There is no doubt that dogs who continue with a good appetite through distemper do much better, and have a better chance of recovering, no matter how severe the attack may be, than those bad feeders who refuse food and have to be drenched. A little food taken voluntarily does much more good than a lot forced upon the dog; therefore I advise tempting the patient with a variety of diet, so as to get him to eat something himself—of course, given in small quantities, particularly when the case is bad. I always commence with soup and milk alternately, mixed with bread, biscuits, or rice; as the dog gets tired of these, I add a little meat, say from a sheep’s head or stewed neck of mutton; for a change some fish, boiled tripe, or stewed rabbit, and if the dog goes off these I try scraped raw meat. I never commence forcing food if I can help it, for I find, once this is started, there is always a difficulty in getting the dog to eat anything himself. As to medicine, the more experience one gets the more one finds this is quite secondary in treating distemper. I do not believe in specifics, and, do what one may, the disease under the best circumstances will run a certain course. In simple cases, where the temperature is not very high, an occasional mild dose of syrup of buckthorn and castor oil is often all that is required. This is necessary, as the dog cannot go out and take exercise; therefore the bowels often get constipated, and if this is neglected troublesome diarrhœa may occur. After the temperature is normal and remains so for a few days, and the dog does not feed well, then some tonic is useful, as the following:— _Recipe: The Pills_: Salicylate of Quinine, 12 grains. Extract of Gentian, 30 ” Mix, and divide into 24 pills. _Dose_: From half to two pills[1] to be given three times a day. Quinine does not suit all dogs, for in some cases, instead of improving the appetite, for which it is given, it has the opposite effect, when the following mixture may be tried instead:— _Recipe: The Mixture_: Tincture Nux Vomica, 40 minims. Diluted Nitro-hydrochloric Acid, 1 drachm. Compound Tincture Gentian, 5 drachms. Simple Syrup, 1 ounce. Water to 6 ounces. _Dose_: From one teaspoonful to a tablespoonful three times a day.[1] It is not necessary to take notice of a relaxed condition of the bowels so long as the motions are not very frequent, but diarrhœa (frequent watery motions) must not be allowed to go on. As a rule, a small dose of castor oil—say from one teaspoonful[1] to a tablespoonful—will usually stop it by removing the cause. If it continues after the oil has acted, give, shaken dry on the tongue, from 3[1] to 15 grains of salicylate of bismuth three or four times, or oftener, a day. Thicken the food with cooked arrowroot, and give boiled rice with soup and meat if the latter is being given.