It is well known that the bite of a rabid animal is the sole cause of this disease in the horse.

In this country it is always traced to the bite of a rabid dog. The time which elapses between the inoculation of the animal by the teeth of a dog and the appearance of the disease varies from four to twelve weeks, and cases are recorded in which it is extended to a much longer period.

Symptoms

If it is known that the horse has been bitten by a rabid dog, the attendant will carefully watch for the first symptoms of derangement. Otherwise, no suspicion being excited, very little attention will be paid to the early symptoms. The horse becomes nervous and excitable, bites at any object within his reach, and occasionally seems disposed to attack the persons to whom he is quite accustomed. In some cases the horse will bite his own skin, and will very likely swallow indigestible substances, anything which is lying on the ground. There is always considerable thirst, and those who look for any indications of hydrophobia, dread of water, will be disappointed, as that symptom is peculiar to the human subject. As the disease becomes more pronounced the horse becomes violently excited, and is affected with spasms of the neck and legs. When a stick is held out the horse will seize it, and may make a feint to attack the person holding it, but, instead of succeeding, the muscular spasm becomes so violent that the horse generally falls, and after a while rises again in an apparently tranquil state. Death usually occurs in less than a week, but, as a matter of common precaution, the horse will be killed as soon as the nature of the disease is ascertained.