The welcome news has just come to the effect that the Field is about to institute an enquiry into the cause, and possible prevention or cure, of that distressing malady known as canine hysteria. My opinion was invited several months ago about the desirability of undertaking an investigation into this mysterious. disease and I had no hesitation in plumping in favour of such a proceeding. I do not think that it should be beyond the resources of science to discover the cause and suggest a remedy, but the work would be too expensive for any individual or firm to conduct alone.
The thing will have to be done so thoroughly, if any useful end is to be reached, that a considerable sum will be necessary.
The Field is therefore appealing for funds, as it did in the case of the Distemper research. The sum of £500 is wanted at first for the purpose of enabling a small committee to explore the ground before anything further is done. What steps Will be taken afterwards I cannot, of course, say. The aid of the Medical Research Council supplemented with the assistance of veterinary surgeons, was invoked in connection with distemper, and that seems to be a very suitable body. However, that is looking rather far ahead. Personally, I am hoping that it will not need such a prolonged anc elaborate investigation as was required in connection with distemper, but I may be too optimistic. We must wait and see.
Canine hysteria, worrying though it.is, does not.exact such a large toll of life'as distemper does, but it is a serious complaint, widespread and alarming in its manifestations. As a rule, it does not end fatally, though it leaves the unfortunate sufferers in a pitiable condition for a time, and it is the source of much concern to the owners of the dogs that are afflicted. From all I can hear it has not diminished in intensity, and we have been deluged with theories about the cause, most of which contradict one another, By some we are told that biscuits are responsible, and then comes the information that it has broken out among dogs that receive little but meat.
Others blame breeding' for shows, alleging that inbreeding has made dogs susceptible. Yet we know that gun dogs, bred and kept purely for work, are among the principal sufferers. Show dogs have nothing to do with them. I believe the best informed veterinary opinion attributes the disease to digestive disorders acting upon the nervous system. Possibly it is right, büt it. gets us no nearer the prevention. The outbreaks occur among so many different, classes of dogs, many of which are managee and fed with the greatest of care, that I have been completely baffied, and am unable to offer any workable suggestion, A friend of mine who has large kennels recently bought several new dogs, which for convenience were segregated from the others. After they "had been with him a few weeks they- developed hysteria, but his. other dogs were untouched. On enquiry he ascertained that the kennel: from which they came had also been attacked. "That experience makes one wonder if food was responsible. It so, why did his other dogs not succumb?
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.