What follows in NOT veterinary advice. Do not attempt it, especially if your dog actually has distemper. If you dog has distemper, he or she is in big trouble and needs to see a vet.
The advice comes from Frederick Erb Jr’s How to Train Dogs and Cats (1904), which is composed of patent medicine promotion, dime store dog advice, exotic training aids, and absolute poppycock. (This book can only be called a book on cat training because it has a tiny section on training cats. Most of it is how to train a pointer or setter.)
Erb describes the composition of his “miracle tonic” and how to best apply it for a variety of ailments”
The following medicine is one which I value very highly and consider the chief cause of my wonderful success in keeping my dogs strong and healthy:
Prescription:
One quart of raw linseed oil,
One half pint oil of tar,
One pound of sulphur.
Mix well in a jug and use as directed.
For Distemper
Rub the medicine well into the dogs’ flanks and between his legs and he will lick it off. Do this once a week. If he is a growing dog, give a large spoonful every other day; small dogs and cats in proportion.
For A Bad Case Of Mange
Rub the oil all over him twice a week.
For A Bad Cough
Give a teaspoonful after coughing.
For Canker Of The Ear
Drop ten drops in each ear twice a day.
If the ear is very bad, drop a teaspoonful down it, which can be easily done by laying the dog down on the side opposite the sore ear, raising the flap of the ear and pouring the medicine in. The medicine will then run in easily and reach the sore places. Bandage the ear by tying a cloth around the head for fifteen or twenty minutes, so that the medicine cannot run out and by that time it will all be absorbed.
Don’t try this medicine for distemper, mange, or anything else.
It’s unlikely to work, and this remedy could make things quite a bit worse.
I can’t imagine how much the poor dogs suffered with all of that stuff on their mange-ridden hides, cankered ears, or diseased bodies.
Wow. I heard this recently for mange and wondered how people (today!) had come up with the idea. The oil thing has persisted for quite a while…
Gawd, imagine the SMELL! Sulfur and tar!
I guess it was called “miracle tonic” because it was a miracle if the dog survived! Sheeesh…poor dogs.
Well, coal tar is the active ingredient in many dandruff shampoos for human use – Denorex, Neutrogena T/Gel, Pentrax, Tegrin, Zetar
and sulfer compounds do have anti-bacterial properties
Check out this link – http://www.thenutritionreporter.com/the_sulfur_solution.html
“Before the advent of antibiotics in the 1940s, sulfur-containing drugs-sulfa drugs-were commonly used to treat infectious diseases. Sulfur has powerful antibacterial properties. Many of sulfa drugs are still prescribed by physicians, and sulfur is a component of penicillin-class antibiotics and many other medicines.”
That patent medicine might work for those other conditions. It’s just the dog won’t like it at all.
Distemper– no.
What would you have recommended? The first antibiotic was discovered in 1908. The first major class of antibiotics were sulfa drugs, developed a few years later.
Leaches were still an option, I guess.
Euthanasia.
Distemper was almost always a fatal disease.
Seriously.
I were alive back then and had a dog come down with distemper, about the only humane thing to do was to end his or her suffering.
Distemper is viral, the advent of antibiotics did nothing for it. It was not uncommon for an entire kennel and bloodline to be lost (so I can understand why people would try anything.) Distemper remained a major dog killer until a reliable vaccine was developed. It’s still very difficult to treat and the outcome is uncertain. I live on the Mexican border and there is a very low rate of vaccination here; Distemper is more common than in places with higher rates of vaccination. It’s a terrible disease, even if the dog survives it will often have neurological problems. One of the most pitiful things I’ve seen was a little dog kept by one of the local rescue agencies, she is a Distemper survivor and is partially blind and has neuro problems. They keep her in a special padded pen because she cannot walk properly and will run into things.
I thought Patti was talking about the ear infections, which are usually bacterial.
We had an issue with the gray foxes getting distemper a few years ago, and people made sure the dogs were vaccinated.
Yes, distemper is a virus, which means it can be a vaccinated against.
About 15 years ago I had a collie with sarcoptic mange and he had to be bathed in what we were told was a lime-sulfur dip. It smelled horrible – a petroleum and rotting egg smell. We had to coat my collie boy once a week for three weeks with the dip to cure him.
This recipe doesn’t seem too far off from the sarcoptic mange dip except I don’t see any lime (as in the chemical, not citrus).
At the time, my collie and his best buddy, an Airedale, developed sarcoptic mange (never figured out how they got it). Dugan the Airedale was treated with a one time extra high dose of Ivermectin ( a couple of tablets) and I remember just being green with envy about that.
My lab mix is 1 1/2 years old. She is a distemper survivor, at least so far. She lived through the initial sickness an another secondary bout a couple weeks after the first one. Then the siezures began about 6 months ago. She is taking a thyroide pill and phenolbarbitual twice a day. The siezures continue just not as often. she has put on alot of weight and is constantly hungry. Her neck has become really thick and it sounds like she is snoring when breathing occassionally. I am to add another pill next week since the meds should have controled the siezures better than they have. It is a potassium combo drug. I’m so sad at watching this beautiful special little dog deteriorate. She is the sweetest dog I have ever owned or been around and it breaks my heart. My question is what comes next…will the disease continue to reek havoc on her system and if so what ailments should I expect. Approximately how long is her life expectancy? I mean could she live to be 8 or 10 or are we looking at just a matter of months?
I have no idea. I am not a vet, nor I have had do with this disease.
It’s very bad disease, which gets its name from mistaking it with rabies.