Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1898 — CAUSES OF DEATH. [ARTICLE]

CAUSES OF DEATH.

Domestic Animals That Die from Vari-

Among these normal, non-epidemie causes ox death many must be common both to wild and to domesticated species. "Distemper” among dogs and cats probably extends also to foxes, wolves and the wild felidae. Its course is often exactly like that of a wasting low fever, and animals die from it in exactly the same way as a human patient suffering from malaria or bilious fever, for the symptoms are not always the same. "Chill" kills dogs, often by and hones ana cows mainly by causing internal inflammation. Death ia then, rapid and painful, and takes place before emaciation of any kind is visible in the animal. Most domesticated animals, even cage birds, are liable to this cause of death; but we may assume that among wild animals, whose normal ooune of life does not expose them to overexertion or "draughts/* it is lese common. „

Among aged domesticated animals, or thoee which are obliged to take violent exercise, heart disease often causes sudden death. “Master Magrath’* died from this; so do the racing dogs of the Northumberland miners. Aged horses sometimes drop down dead when being gently ridden from the same cause. Most very old horses which have been turned out to grass to end their days in peace suffer in the end from forms of indigestion, which cause them to become so thin that their owners order them to be shot. A recent veterinary work ascribes this and many other equine maladies to decay or defects in the teeth due to age or accidents. In the same way old dogs become emaciated, even when carefully fed. But, like human beings, all the canine race, and most of the felidae andJbears, seem liable to forms of tnmor, and unless relieved by surgery or released by euthanasia; may meet their death after great misery and suffering. Nor should it be forgotten that virulent sore throat is often prevalent and fatal among animals, especially cats.—London Spectator. • ■ : ' '