Rabies in Dogs and Other Animals Part 4

In the Journal Pratique de Médecine Vétérinaire, M. Damalix gives an interesting account of the effect of a bite of a rabid dog on a horse. On the 8th of July, 1828, a fowl-merchant, proceeding to the market of Colmar, was attacked by a dog, who, after some fruitless efforts to get into the cart, bit the horse on the left side of the face, and fled precipitately. A veterinary surgeon was sent for, who applied the cautery to the horse, gave him some populeum ointment, and bled him. Everything appeared to go on well, and on the 16th the wounds were healed.

On the 25th a great alteration took place. The horse was careless and slow; he sometimes refused to go at all, and would not attend in the least to the whip, which had never occurred before. In the evening the wounds opened spontaneously, an ichorous and infectious pus run from them; there was salivation and utter loss of appetite: strange fancies seemed to possess him; he showed a desire to bite his master. The veterinary surgeon might approach him with safety; but the moment his owner or the children appeared, he darted at them, and would have torn them in pieces. The disease now took on the appearance of acute glanders; livid and fungous wounds broke out; the stable was saturated with an infectious smell, the horse refused his food, or was unable to eat. The mayor at last interfered, and the animal was destroyed. In the Treatises on The Horse, Cattle, and Sheep, in former volumes, accounts are fully given of this dreadful malady in these animals. It may not be uninteresting to give a hasty sketch of it in some of the inferior classes.

Rabies in the Rabbit. — I very much regret that I never instituted a course of experiments on the production and treatment of rabies in this animal. It would have been attended with little expense or danger, and some important discoveries might have been made. Mr. Earle, in a case in which he was much interested, inoculated two rabbits with the saliva of a dog that had died rabid. They were punctured at the root of the ears. One of the rabbits speedily became inflamed about the ears, and the ears were paralysed in both rabbits. The head swelled very much, and extensive inflammation took place around the part where the virus was inserted. One of them died without exhibiting any of the usual symptoms of the disease; the other, after a long convalescence, survived, and eventually recovered the use of his ears. Mr. Earle very properly doubted whether this was a case of rabies.

Dr. Capello describes, but in not so satisfactory a manner as could be wished, a case of supposed rabies in one of these animals. A rabbit and a dog lived together in a family. They were strange associates; but such friendships are not unfrequent among animals. The dog became rabid, and died. A man bitten by that dog became hydrophobous, and died. No one dreamed of the rabbit being in danger, and he ran about the house as usual; but, one day, he found his way to the chamber of the mistress of the house, with a great deal of viscid saliva running from his mouth, furiously attacked her, and left the marks of his violence on her leg. He then ran into a neighbouring stable, and bit the hind-legs of a horse several times. Finally, he retreated to a corner of the stable, and was there found dead. Neither the lady nor the horse eventually suffered.

Rabies in the Guinea-pig. — A man suspected of being hydrophobous was taken to the Middlesex Hospital. He was examined before several of the medical students; one of whom, in order to make more sure of the affair, inoculated a guinea-pig with the saliva taken from the man's mouth. The guinea-pig had been usually very playful, and fond of being noticed; but, on the eleventh day after this inoculation, he began to be dull and sullen, retiring into his house, and hiding himself as much as he could in a corner. On the following day he became out of temper, and even ferocious in his way; he bit at everything that was presented to him, gnawed his cage, and made the most determined efforts to escape. Once or twice his violence induced convulsions of his whole frame; and they might be produced at pleasure by dashing a little water at him. In the course of the night following he died.

Rabies in the Cat. — Fortunately for us, this does not often occur; for a mad cat is a truly ferocious animal. I have seen two cases, one of them to my cost; yet, I am unable to give any satisfactory account of the progress of the disease. The first stage seems to be one of sullenness, and which would probably last to death; but from that sullenness it is dangerous to rouse the animal. It probably would not, except in the paroxysm of rage, attack any one; but during that paroxysm it knows no fear, nor has its ferocity any bounds.

A cat, that had been the inhabitant of a nursery, and the playmate of the children, had all at once become sullen and ill-tempered. It had taken refuge in an upper room, and could not be coaxed from the corner in which it had crouched. It was nearly dark when I went. I saw the horrible glare of her eyes, but I could not see so much of her as I wished, and I said that I would call again in the morning.

I found the patient, on the following day, precisely in the same situation and the same attitude, crouched up in a corner, and ready to spring. I was very much interested in the case; and as I wanted to study the countenance of this demon, for she looked like one, I was foolishly, inexcusably imprudent. I went on my hands and knees, and brought my face nearly on a level with hers, and gazed on those glaring eyes, and that horrible countenance, until I seemed to feel the deathly influence of a spell stealing over me. I was not afraid, but every mental and bodily power was in a manner suspended. My countenance, perhaps, alarmed her, for she sprang on me, fastened herself on my face, and bit through both my lips. She then darted down stairs, and, I believe, was never seen again. I always have nitrate of silver in my pocket, even now I am never without it; I washed myself, and applied the caustic with some severity to the wound; and my medical adviser and valued friend, Mr. Millington, punished me still more after I got home. My object was attained, although at somewhat too much cost, for the expression of that brute's countenance will never be forgotten.

The later symptoms of rabies in this animal, no one, perhaps, has had the opportunity of observing: we witness only the sullenness and the ferocity.

Rabies in the Fowl. — Dr. Ashburner and Mr. King inoculated a hen with the saliva from a rabid cow. They made two incisions through the integument, under the wings, and then well rubbed into these cuts the foam taken from the cow's mouth. She was after this let loose among other fowls in the poultry-yard. The incisions soon healed, and their places could with difficulty be discovered. Ten weeks passed over, when she was observed to refuse her food, and to run at the other fowls. She had a strange wild appearance, and her eyes were blood-shot. Early on the following morning her legs became contracted, so that she very soon lost the power of standing upright. She remained sitting a long time, with the legs rigid, refusing food and water, and appearing very irritable when touched. She died in the evening, immediately after drinking a large quantity of water which had been offered to her.

Rabies in the Badger. — Hufeland, in his valuable Journal of Practical Medicine, relates a case of a rabid female badger attacking two boys. She bit them both, but she fastened on the thigh of one of them, and was destroyed in the act of sucking his blood. The poor fellow died hydrophobous, but the other escaped. This fact, certainly, gives us no idea of the general character of the disease in this animal; but it speaks volumes as to its ferocity.

Rabies in the Wolf. — Rabies is ushered in by nearly the same symptoms, and pursues the same course in the wolf us in the dog, with this difference, which would be readily expected, that his ferocity and the mischief which he accomplishes are much greater. The dog hunts out his own species, and his fury is principally directed against them; although, if he meets with a flock of sheep, or a herd of cattle, he readily attacks them, and, perhaps, bites the greater part of them. The dog, however, frequently turns out of his way to avoid the human being, and seldom attacks him without provocation. The wolf, on the contrary, although he commits fearful ravages among the sheep and cattle, searches out the human being as his favorite prey. He conceals himself near the entrance to the village, and steals upon and wounds every passenger that he can get at. There are several accounts of more than twenty persons having been bitten by one wolf; and there is a fearful history of sixteen persons perishing from the bite of one of these animals. This is in perfect agreement with the account which I have given of the connexion between the previous temper and habits of the rabid dog, and the mischief that he effects under the influence of this malady. The wolf, as he wanders in the forest, regards the human being as his persecutor and foe; and, in the paroxysm of rabid fury, he is most eager to avenge himself on his natural enemy. Strange stories are told of the arts to which he has recourse in order to accomplish his purpose. In the great majority of cases he steals unawares upon his victim, and the mischief is effected before the wood-cutter or the villager is conscious of his danger.

Also read: Dog Health Info.