The daily tribune., 1908-12-08
SOME FACTS Asour MAD DOGS.

ideas relative to mad dogs that are
erroneous
| In she first place. rabies 10 not the
extremely rare disease that 1t 10 gen.
orally supposed to be. Facts gathered
by tho Bureau of Animal Industry
show that IL exists and has existed for
years at the the National capital ard
throug ghout the United States official
reports show its existence, but by no
means its frequency.
Rabies IL much like other diseAse
in shat 1t does not always manifest
itself by the same chain of symptoms.
For example; dog suffering with
this disease 10 by no means always
mad and furious. Flemming has we'll
said that It is . great and dangerous
error to suppose that the disease com.
menoes with signs of madness and
that the earliest phase of the malady
is ushered in with fury and destruc.
tion. The symptoms appear very
gradually. and at first one would
hardly suspect brain disease Diff
Guilty in swallowing ia an early
symptom. and frequently leads the
owner to suppose that the dog has
bone in It's throat. DR. Salmon says:
"a dog which appears to have bone
in Its throat, is .on general principles,
one Of the most dangerous animals
in existence. The supposed bone may
be there. but on the other hand the
symtoms which lead to this supposi-
tion may be due to partial paralysis.
caused by rabies and the owuer may
be inoculated with the virulent saliva
while thrusting his fingers or hand
into the dogs mouth to discover
bone which has no existence but in
his Imagination.
1t is commonly believed that ami.
mails suffering with this disease do
not drink water (hydrophobia. dread
of water). which 10 q mistake. They
have no fear or dread Of water, but
continue to drink as long a. they live
and the fact that suspected dog is
seen to drink or wade in water 10 no
proof that he is not mad.
The dumb form Of rabies is very
common, and many know it as drop
jaw who have no idea Of its true ma.
ture; and yet, should one Of these
dogs bite . person, or some of the
saliva get into q wound on the hand,
or elsew here, 1t could produce the
disease and death with all its horror.
There 10 an erroneous and rather
stupid belief that II dog bites PER
son and Afterwards contracts the dis.
ease. that the per-on bitten will also
go mad; but there is no ground for 1t
Whatever. and In this connection 1
would most earnestly suggest that
when . person 10 pittsn by . dog that
1t 10 bad policy to have the dog
killed. Confine him and IL he has
rabies, he will die ip . few days but
II he does not die, the person may
know that he or she is safe. II. on
the other hand, he does die, no time
should be lost in consulting . physl.
clan, II indeed one has not already
been consulted, who will advise no
delay in reaching . Pasteur Institute, :,
and attend to tho direct treatment Of
the wound. 1nAsmuch ~ tho death
Of the dog is no proof that It WAS
caused by rabies. It Is always we'll In
fact. imperative. to place the cadaver
on Ice and ship it to your experiment
station for examination and q dag.
nosis
There IL a prevailing idea that has
been handed down to us from our
forefathers. that dogs only go mad
during dog dsys-July and August
but the facts show that Just ~ many
dogs 60 mad at one time of the year
- another. II anything moro dogs
60 mad In winter than in summer.
FREDERICK " CULVER, NJ D. O.
Colorado Agricultural College, Fort
Collins.
Another el 80 excursion to Grip.
pie Greek next Sunday. 8l.S8