Most reliance must be placed upon careful nursing, and if this is properly carried out better may be the issue, though, as already stated, no amount of careful nursing, or use of medicinal agents, will stop the ravages of distemper.
Fits are frequent, and another very common result is chorea, or St Vitus' dance, also called the twitch, jumps, etc. For fits, give 20 grains of bromide of potash, and if this does no good, double the dose, and for chorea try a course of Easton's Syrup—in capsules—malt, cod-liver oil, etc. Paralysis is not an uncommon sequel.
Dialysed iron—10-drop doses in a tablespoonful of water—is a very satisfactory drug to use so as to restore the weakened constitution, and bring back the appetite after distemper.
RABIES
Although not present in our own country, it is very prevalent in certain provinces in India, etc.
The muzzling order and quarantine has been the means of abolishing this deadly malady from England.
In ninety-nine per cent. of cases in India, the disease is directly due to animals left to stray from the bazaars and villages.
At one time rabies was very prevalent in England, therefore cases of hydrophobia were not infrequent. Moreover other animals (horses, sheep, cattle, deer, etc.) had the malady through having been bitten by a rabid dog.
This disease assumes two distinct forms, one known as the "furious" and the other "dumb" rabies. One of the earliest indications of rabies is an alteration of the dog's manner. He becomes restless, quarrelsome, and shy, having a strong inclination to wander from home.