The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1943-12-02

10 snow usually DeBln-
ming at the rear and finally he
stays down and usually in five or
six days he dies. An erroneous
idea is prevalent that dogs that
are mad always froth at the mouth
and that all dogs that froth at the
mouth are mad. This is wrong.
Dogs are unable 10 suck in or
retain saliva, so II runs out. not
frothing. Frothing at the mouth
Is because the dog moves his jaws
so rapidly that he beats the saliva
into a froth as beating egg-whites
in a dish and is mostly associated
with some extreme nervous disord-
er. Often at the beginning OF the
disease he is markedly V and
follows his master around the house
up and down. in and out and tries
TO lick the feet OF himself or master
and always wants 10 lick the a
ter's hands II they come down
within reach. One trained, would
notice that the dog sort OF says
can't you do something for me?
There are two forms OF rahies'
furious rabies ana dumb rabies.
In furious rabies the dog goes about
biting everything, often running
long distances and biting many
dogs. or other animals and usually
returning TO his nest. This is
usually so readily noticed that any
one may recognize il, Dumb
rabies is another form OF the same
disease and less easily recognized
and therefore more likely &c be-
come more widely spread in an out
break. Often a dog with dumb
rabies may go through the pro-
gressiye stages and die without be-
ing recognized farther than that
the owner says my dog was i'll four
or FIVE days and died. | guess he
had misery. Such cases may fol
low the bite either of a furious or
a dumb case and such very appar-
emily slight cases may as readily
cause death to the owner as the
most pronounced cases. Also IN
lection may follow a simple lick on
the hand by a dog while he is still
friendly and wagging his tail, in
friendly fashion.
Fortunately. only 400 OF dogs
bitten by known rabid dogs ever
develop the disease and more for
tunately only 16ct OF humans bitten
by known rabid dogs develop the
disease. but who wants to be n
Of the 16%?
Again. the dog usually comes
down with the disease, If he does,
in seven to ten days. He may come
down in five days or so, or again
in 60 days or so. So there is
danger to you II your dog has been
bitten in from the fourth day till
say 50 days have passed. II your
dog has been bites, vaccination
cannot be counted on to prevent
him from developing the disease
from the immediate infection. Here
again, fortunately. the human has
a longer time to come down, If he
does, and thus we have time To
examine the brain OF the dog and
still give preventive treatment to
the human before the onset OF the
disease.
Prevention and eradication OF the
disease: There are two methods
OF controlling the disease.
l.. Vaccination. In both human
and animal classes, vaccination has
proven to be OF great value and
were the vaccination of dogs car
ried QUE thoroughly any community
could reduce rabies to the few
incidents where a foreign animal
could be the only source for infec-
ton. This is a hard thing to affect
under present conditions.
2. Tie up. Sometimes this
method is called the English meth
cd. because in England they eff
fectlvely control rabies thus. Spring
and fall they order all dogs tied
up for a few weeks. Any dog run
ming loose is shot forthwith. for he
Is a to public health. Be
fore the few weeks have rolled by
the dogs incubating the disease die
or come down with the disease and
thus permiscuous infections are
largely done away with in a short
period. Now this Is an easy meth
cd to enforce. II does the trick and
can be done in any community that
has the spunk TO say We will do
it and the spunk to see that it is
done.
Most OF our outbreaks in this VI
vinity have occurred by dogs com
ing in from the outlying areas to-
ward the great city to u east. and
there will always be the threat of
rabies. and possible horrible death
OF some innocent. until as a com
munity we awaken to the pressing
need for action.
Mine is the responsibility to call
your attention to the imminent and
pressing danger and yours and mine
the responsibility to affect a CON
troll.
MAD DOG, MAD DOG! He's IN
your neighborhood.
Signed.
A VETERINARIAN.