Distemper treatment
_Food and Drink_--For the first three or four days let the food be
light and easily digested. In order to induce the animal to take it,
it should be as palatable as possible. For small dogs you cannot have
anything better than milk porridge.
[1] At all events, the dog must, if possible, be induced to eat; he must
not be "horned" unless there be great emaciation; he must not over-eat,
but what he gets must be good. As to drink, dogs usually prefer clean
cold water, and we cannot do harm by mixing there with a little plain nitre.
[1] Oatmeal porridge made with milk instead of water.
_Medicine_--Begin by giving a simple dose of castor oil, just enough
and no more than will clear out the bowels by one or two motions.
Drastic purgatives, and medicines such as mercury, jalap, aloes, and
podophyllyn, cannot be too highly condemned.
For very small Toy dogs, such as Italian Greyhounds, Yorkshire Terriers, etc.,
I should not recommend even oil itself, but _manna_--one drachm to two drachms
dissolved in milk. By simply getting the bowels to act once or twice, we shall have
done enough for the first day, and have only to make the dog comfortable for the night.
On the next day begin with a mixture such as the following: Solution
of acetate of ammonia, 30 drops to 120; sweet spirits of nitre, 15
drops to 60; salicylate of soda, 2 grains to 10. Thrice daily in a
little camphor water.
If the cough be very troublesome and the fever does not run very high,
the following may be substituted for this on the second or third day:
Syrup of squills, 10 drops to 60; tincture of henbane, 10 drops to 60;
sweet spirits of nitre, 10 drops to 60, in camphor water.
A few drops of dilute hydrochloric acid should be added to the dog's
drink, and two teaspoonfuls (to a quart of water) of the chlorate of
potash. This makes an excellent fever drink, especially if the dog can
be got to take decoction of barley--barley-water--instead of plain
cold water, best made of Keen and Robinson's patent barley.
If there be persistent sickness and vomiting, the medicine must be
stopped for a time. Small boluses of ice frequently administered will
do much good, and doses of dilute prussic acid, from one to four drops
in a little water, will generally arrest the vomiting.
If constipation be present, we must use no rough remedies to get rid
of it. A little raw meat cut into small pieces--minced, in fact--or a
small portion of raw liver, may be given if there be little fever; if
there be fever, we are to trust for a time to injections of plain
soap-and-water.
Diarrhoea, although often a troublesome symptom, is,
it must be remembered, a salutary one. Unless, therefore, it becomes
excessive, do not interfere; if it does, give the simple chalk mixture
three times a day, but no longer than is needful.
The discharge from the mouth and nose is to be wiped away with a soft
rag--or, better still, some tow, which is afterwards to be
burned--wetted with a weak solution of carbolic. The forehead, eyes,
and nose may be fomented two or three times a day with moderately hot
water with great advantage.
It is not judicious to wet a long-haired dog much, but a short-haired
one may have the chest and throat well fomented several times a day,
and well rubbed dry afterwards. Heat applied to the chests of
long-haired dogs by means of a flat iron will also effect good.
The following is an excellent tonic: Sulphate of quinine, 1/8 to 3
grains; powdered rhubarb, 2 to 10 grains; extract of taraxacum, 3 to
20 grains; make a bolus. Thrice daily.
During convalescence good food, Virol, Spratts' invalid food and
invalid biscuit, moderate exercise, fresh air, and protection from
cold. These, with an occasional mild dose of castor oil or rhubarb,
are to be our sheet-anchors.
I find no better tonic than the tablets
of Phosferine. One quarter of a tablet thrice daily, rolled in tissue
paper, for a Toy dog, up to two tablets for a dog of Mastiff size.
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