Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1907-07-10
4 NEW THEORY FOR mad DOGS.
1. W. BicAlsE SAYS MANY FINE DOGS ARE
KILLED THAT ARE NOT MAD.

~ ~ - NS N'A"% N~Sb PAS'"ASSSo ~ h'"~
dogs throughout the State is at.
tributed to foxes by L. w. Bicaise,
a leading authority on dogs in
Charleston, and attention will have
to be paid to the mad animals in the
swamps before the trouble is cor
rected.
In the opinion of Mr.. Bicaise, the
rabies develop more readily and CON-
monty among the foxes than dogs,
probably for the reason, he ex.
plained, that they are thick in the
swamps and when one is bitten the
infection spreads more rapidly, and
the infected animals are free to con-
tinue to roam, biting and extending
the rabies until the disease kills
them. Dogs, and especially hunting
animals, will run into or along the
swamps, often chasing fox, and
the affection spreads in this way
among the domesticated animals. A
mad fox will not run away from the
dog, being affected with short of
blindness, just as are dogs with the
disease, and consequently the dogs
which come upon the foxes always
have fight and are inoculated with
the much dreaded virus. Once a
dog is bitten it is only question of
time when the rabies develop in
these animals and gradually the dogs
make others mad and the prevalence
of mad dogs becomes noted.
The affection is brought into
Charleston and other of the larger
communities of the State, Mr.. BIZ
caise said, through the practice of
many sportsmen sending their dogs
into the country at certain seasons
of the year. Some of the dogs are
sent to be trained or perhaps for
better keeping than they would get
in a city, and these dogs are bitten
and later, upon being brought back
to the homes of their owners they
develop the rabies and unless the
animals have the attention of their
owners, that they might be killed at
one, the dogs bite others and the
number of mad dogs in the cities
grows numerous.
In his experience of many years
with fine breeds of dogs, Mr.. BIZ
caise has seen mary cases of the
kind, and he has often urged upon
people having good dogs to be very
careful about quartering these ami
mails in the country, on account of
the likelihood of becoming affected.
"Much of this mad dog scare ia
without foundations" said Mr.. BIZ
caise. "There are not near 80 many
dogs with the rabies as people de-
clare and many fine animals are
killed without cause. have treated
dogs which were pronounced mad
and in few days or a week or two
the dogs were again as healthy and
gentle as they ever were. 1 have in
mind one case in particular where
the dog was declared by several par
ties to be affected with rabies and,
yielding to my entreaty to allow me
to treat the dog with few doses of
a worm medicine, the animal was
again as we'll as ever and never again
did it have any trouble which re-
sembled the rabies or which caused
any uneasiness in the household.
"Dogs do get crazy sometimes, if
/ may so call the affection, but these
spells areldue either to some disease
or perhaps. an injury, acting in a Pc
culiar manner, which caused them to
be mistaken for mad. In most OF
these cases the dogs will recover, but
at the same time | am not of the
class of people who advise any un-
necessary exposure of the person or
of other animals to dogs which may
be acting strangely, for sometimes
these spells are followed by the
rabies. Caution should always be
observed"
In Charleston about a dozen dogs
have been killed recently on the
streets as result of their peculiar