servation. If simultaneously the eyes lose their red and glassy aspect,
and the cough returns, the danger may be supposed to have been passed. For
weeks, however, the animal will require attention; for the convalescence
is often more difficult to master than the disease itself is to cure; and
relapses, always more dangerous than the original attack, are by no means
unusual. The recovery may not be perfect before one or even two months
have expired; but usually it is rapid, and the health is better than it
was previous to the disease. A dog which would before never make flesh,
having had the distemper, will often become fat. I once tried all in my
power to relieve a Newfoundland dog of worms, but though I persisted for
months, I was at last reluctantly obliged to admit the case was beyond any
treatment I dared employ. A fortnight after I had given it up, the same
animal was brought to me, suffering under evident distemper. I was not
displeased to see it in that state, for I felt I could overcome the
disease; and I told the proprietor that with the distemper the worms would
depart. So it proved, and the dog has not since been subject to the
annoyance.

When the violence of the disorder has declined, the skin generally peels,
the cuticle is cut off, and the hair is scurfy. I have even known the
soles of the feet to cast their outer covering, and in one case three of
the nails were shed. The teeth, also, are coated with a thick fur, and the
breath is offensive; but as the strength returns at the same time, these
circumstances are not to be viewed in a serious light. In one or two
instances, where the system seemed to be so shaken that it retained no
strength to cast off the lingering remnant of the distemper, mange has
burst forth, and proceeded very rapidly; but it yielded with equal speed
to mild external remedies, and is therefore only to be feared inasmuch as
it disfigures the dog for a time, retarding the ultimate restoration to
health by further taxing the enfeebled body.

During the recovery from distemper, small and delicate animals--terriers
and spaniels--are very liable to faint; the dog is lively, perhaps
excited, when suddenly it falls upon its side, and all its limbs stiffen.
A series of these attacks may follow one another, though generally one
only occurs; when numerous and rapid, there is some danger, but, as a
general rule, little apprehension need be entertained. The fainting fits
are of some consequence,