_Symptoms_--There is, first and foremost, a period of latency or of
incubation, in which there is more or less of dullness and loss of
appetite, and this glides gradually into a state of feverishness. The
fever may be ushered in with chills and shivering. The nose now
becomes hot and dry, the dog is restless and thirsty, and the
conjunctivae of the eyes will be found to be considerably injected.
Sometimes the bowels are at first constipated, but they are more
usually irregular. Sneezing will also be frequent, and in some cases
cough, dry and husky at first. The temperature should be taken, and if
there is a rise of two or three degrees the case should be treated as
distemper, and not as a common cold.
At the commencement there is but little exudation from the eyes and
nose, but as the disease advances this symptom will become more
marked, being clear at first. So, too, will another symptom which is
partially diagnostic of the malady, namely, increased heat of body
combined with a rapid falling off in flesh, sometimes, indeed,
proceeding quickly on to positive emaciation.
As the disease creeps downwards and inwards along the air-passages,
the chest gets more and more affected, the discharge of mucus and pus
from the nostrils more abundant, and the cough loses its dry
character, becoming moist. The discharge from the eyes is simply mucus
and pus, but if not constantly dried away will gum the inflamed lids
together, that from the nostrils is not only purulent, but often mixed
with dark blood. The appetite is now clean gone, and there is often
vomiting and occasional attacks of diarrhoea.
Now in mild cases we may look for some abatement of the symptoms about
the fourteenth day. The fever gets less, inflammation decreases in the
mucous passages, and appetite is restored as one of the first signs of
returning health. More often, however, the disease becomes complicated.
_Diagnosis_--The diagnostic symptoms are the severe catarrh, combined
not only with fever, but speedy emaciation.
_Pneumonia_, as we might easily imagine, is a very likely complication,
and a very dangerous one. There is great distress in breathing, the
animal panting rapidly. The countenance is anxious, the pulse small
and frequent, and the extremities cold. The animal would fain sit up
on his haunches, or even seek to get out into the fresh air, but
sickness, weakness, and prostration often forbid his movements. If the
ear or stethoscope be applied to the chest, the characteristic signs
of pneumonia will be heard; these are sounds of moist crepitations,
etc.
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