DISTEMPER.
Symptoms.—If the animal is a watch dog, (such are usually confined in the daytime,) the person who is in the daily habit of feeding him will first observe a loss of appetite; the animal will appear dull and lazy; shortly after, there is a watery discharge from the eyes and nose, resembling that which accompanies catarrh. As the disease advances, general debility supervenes, accompanied with a weakness of the hind extremities. The secretions are morbid; for example, some are constipated, and pass high-colored urine; others are suddenly attacked with diarrhœa, scanty urine, and vomiting. Fits are not uncommon during the progress of the disease.
Treatment.—If the animal is supposed to have eaten any improper food, we commence the treatment by giving an emetic.
Emetic for Dogs.
| Powdered lobelia, (herb,) | 1 tea-spoonful. |
| Warm water, | 1 wine-glass. |
Mix, and administer at a dose.
(A table-spoonful of common salt and water will generally vomit a dog.)
If this dose does not provoke emesis, it should not be repeated, for it may act as a relaxant, and carry the morbid accumulations off by the alimentary canal. If the bowels are constipated, use injections of soap-suds. If the symptoms are complicated, the following medicine must be prepared:—
| Powdered mandrake, | 1 table-spoonful. |
| Powdered sulphur, | 1 tea-spoonful. |
| Powdered charcoal, | 2 tea-spoonfuls. |
| Powdered marshmallows, | 1 table-spoonful. |
Mix. Divide the mass into six parts, and administer one in honey, night and morning, for the first day; after which, a single powder, daily, will suffice. The diet to consist of mush, together with a drink of thin arrowroot. If, however, the animal be in a state of plethora, very little food should be given him.
If the strength fails, support it with beef tea. Should a diarrhœa attend the malady, give an occasional drink of hardhack tea.