_Symptoms._--If the animal is a watch dog, (such are usually confined in
the daytime,) the person who is in the daily habit of feeding him will
first observe a loss of appetite; the animal will appear dull and lazy;
shortly after, there is a watery discharge from the eyes and nose,
resembling that which accompanies catarrh. As the disease advances,
general debility supervenes, accompanied with a weakness of the hind
extremities. The secretions are morbid; for example, some are
constipated, and pass high-colored urine; others are suddenly attacked
with diarrhoea, scanty urine, and vomiting. Fits are not uncommon
during the progress of the disease.
_Treatment._--If the animal is supposed to have eaten any improper food,
we commence the treatment by giving an emetic.
_Emetic for Dogs._
Powdered lobelia, (herb,) 1 tea-spoonful.
Warm water, 1 wine-glass.
Mix, and administer at a dose.
(A table-spoonful of common salt and water will generally vomit a dog.)
If this dose does not provoke emesis, it should not be repeated, for it
may act as a relaxant, and carry the morbid accumulations off by the
alimentary canal. If the bowels are constipated, use injections of
soap-suds. If the symptoms are complicated, the following medicine must
be prepared:--
Powdered mandrake, 1 table-spoonful.
" sulphur, 1 tea-spoonful.
" charcoal, 2 tea-spoonfuls.
" marshmallows, 1 table-spoonful.
Mix. Divide the mass into six parts, and administer one in honey, night
and morning, for the first day; after which, a single powder, daily,
will suffice. The diet to consist of mush, together with a drink of thin
arrowroot. If, however, the animal be in a state of plethora, very
little food should be given him.
If the strength fails, support it with beef tea. Should a diarrhoea
attend the malady, give an occasional drink of hardhack tea.