PSEUDOMEMBRANOUS PHARYNGITIS IN DOGS.
Relation to diphtheria in man and horse. Symptoms; fever, prostration; swollen throat; cough; vomiting; false membranes on fauces and tonsils; cyanosis. Treatment: local antisepsis; febrifuges.
Rossi and Nicholski claim that dogs contract diphtheria by swallowing the excrements of diphtheritic infants, but these observations lack confirmation, and the infrequency of such an occurrence argues against it. Robertson records cases of canine angina with false membranes occurring at the same time as a similar affection in the horse. The victims were puppies and the mortality was high. Exact observations are, however, lacking.
The symptoms were dullness, prostration, anorexia, a hard cough, swollen throat, vomiting, diarrhœa, and the presence of grayish or yellowish false membranes on the fauces and tonsils. The breathing was difficult and painful and the mucosæ cyanotic.
Treatment has been essentially local, consisting of swabbing with solution of boric acid (1:200), chlorate of potassa, perchloride of iron, or nitrate of silver.