Dog pox is rare, the affection occurring especially in the young. It is
said to be derived in certain cases from smallpox patients (Weiskopf),
and in others from sheep pox (Röll). The latter claims that the dog has
also its own specific form. Dupuis and others claim experimental
transmission from man to dog. At the same time eruptions connected with
gastric or hepatic disorder, distemper, eczema, or aphthous fever are
liable to be mistaken for it.
_Symptoms._ The young animals suffer from fever for a day or two,
followed by heat and redness on the sides and belly, and points of
deeper red, like flea bites, which gradually evolve through papules and
vesicles to pustules, and terminate in crusts, that drop off leaving
round bare spots. The vesicles may appear locally or generally and may
be discrete or confluent. Sucking puppies, when attacked usually perish.
In _treatment_ the same hygienic measures are demanded as for other
animals, special care being required to keep the bowels and kidneys
acting in a healthy manner. Perfect cleanliness must be secured, and
nonstimulating easily digested food. Excessive fever would demand tepid
baths, cold sponging, or acetanilid, and undue warmth, crowding and cold
exposure must be alike guarded against.
In view of the alleged sources of the disease in man and sheep, the
strictest seclusion of the affected dog, in disinfected surroundings
will become absolutely essential and when this cannot be carried out he
should be summarily destroyed.