Canine distemper

“ However keepers, or even men of education, may boast of their specifics, it is a sadly fatal disease, and destroys fully one-third of the canine race.
Dogs of all ages are subject to its attack. Many, nine and ten years old, have died of pure distemper; and I have seen puppies of only three weeks fall victims to it; but it oftenest appears between the sixth and twelfth month of the animal's life. If it occurs at an early period, it proves fatal in the great majority of cases; and, if the dog is more than four years old, it generally goes hard with him. ”

“ It is properly a Distemper belonging to the canine Genus, consisting of the three Species of Dogs, Wolves, and Foxes, to whom only it seems inherent and natural; scarcely ever arising in other Animals, without its being inflicted by them. Whenever there occurs one of them who breeds it, he bites others, and thus the Poison, the Cause of this terrible Disease, is diffused. ”

“ Science amuses itself by cutting up and otherwise torturing helpless dogs in the unholy name of vivisection. But Science has not yet troubled itself to discover one certain cure or preventive for the distemper which yearly robs thousands of homes of their loved canine pets and guards. Apparently it is pleasanter for scientists to watch a screaming dog writhe under the knife in a research laboratory than to trouble about finding a way to abolish distemper ”

“ Hounds are constantly liable to those distressing disorders the DISTEMPER and CANINE MADNESS, as well as to that vexatious and troublesome disease called the MANGE. As well with hounds as with horses, prevention, in all cases, is preferable to CURE: unfortunately, there is as yet no mode discovered by which either of the former can be prevented. ”

“ Those diseases resulting from specific causes, either natural to the race or artificially produced by the animal itself in a state of morbid derangement, are most frequent and fatal, as witnessed in distemper, rabies, mange, &c. The intimate connexion existing between the diseases of our canine friends and those of the human race, as also the strong similarity in the action of many drugs over the two systems, render the study of one branch almost synonymous with that of the other. ”

“ I think the small losses we have are, in the case of the whelps at walk, due to the very great interest taken in the puppies by the walkers, who, immediately a puppy seems out of sorts, report to the kennels, and on learning what to do take every possible means to save it. The reason we lose so few in kennel is, I think, due to the fact that neither we nor our men neglect the slightest symptoms of distemper in a hound that has not had it, and even though it appears to be but a slight cold, give at once a distemper powder. ”

“ You use someone’s ‘Distemper Balls’ one year when you happen to have a mild run of the disease, and having very few fatal cases that year, you at once think it is this wonderful ball that has cured them!
“Next year you use the same ‘cure’ and your young hounds die like flies. I notice that puppies at walk often get what seems to be distemper and get over it, but when they come in down they go with the kennel distemper and they die. ”

“ The majority of persons who profess an intimate knowledge of the dog will tell you distemper is a disorder peculiar to the young; whereas I know of no age that is exempt from its attack. I have known dogs, high-bred favorites, to be left with men selected because of their supposed familiarity with dog diseases; and these very men have brought to me the animals in the fits which are the wind-up of distemper, yet notwithstanding have been ignorant that their charges had any disease whatever. All the stages and symptoms of ordinary distemper may appear and depart unnoticed ”

“ Distemper is a fever, and the risk of chill is very great; it means inflammation of some sort from which the dog being weak is not likely to recover. It is always best to call in a veterinary surgeon when a dog shows symptoms of distemper. ”

“ The risk is great that he will get lost, or if not, will return with swollen feet and legs if he ran at all, also be chilled and be rewarded with a fine dose of distemper. This is often the cause why so many young dogs die with distemper or of some other lingering death, but if a man gives time to his dog to develop and get strong, the chance is, should he ever get distemper, it would be but a slight attack from which he will soon recover. ”

“ The eyes during distemper are often a source of anxiety, and in those dogs with prominent orbits, as spaniels, pugs, etc., there is always an inclination for ulcers to form, which are extremely painful.
The worst complications of all in distempers are those affecting the nervous system; the brain and its membranes may become inflamed, and fits follow, or the spinal cord and its membranes attacked, and paralysis or chorea, or perhaps both, occur. These complications [72] of the nervous system may often be prevented by not letting the dog out too soon after distemper. ”

“ In the distemper, there is no loss of reason but in the attack and actual continuance of the convulsion fits; the animal does not attempt to bite or rove abroad, and, on recovery from the fit, resumes his faculties. If, therefore, a young dog will drink when the immediate effect of the spasmodic restriction is removed, or, without evident fear, will bear the sight of water, but more particularly when his weakness is excessive, and strongly apparent between the intervals of the fits, it may be safely concluded that it is the distemper, and not madness. ”

“ Distemper's no joke; it's the dog's worst enemy. Sometimes it runs into pneumonia, or the dogs die in fits, or just waste away and give up. But cheer up; I've seen lots of 'em pull through, and we'll try to save these two. You've done the right thing so far. Careful nursin' does it. Keep 'em dry and out of draughts and keep up their strength with good food, easy to digest. Most dogs that die of distemper die because they didn't have strength enough to last 'em through. The disease has to have its run, and in time it just naturally runs out. That's the way I look at it. ”

“ Of all the ailments, both of dogs and cats, distemper is the worst to combat, and is so virulent and contagious that I have thought it well to offer remedies that are at least worthy of a trial, though when the complaint has firm hold, and the attack very severe, the case is generally almost hopeless, especially with high-bred animals. ”

“ Distemper carries off scores of dogs every year, but it is quite a mistake to suppose all dogs must have it. I have had, probably, more without than with it, the worst of it is that it varies so in different cases, so that the same treatment does not do for all; sometimes the brain, at others, the stomach, at others, the lungs, are most affected; it is of an inflammatory and very debilitating character, and frequently accompanied by severe convulsions and fits, which are very alarming and distressing. Generally, there is discharge from nose and eyes, but not invariably. ”

“ It may, perhaps, be as well to state what, I suppose, is not yet known to all dog owners—namely, the fact that it is by no means a necessity for a toy, or any other dog for that matter, to have distemper. Like scarlet fever in the human subject, distemper may occur in a dog's life, or may not. The child takes scarlet fever if it has been in the way of infection, and the dog distemper if the contagion has been conveyed to it either by some person who has been near an affected dog, by that dog itself, or by some article on which infected discharges of any kind have been deposited. ”

“ A healthy dog can seldom, for many days, be kept with another that labours under distemper without becoming affected; and the disease is communicated by the slightest momentary contact. There is, however, a great deal of caprice about this. I have more than once kept a dog in the foul-yard of my hospital for several successive weeks, and he has not become diseased. Inoculation with the matter that flows from the nose, either limpid or purulent, and in an early or advanced stage of the distemper, will, with few exceptions, produce the disease ”

“ E. E. Barclay, master of the Puckeridge, whose kennels sustained very serious losses in 1904–5, writes:—
“Distemper is like ‘scent,’ the more one sees of it the less one knows about it. All I do know is that it is a terribly fatal disease amongst hounds of all sorts, and in my experience almost invariably seems to pick out and kill the strongest and best of one’s entry. ”

“ One other disease, and that the most deadly of all, remains to be considered, viz., distemper. This is largely contracted at the dog shows, or being brought into contact with dogs suffering from the disease. I do not believe it is ever spontaneous, and dogs kept away from infected stock will be exempt. Well do I remember my first dose of it. I had loaned a friend of mine a young dog raised by him to show, as he was trying for a prize for Druid Merk as a stud dog. ”

“ Other sportsmen laugh at the supposed danger of distemper, and declare that they seldom lose a dog. This hereditary predisposition to certain kinds of disease cannot be denied, and is not sufficiently attended to. When a peculiar fatality has often followed a certain breed, the owner should cross it from another kennel, and especially from the kennel of one who boasts of his success in the treatment of distemper. ”

“ Almost all young dogs are liable to the distemper, and it kills many. When seized with it before they are eighteen months old they generally die, but after that age it is much less likely to prove fatal. Most dog-doctors give a dose of tartar emetic and calomel, like that I have mentioned above, if they are called in while the disease is in its first stage; but, when it is attended with a kind of dysentery, they give balls made of prepared chalk, gum arabic, and conserve of roses, and the dog is fed on rice-milk. ”

“ For weeks, however, the animal will require attention; for the convalescence is often more difficult to master than the disease itself is to cure; and relapses, always more dangerous than the original attack, are by no means unusual. The recovery may not be perfect before one or even two months have expired; but usually it is rapid, and the health is better than it was previous to the disease. A dog which would before never make flesh, having had the distemper, will often become fat. ”

“ Vitus’ Dance This is a frequent result of severe distemper, especially in the case of young dogs, intestinal worms, disorders of the stomach or a weak and anemic condition seem to predispose to this disease.
Symptoms.—The disease manifests itself by twitches, or involuntary jerks of various parts, as the leg, shoulder, face, neck, or even eyelids. Sometimes it is confined to a single limb or two, or the whole body may be affected. The animal has no control over them, and they are manifested sometimes during sleep. He wastes, eats and sleeps badly, and may become palsied ”

“ Laxatives and emetics are the best remedies. If there is much diarrhœa, astringents may be afterwards given. The violence of the fits may be mitigated by the administration of antispasmodics, and by the warm bath. The distemper is a contagious disease, and is generally fatal to weakly and very young dogs. Fits in the advanced stages of the disease are seldom followed by recovery. Impatience of light, red eyes, obstinate diarrhœa, spasmodic twitchings, a yellow colour of the skin, and a pustular eruption, are also bad symptoms. ”

“ The one quarrel we all have with shows is that they certainly offer opportunities of spreading distemper to people who do not consider its existence in their kennels a sufficient reason for withholding entries, and carry the contagion with them, although the dogs they exhibit may be in themselves unaffected. An old-fashioned piece of advice in distemper, and one always given, was that at the outset of the disease a dose of castor oil, or some other aperient, should be administered. ”

“ It is a curious fact, but I have constantly observed that when, as there often are, among the lot ‘down’ with the disease, a young hound or two which, by reason of size or some other cause, are useless, and for that reason get no extra attention and no physic; these pull through without difficulty, whilst the pick of the entry, with every care bestowed upon them, die off wholesale. I am quite sure the distemper one gets in hound-kennels is quite different from that which the ordinary cur dog gets. ”

“ Laxatives, ice bags, sedatives, later derivatives, cauterization. During convalescence, phosphates, iron, zinc, strychnia. Attend to bladder and rectum, light, laxative diet, pure air and water.
Causes. This disease is a common result of distemper and according to Trasbot, is much more frequent in long-haired and pet dogs than in the short-haired and mongrels. The shelter of the hair, like the warm indoor atmosphere, seems to contribute to a special sensitiveness of the cutaneous and nervous tissues. The infective inflammation of the myel is also seen in pyæmia, rabies and milk sickness. ”

“ Let them at all times have a plentiful supply of clean water, and encourage them to take to swimming, as it assists their cleanliness. Naldire's soap is recommended as highly efficacious in ridding dogs of fleas. After using any soap rinse it well off with clean water. Properly treated, dogs should be fed only once a day. Meat boiled for dogs, and the liquor in which it is boiled thickened with barley meal, or oatmeal, forms capital food.
2176. Distemper in Dogs
The distemper is liable to attack dogs from four months to four years old. ”

“ There is also a twitching of the muscles in many cases, as in Chorea, and this disease generally follows Distemper. In other cases, the dog will lie flat on the side, breathe with great difficulty, in a half-unconscious manner. This is a very unfavorable symptom, as lung complications have developed. Constipation or diarrhoea and even dysentery that is foul in odor may accompany this disease. The dog grows very poor, weak, the legs, nose and ears grow cold and clammy, and death follows. When the above described symptoms are present, the dog generally dies in from two to four days. ”