There is no such disease as distemper

There is no such disease as distemper

There is no such disease as distemper

Distemper. As a matter of actual fact, there is no such disease as distemper. There are two diseases, or two groups of diseases, both more or less contagious, which, for want of skilled diagnosis, are indifferently so named, but their popular designation is so firmly rooted that "distemper" will be with us to the end of the chapter, and so long as the disease is properly treated it matters little whether we call it bronchial catarrh, gastro-enteritis, typhoid, or distemper. Perhaps, in a manual not intended for the learned, it will be most useful, as it is certainly most simple, and, I think, practical, to speak of "two forms of distemper," since the chest and lung diseases of the dog all call for one sort of home treatment, and the more ordinary diseases of the intestinal tract can with safety be lumped together as needing another fairly uniform style of treatment. Further than this the non-medical dog owner is not wise to venture, since it is quite as necessary that a canine patient should have skilled advice as that it should be called in for his master that is, if his recovery is desired.