Distemper is a contagious and infectious fever of the cat, complicated by inflammations of the various organs of the body. Distemper is usually a disease of young cats, which, having once had it and having recovered, are protected from future attacks. It is, however, sometimes seen in older cats, especially so when the disease occurs in enzootic or epizootic form. Fleming, in his work upon "Sanitary Medicine," tells us that in the fifteenth century, and at several periods later, there were extensive epizootics of distemper, which destroyed numbers of cats throughout central Europe and the British Islands. The last considerable epizootic in England was in 1796. This extended also to the Low Countries, or the Netherlands. The same epizootic extended to America in 1803.

The first symptoms of distemper are those of fever, with the combination of symptoms which are described above under Evidences of Disease. These may be more or less severe according to the gravity of the attack. Shortly after the commencement of the fever we find a watery discharge from the eyes, which may become mattery later; a discharge from the nostrils of a thick mucus at first, and matter later, which may even be tinged with blood. The disease may be followed later by any of the diseases of the respiratory system or of the digestive system, which in their local appearance are the same as those already described under diseases of these systems, but which are more severe than they are in their sporadic form, because they are grafted onto the body of an animal already suffering from fever and weakened by it.

Let it be understood, however, that in cases which have been going on for some little time, while the present condition of the animal is perfectly evident, it is not possible to make a diagnosis between these two following conditions:

1. A cat which has been infected first with distemper, has developed fever, and has the complication of a severe broncho-pneumonia or of a severe diarrhoea, or is excessively debilitated and weak; or

2. A cat which has been affected with a severe bronchitis and broncho-pneumonia, or a severe diarrhoea which is continued for some little time, and has produced by the local irritation and inflammation a fever which is secondary, and from which the cat has been weakened and is greatly debilitated.

The conditions to be found.upon physical examination in these two cases are absolutely identical, and the treatment for it is practically the same. Suppose, however, that not one cat alone, but several, are found in the same house or stable in the same condition, or in variable degrees pointing toward the same disease, or that we have from the owner a history that during the last few weeks, or for a longer or shorter period, other cats have been presenting the same symptoms, then we can assume it to be distemper.

Treatment Of Distemper

The cat with distemper must be isolated at once, and put into a quiet room where it is well protected from drafts of air, while still supplied with fresh air. It should be kept warm. At the outset, before the complications become marked, it can have a little bicarbonate of soda, or sulphur, in its water or milk, and a very light laxative. It should never be given an active cathartic, as this tends to excite diarrhoea. The catarrh, bronchitis, broncho-pneumonia, and diarrhoea which complicate distemper must be treated at the outset exactly as the same diseases would have been treated in their sporadic form. The strength of the animal must be kept up, but do not force food unless it is absolutely necessary. The local diseases complicating distemper require more stimulating treatment than they do in their simpler form, and the best stimulant is small doses of twenty to thirty drops of whisky or brandy.