I shall be obliged, however, to leave much to the discretion of the reader; for it would employ too great a space, did I attempt to make provision for all possible accidents and probable combinations.

The diet is of all importance; it must be strictly attended to. In the first place, meat or flesh must be withheld. Boiled rice, with a little broth from which the fat has been removed, may be the food of a weakly animal, but for the majority bread and milk will be sufficient; whichever is employed must be given perfectly cold. Sugar, butter, sweet biscuits, meat, gravy, greens, tea or pot liquor – either luxuries or trash – must be scrupulously denied in any quantity, however small. Skim-milk, if perfectly sweet, is to be preferred, and coarse bread or ship biscuits are better than the same articles of a finer quality. These will form the diet, when the dog can be brought to accept them; and to rice, the favorite – however great may be the pity he elicits, or however urgent may be his solicitations for a more liberal fare – must be rigidly confined. If, after a few trials, the dog stubbornly refuses such provender, meat must of necessity be given, but it should be of the very best description, and rather underdone. Of this kind, it ought to be minced, and mixed with so much rice or ship biscuit as the animal can at first be made to eat with it; the rice or biscuit may then be gradually increased; and in the end the vegetable substance will constitute, at all events, the major part of the support. Water, constantly changed – a circumstance too little attended to where dogs are concerned – must be the only drink; the bed must be warm and dry, but airy. Cleanliness cannot be carried to too nice an extent; here the most fastidious attention is not out of place. Let the kennel be daily cleared, and the bed regularly changed at least thrice-a-week; straw or hay is better for the dog to sleep upon than cushions or blankets, which, being more expensive, are not so frequently replaced. Too much hay or straw cannot be allowed, but, on the other hand, it is difficult to regulate the quantity of the finer articles. In the last kind of bed the animal is often almost smothered, or else he scrapes them into a lump, and lies shivering on the top; whereas, when he has straw to lie upon, he can either creep beneath it, and shelter himself when sensible of cold, or expose himself to the air when oppressed by the fever. The sensations being the only guide, it is best to leave the dog, as much as possible, capable of obeying its instinct; but always let the bed be ample, as during the night the shivering generally prevails, and the cold fit is entirely independent of the heat to be felt at the skin, or the temperature of the season. Let the dog be kept away from the fire, for, if permitted, it will creep to the hearth, and may be injured by the falling cinders, when the burn will not perhaps readily heal. A cold or rather cool place is to be selected – one protected from wet, free from damp, and not exposed to wind or draughts. The kennel, if properly constructed, is the better house, for dogs do best in the open air; the only objection to which is, the chance it offers of the animal being drenched with rain. If the kennel can be placed under an open outhouse, I should always have it put there; and what else I would recommend is, of course, told by the line of conduct which I pursue.

Medicinal measures are not to be so quickly settled. A constant change of the agents employed will be imperative, and the practitioner must be prepared to meet every symptom as it appears. The treatment is almost wholly regulated by the symptoms, and as the last are various, of course the mode of vanquishing them cannot be uniform. To guide us, however, there is the well-known fact, the disease we have to subdue is of a febrile kind, and has a decided tendency to assume a typhoid character; therefore, whatever is done must be of a description not likely to exhaust, – depletion is altogether out of the question. The object we have to keep in view is the support of nature, and the husbanding of those powers which the malady is certain to prey upon: in proportion as this is done, so will be the issue. In the very early stage, purgatives or emetics are admissible. If a dog is brought to me with reddened eyes, but no discharge, and the owner does no more with regard to the animal than complain of dulness, a want of appetite, and a desire to creep to the warmth, then I give a mild emetic such as is directed, page 119; and this I repeat for three successive mornings; on the fourth day administering a gentle purge, as ordered, page 116. The tartar emetic solution and purgative pills I employ for these purposes, in preference to castor oil or ipecacuanha, and during the same time I prescribe the following pills: —

Make into twenty-four pills, and give three daily; choosing the lowest amount specified, or the intermediate quantities, according to the size of the animal.

Often under this treatment the disease will appear to be suddenly cut short. With the action of the purgative, or even before it has acted, all the symptoms will disappear, and nothing remains which seems to say any further treatment is required. I never rest here, for experience has taught me that these appearances are deceptive, and the disorder has a disposition to return. Consequently strict injunctions are given as to diet, and a course of tonics is adopted: —

Make into twenty pills, and give three daily.

At the same time I give the liquor arsenicalis, which I prepare not exactly as is directed to be made by the London pharmacopœia, but after the following method: —

Take any quantity of arsenious acid, and adding to it so much distilled water as will constitute one ounce of the fluid to every four grains of the substance, put the two into a glass vessel. To these put a quantity of carbonate of potash equal to that of the acid, and let the whole boil until the liquid is perfectly clear. The strength is the same as the preparation used in human practice; the only difference is, the coloring and flavoring ingredients are omitted, because they render the medicine distasteful to the dog. The dose for the dog is from one drop to three drops; it may be carried higher, but should not be used in greater strength, when a tonic or febrifuge effect only is desired.

Of the liquor arsenicalis I take ten or twenty drops, and adding one ounce of distilled water, mingled with a little simple syrup, I order a teaspoonful to be given thrice daily with the pills, or in a little milk, or in any fluid the creature is fond of. The taste being pleasant, the dog does not object to this physic, and it is of all importance that it should be annoyed at this time as little as may be possible.

Numerous are the cases which have thus been shortened by this method; and the advantage gained by this mode of treatment is, that if the measures employed be not absolutely necessary, they do no harm, and if required, they are those which are calculated to mitigate the violence of the disease; so for three or four weeks I pursue this course, and should all then appear well, I dismiss the case.

Most generally, however, the dogs brought to us with the distemper have the disease fairly established before we see them. Then I never purge or vomit: the time when such agents could be remedial has passed, and if now used, though they will seem to do some immediate good, the after consequences are always to be regretted. The action of the purgative has scarcely subsided before the distemper assumes a more virulent form, and the probability of the termination is rendered more dark. During the distemper I pay little attention to the bowels; and, however great may be the costiveness, I never venture to resort even to a laxative, though, should I discover the rectum to be impacted with hard fæces, an enema may be employed. That which I use on these occasions is composed of gruel, to which some sulphuric ether and laudanum has been added.

The above quantity will be ample for the largest dog – one-eighth will be enough for a small animal – and for a mere pup, an ounce of the fluid is often sufficient. In these cases, however, I always continue the injection until it is returned, the object not being to have it retained; but simply to lubricate the part, and thereby facilitate the passage of the fæces, while by distending the rectum, that intestine is stimulated to expel its contents. The ether and laudanum are introduced to guard against the possibility of irritation. If a more than usual disposition to costiveness be observed, twice a week a meal of liver, chopped very fine, is allowed; but even this should be given only after there is absolute proof of its necessity.

Of the cough, however distressing it may be, I take no notice. I do nothing for its relief, but persevere in the tonic treatment, and become more strict in my directions concerning diet. The cough is only one of the symptoms attendant on the disorder, and the measures likely to mitigate its severity will aggravate the disease; while by attacking the disorder, we destroy the cause, and with that the effect also disappears.

The eyes I treat, or rather refuse to treat, upon the same principle. Whatever may be the appearance they present – even though the animal should be actually blind, the eye of a dull thick white color on its entire surface, and the centre of the cornea ulcerated – nevertheless I let them alone, and turn a deaf ear to the entreaties which call on me to relieve so terrible an affliction: I forbid even the discharge to be washed off. Nothing must go near them; but the treatment must be pursued as though we were ignorant that the parts were affected. Any excessive accumulation may be gently picked off with the fingers once a-day; but even this must be performed with the utmost caution, and in most instances had better be let alone. It can only be necessary in dogs that have very long hair which becomes matted and glued together upon the cheeks; for other animals it is not imperative. If the lids should be stuck together, the fastening substance may be removed; but it should not be too quickly done even then. All water, either warm, tepid, or cold – every kind of lotion, or any sort of salve or powder – will do harm, by either weakening or irritating the organs. As to bleeding, blistering, and setoning, which have been advised, they are contrary to the dictates of humanity, and as a necessary consequence, are injurious. In medicine, at least with the dog, that which is not kind is not good. With these animals the feelings are much safer than the reason; and a lady, consulting the impulses of her heart, would be more likely to save her favorite than a veterinary surgeon, who proceeded upon the practice of that which he supposed was his science. Let the eyes of the sufferer alone – we cannot alleviate the pain, or shorten its duration. The disease regulates the torture, and to that we must give attention. If the distemper is conquered, the sight will mostly be restored; but if the eyes are tampered with, consequences may ensue which are not natural to the disease, but are induced by the crude and cruel prejudices of the doctor. The man who, during distemper, seeing an ulcer upon the cornea, under the imagination that by so doing he will set up a healthy action, presumes to touch it with lunar caustic, will in the resistance of the poor patient be rebuked, and, by the humour of the eye squirting into his face, probably be informed that he has accomplished the very object he intended to prevent, while a fungoid mass will spring up to commemorate his achievement.

When the lungs are attacked, all kinds of mistaken cruelties have been perpetrated. No wonder the disease has been so fatal, when it has been so little understood. I cannot conceive that any dog could survive the measures I was by my college tutor taught to pursue, or the plan which books told me to adopt. Needlessly severe, calculated to strengthen the disease, and to decrease the power of the animal to survive, as the general practice decidedly is, I entreat the reader to reject it. In truth, the involvement of the lungs is in distemper a very slight affair; no symptom yields more quickly or to milder means. Do not forget the diet, but let it be both low and small. The system cannot endure depletion, therefore we must gain whatever we can through abstinence. Do not starve, but be cautious not to cram the animal; only keep it so short that it remains always hungry. The meal must now never be full, or sufficient to satisfy the appetite, which is usually large. A loaded stomach would do much injury, therefore little and often is the rule. The amount for the day must be cut off in the morning; and during the day, at as many times as the owner pleases, it may little by little be offered, but no more must be allowed. If the dog should not be inclined to eat, which is not often the case at this particular period, the circumstance is hardly to be regretted; he is not, save under the direction of one qualified to give such an order, to be enticed or forced. As for medicine, let the following pill be given thrice daily: —