When consolidation of the lungs has taken place, their respiratory usefulness becomes materially interfered with, so that, frequently, the animal has to make use of his lips as an auxiliary, the cheeks being inflated in a spasmodic manner. Recovery in this advanced condition of disease is exceedingly rare, though we have known it occur.
Pericardial (heart sac) inflammation is not uncommon in distemper, resulting through extension of inflammation from the pleural membranes.
A disordered liver is indicated by yellowness of the skin and mucous membranes, this bilious or hepatic form of the complaint being fairly common.
A fetid breath and pustular eruption over the belly, and on the skin inside the thighs are commonly observed; in fact, the pustular eruption is the most significant sign one can find.
Its presence is at once demonstrative that the animal is affected with what is known to the professional as a specific eruptive fever, which will run a definite course, and no amount of medicinal agents can cut it short.
One may control it by good nursing, suitable surroundings, and the judicious use of medicinal agents, but for any man to say that it is within his power to stay its normal progress, would, we opine, be bordering on madness. So much for distemper cures and their curers.
Ordinary small-pox vaccine has been employed as a preventative for distemper. Almost everyone knows that when the arm of the human subject is scarified with the lancet, so as to admit the reception of the vaccine into the system, the part becomes inflamed and swollen, the seat of vaccination also showing a vesicle, etc., typical of a mild form of the disease, and if this does not take place the vaccine is said not to have "taken," i.e., it has done no good.
This is exactly what happens when used in the same way upon the dog, there being neither inflammation nor yet other signs, typical of local reaction, therefore it can be no use.
The mere fact of the disease never having occurred in a certain dog that has been vaccinated is not the least evidence in support of its utility.
Many dogs are very refractory to certain diseases, amongst these being distemper.