if they exist during a sickening for, or maturing
of, distemper. In pups that have not passed the climax of the disease,
they are not unseldom the cause of death; but, even in that case, I have
never been convinced that the measures adopted for the relief did not kill
quite as much or even more than the affection. When the symptom is
mistaken, and wrong remedies are resorted to, the fainting fit will often
continue for hours, or never be overcome. When let alone, the attack
mostly does not last longer than a quarter of an hour, and under judicious
treatment the consciousness almost immediately returns. When the fainting
fits occur during the progress or advance of the disease--that is, before
the symptoms have begun to amend--it is usually preceded by signs of
aggravation. For twelve or twenty-four hours previously the dog is
perceptibly worse; it may moan or cry, and yet no organ seems to be
decidedly affected more seriously than it was before. I attribute the
sounds made to headache; and, confirming this opinion, there is always
some heat at the scalp. The animal is dull, but immediately before the
collapse it attempts to wander, and has begun to move, probably panting at
the same time, when it falls without a cry, and stiffens. In this
state--the rigidity occasionally being less, but the unconsciousness
continuing unchanged--it will remain; the eyes are turned upward or into
the skull, the gums and tongue are pallid, the legs and belly cold: the
appearances are those of approaching death, which, unless relief is
afforded, may in a short time take place. When the fainting occurs after
convalescence is established, the attack is sudden, the symptoms are less
violent, and the coma of shorter duration. In this last case there is
generally little danger, but there is always sufficient reason for alarm,
and help ought never to be delayed. These attacks are commonly confounded
with true distemper fits, from which they are altogether distinct; and
from which they may be readily distinguished by the absence of the
champing of the jaw, the want of any disposition to bite, the immediate
insensibility which ensues, the shrieks not being heard, and the urine or
faeces not being voided. Nevertheless, the two are usually confounded, and
hence many persons are found asserting that distemper fits are easily
cured; and several dogs have been shown to me at different times, which
their owners were confident had been attacked by distemper