Much has been said of the profuse discharge of saliva from the mouth of
the rabid dog. It is an undoubted fact that, in this disease, all the
glands concerned in the secretion of saliva, become increased in bulk
and vascularity. The sublingual glands wear an evident character of
inflammation; but it never equals the increased discharge that
accompanies epilepsy, or nausea. The frothy spume at the corners of the
mouth, is not for a moment to be compared with that which is evident
enough in both of these affections. It is a symptom of short duration,
and seldom lasts longer than twelve hours. The stories that are told of
the mad dog covered with froth, are altogether fabulous. The dog
recovering from, or attacked by a fit, may be seen in this state; but
not the rabid dog. Fits are often mistaken for rabies, and hence the
delusion.
The increased secretion of saliva soon passes away. It lessens in
quantity; it becomes thicker, viscid, adhesive, and glutinous. It clings
to the corners of the mouth, and probably more annoyingly so to the
membrane of the fauces. The human being is sadly distressed by it, he
forces it out with the greatest violence, or utters the falsely supposed
bark of a dog, in his attempts to force it from his mouth. This symptom
occurs in the human being, when the disease is fully established, or at
a late period of it. The dog furiously attempts to detach it with his
paws.
It is an early symptom in the dog, and it can scarcely be mistaken in
him. When he is fighting with his paws at the corners of his mouth, let
no one suppose that a bone is sticking between the poor fellow's teeth;
nor should any useless and dangerous effort be made to relieve him. If
all this uneasiness arose from a bone in the mouth, the mouth would
continue permanently open instead of closing when the animal for a
moment discontinues his efforts. If after a while he loses his balance
and tumbles over, there can be no longer any mistake. It is the saliva
becoming more and more glutinous, irritating the fauces and threatening
suffocation.
To this naturally and rapidly succeeds an insatiable thirst. The dog
that still has full power over the muscles of his jaws continues lo lap.
He knows not when to cease, while the poor fellow labouring under the
dumb madness, presently to be described, and whose jaw and tongue are
paralysed, plunges his muzzle into the water-dish to his very eyes, in
order that he may get one drop of water into the back part of his mouth
to moisten and to cool his dry and parched fauces. Hence, instead of
this disease being always characterised by the dread of water in the
dog, it is marked by a thirst often perfectly unquenchable. Twenty years
ago, this assertion would have been peremptorily denied. Even at the
present day we occasionally meet with those who ought to know better,
and who will not believe that the dog which fairly, or perhaps eagerly,
drinks, can be rabid.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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