The expression of the countenance of the dog undergoes a considerable change, principally dependent on the previous disposition of the animal. If he was naturally of an affectionate disposition, there will be an anxious, inquiring countenance, eloquent, beyond the power of resisting its influence. It is made up of strange suppositions as to the nature of the depression of mind under which he labours, mingled with some passing doubts, and they are but passing, as to the concern which the master has in the affair; but, most of all, there is an affectionate and confiding appeal for relief. At the same time we observe some strange fancy, evidently passing through his mind, unalloyed, however, by the slightest portion of ferocity.
the countenance of the naturally savage brute, or him that has been trained to be savage, there is indeed a fearful change; sometimes the conjunctiva is highly injected; at other times it is scarcely affected, but the eyes have an unusually bright and dazzling appearance. They are like two balls of fire, and there is a peculiar transparency of the hyaloid membrane, or injection of that of the retina.
A very early symptom of rabies in the dog, is an extreme degree of restlessness. Frequently, he is almost invariably wandering about, shifting from corner to corner, or continually rising up and lying down, changing his posture in every possible way, disposing of his bed with his paws, shaking it with his mouth, bringing it to a heap, on which he carefully lays his chest, or rather the pit of his stomach, and then rising up and bundling every portion of it out of the kennel. If he is put into a closed basket, he will not be still for an instant, but turn round and round without ceasing. If he is at liberty, he will seem to imagine that something is lost, and he will eagerly search round the room, and particularly every corner of it, with strange violence and indecision.
In a very great portion of cases of hydrophobia in the human being, there is, as a precursory symptom, uneasiness, pain, or itching of the bitten part. A red line may also be traced up the limb, in the direction of the lymphatics. In a few cases the wound opens afresh.
The poison is now beginning fatally to act on the tissue, on which it had previously lain harmless. When the conversation has turned on this subject, long after the bitten part has been excised, pain has darted along the limb. I have been bitten much oftener than I liked, by dogs decidedly rabid, but, proper means being taken, I have escaped; and yet often, when I have been over-fatigued, or a little out of temper, some of the old sores have itched and throbbed, and actually become red and swollen.
dog appears to suffer a great deal of pain in the ear in common canker. He will be almost incessantly scratching it, crying piteously while thus employed. The ear is, oftener than any other part, bitten by the rabid dog, and, when a wound in the ear, inflicted by a rabid dog, begins to become painful, the agony appears to be of the intensest kind. The dog rubs his ear against every projecting body, he scratches it might and main, and tumbles over and over while he is thus employed.
The young practitioner should be on his guard there. Is this dreadful itching a thing of yesterday, or, has the dog been subject to canker, increasing for a considerable period? Canker both internal and external is a disease of slow growth, and must have been long neglected before it will torment the patient in the manner that I have described. The question as to the length of time that an animal has thus suffered will usually be a sufficient guide.
The mode in which he expresses his torture will serve as another direction. He will often scratch violently enough when he has canker, but he will not roll over and over like a football except he is rabid. If there is very considerable inflammation of the lining membrane of the ear, and engorgement and ulceration of it, this is the effect of canker; but if there is only a slight redness of the membrane, or no redness at all, and yet the dog is incessantly and violently scratching himself, it is too likely that rabies is at hand.