DESCRIPTION OF THE SKELETON.
DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM:--FITS; TURNSIDE, OR GIDDINESS, EPILEPSY;
CHOREA; RHEUMATISM AND PALSY.
[As with all the illustrations in this text, the canine skeleton and
legend to the diagram are displayed fully in the html version.]
DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.
FITS
24th Feb. 1814.--A pug was accustomed to howl frequently when his young
master played on the flute. If the higher notes were sounded, he would
leap on his master's lap, look in his face, and howl vehemently. To-day
the young man purposely blew the shrillest sound that he could. The dog,
after howling three or four times, began to run round the room, and over
the tables and chairs, barking incessantly. This he continued more than
an hour.
When I saw him all consciousness of surrounding objects was gone. He was
still running feebly, but barking might and main.
I dashed a basin of cold water in his face, and he dropped as if he had
been shot. He lay motionless nearly a minute, and then began to struggle
and to bark; another cup of water was dashed in his face, and he lay
quite motionless during two minutes or more. In the mean time I had got
a grain each of calomel and tartar emetic, which I put on his tongue,
and washed it down with a little water. He began to recover, and again
began to yelp, although much softer; but, in about a quarter of an hour,
sickness commenced, and he ceased his noise. He vomited three or four
times, and lay frightened and quiet. A physic-ball was given him in the
evening, and on the following morning.
On the next day the young man put open the door, and sat himself down,
and began to prepare the flute; the dog was out in a moment, and did not
return during a couple of hours. On the following day he made his escape
again, and so the matter went on; but before the expiration of the week,
his master might play the flute if he pleased.
TURNSIDE, OR GIDDINESS.
This is a singular disease prevalent among cattle, but only occasionally
seen in the dog. He becomes listless, dull, off his food, and scarcely
recognises any surrounding object. He has no fit, but he wanders about
the room fur several hours at a time, generally or almost invariably in
the same direction, and with his head on one side. At first he carefully
avoids the objects that are in his way; but by degrees his mental
faculties become impaired; his sense of vision is confused or lost, and
he blunders against everything: in fact, if uninterrupted, he would
continue his strange perambulation incessantly, until he was fairly worn
out and died in convulsions.
I used to consider the complaint to be uniformly fatal. I have resorted
to every remedial measure that the case could suggest. I have bled, and
physicked and setoned, and blistered, and used the moxa; but all without
avail, for not in a single case did I save my patient.
No opportunity of 'post-mortem' examination was lost. In some cases I
have found spicula projecting from the inner plate of the skull, and
pressing upon or even penetrating the dura mater. I know not why the dog
should be more subject to these irregularities of cranial surface than
any of our other patients; but decidedly he is so, and where they have
pressed upon the brain, there has been injection of the membranes, and
sometimes effusion between them.
In some cases I have found effusion without this external pressure, and,
in some cases, but comparatively few, there has not been any perceptible
lesion. Hydatids have been found in the different passages leading to
the cranium, but they have not penetrated.
I used to recommend that the dog should be destroyed; but I met with two
or three favourable cases, and, after that, I determined to try every
measure that could possibly be serviceable. I bled, and physicked, and
inserted setons, and tried to prevent the utter exhaustion of the
animal. When he was unable longer to perform his circumvolutions, and
found that he was foiled, he laid himself down, and by degrees resumed
his former habits. He was sadly impatient and noisy; but in a few cases
he was cured.
[We have seen but two or three cases of this disease in dogs, are led to
believe that it is quite uncommon with our domestic animals. One case in
a valuable setter came on suddenly, and without any apparent cause
(except perhaps over-feeding), and terminated fatally in the course of a
few days.--L.]
EPILEPSY
in the dog assumes a most fatal character. It is an accompaniment, or a
consequence, of almost every other disease. When the puppy is undergoing
the process of dentition, the irritation produced by the pressure of the
tooth, as it penetrates the gum, leads on to epilepsy. When he is going
through the stages of distemper, with a very little bad treatment, or in
spite of the best, fits occur. The degree of intestinal irritation which
is caused by worms, is marked by an attack of epilepsy. If the usual
exercise be neglected for a few days, and the dog is taken out, and
suffered to range as he likes, the accumulation of excitability is
expended in a fit.
The dog is, without doubt, the most intellectual animal. He is the
companion and the friend of man: he exhibits, and is debased by some of
his vices; but, to a greater degree than many will allow, he exhibits
all the intelligence and the virtues of the biped. In proportion to his
bulk, the weight of his brain far exceeds that of any other
quadruped--the very smallest animals alone being excepted, in whom there
must be a certain accumulation of medullary matter in order to give
origin to the nerves of every system, as numerous in the minutest as in
him of greatest bulk.
As it has been said of the human being that great power and exertion of
the mental faculties are sometimes connected with a tendency to
epilepsy, and, as violent emotions of joy or of grief have been known to
be followed by it, I can readily account for its occurrence in the young
dog, when frightened at the chiding of his master, or by the dread of a
punishment which he was conscious that he had deserved. Then, too, I can
understand that, when breaking loose from long confinement, he ranges in
all the exuberance of joy; and especially when he flushes almost his
first covey, and the game falls dead before him, his mental powers are
quite overcome, and he falls into an epileptic fit.
The treatment of epilepsy in the dog is simple, yet often misunderstood.
It is connected with distemper in its early stage. It is the produce of
inflammation of the mucous passages generally, which an emetic and a
purgative will probably, by their direct medicinal effect, relieve, and
free the digestive passages from some source of irritation, and by their
mechanical action unburthen the respiratory ones.
When it is symptomatic of a weak state of the constitution, or connected
with the after stages of distemper, the emeto-purgative must be
succeeded by an anodyne, or, at least, by that which will strengthen,
but not irritate the patient.
A seton is an admirable auxiliary in epilepsy connected with distemper;
it is a counter-irritant and a derivative, and its effects are a
salutary discharge, under the influence of which inflammation elsewhere
will gradually abate.
I should, however, be cautious of bleeding in distemper fits. I should
be fearful of it even in an early stage, because I well know that the
acute form of that general mucous inflammation soon passes over, and is
succeeded by a debility, from the depression of which I cannot always
rouse my patient. When the fits proceed from dentition, I lance the
jaws, and give an emetic, and follow it up with cooling purgative
medicine. When they are caused by irregular and excessive exercise, I
open the bowels and make my exercise more regular and equable. When they
arise from excitation, I expose my patient more cautiously to the
influence of those things which make so much impression on his little
but susceptible mind.
If the fit has resisted other means, bleeding should be resorted to. A
fit in other animals is generally connected with dangerous determination
of blood to the head, and bleeding is imperative. A fit in the dog may
be the consequence of sudden surprise and irritation. If I had the means
I should see whether I could not break the charm; whether I could not
get rid of the disturbance, by suddenly affecting the nervous system,
and the system generally, in another way. I would seize him by the nape
of the neck, and, with all my force, dash a little cold water in his
face. The shock of this has often dispersed the epileptic agency, as it
were by magic. I would give an emeto-purgative; a grain or a grain and a
half of calomel and the same quantity of tartar emetic: I would soothe
and coax the poor animal. Then,--and if I saw it at the beginning, I
would do it early,--if the fit was more dependent upon, or was beginning
to be connected with, determination of blood to the head, and not on any
temporary cause of excitation or irritation, I would bleed freely from
the jugular.
The following singular case of epilepsy is narrated by M.W. Leblanc:
A dog of small size, three years old, was very subject to those
epileptic fits that are so frequent among dogs. After a considerable
period, the fits would cease, and the animal recover the appearance of
perfect health; but the more he advanced in age the more frequent were
the fits, which is contrary to that which usually happens.
The last fit was a very strong one, and was followed by peculiar
symptoms. The animal became dispirited. The eyes lost their usual lively
appearance, and the eyelids were often closed. The dog was very drowsy,
and, during sleep, there were observed, from time to time, spasmodic
movements, principally of the head and chest. 'He always lay down on the
left side'. When he walked, he had a marked propensity to turn to the
left.
M. Leblanc employed purgatives, a seton to the back part of the neck,
and the application of the cautery to the left side of the forehead; but
nothing would stop the progress of the disease, and he died in the
course of two months after the last fit. The nearer he approached his
end the smaller were the circles that he took; and, in the latter part
of his existence, he did little more than turn as if he were on a pivot,
and, when the time arrived that he could walk no more, he used to lay
himself down on the right side.
On the 'post-mortem' examination, a remarkable thickness of the meninges
was found on almost the whole of the left lobe of the brain. The dura
mater, the two leaves of the arachnoid membrane, and the pia mater did
not constitute more than one membrane of the usual thickness, and
presented a somewhat yellow colouring. The cerebral substance of the
left lobe appeared to be a little firmer than that of the right lobe.
The fissures of the cerebral devolutions were much less deep than those
of the other side The red vessels which ran in the fissures were of
smaller size, and in some places could scarcely be discovered.
[Confinement, over-feeding, blows on the head or spine, drying up of old
ulcers, repelling of cutaneous affections, or, in fact, anything that is
liable to derange the general health of the animal, will produce
epileptic fits.
We formerly had a beagle hound of very active temperament, which we were
necessarily obliged to keep much confined while in the city; and to
restrain her from running too wildly when taken into the streets, we
were in the habit of coupling her with a greyhound of much milder
disposition. Not being willing to submit lamely to this unpleasant check
upon her liberty, she was ever making fruitless attempts to escape,
either by thrusting herself forwards, or obstinately pulling backwards.
These efforts resulted on several occasions in fits, produced by
congestion of the brain, owing to the pressure of the collar on the
neck, thereby interrupting the circulation, and inducing an influx of
blood to those parts. We were ultimately obliged to abandon this method
of restraint, which nearly proved fatal to our much-admired beagle: she
being suddenly seized with one of these fits on a hot summer's day in
one of our principal thoroughfares, the crowd of ignorant bystanders
concluded it to be a case of rabies, and nothing but my taking her up in
my arms, and carrying her from the scene of action, saved her from
falling a victim to their ignorance.
If the disease appears dependent upon plethora the result of confinement
and gross living, the animal must be reduced by bleeding and purging,
low diet, and exercise. If, however, the malady proceeds from weakness,
as is sometimes the case in bitches while suckling a large litter, it
will be necessary to relieve her of some of the pups, and supply her
with the most nutritious diet, as also administer tonic balls; the
following will answer.
[Symbol: Rx]: Extract of Gentian, Quassia, ââ (each) grs. V, made into
two pills, and one or two given morning and evening;
or,
[Symbol: Rx]: Powdered Columbo. Carbonate of Iron, ââ, grs. V, made
into two pills, and one given morning and evening, or more frequently if
desirable.
A seton placed in the poll will often prevent these attacks,
particularly when depending upon slight cerebral irritation,
accompanying distemper and mange. Blisters and frictions to the spine
are also serviceable.--L.]
CHOREA.
This is an irregular reception or distribution of nervous power--a
convulsive involuntary twitching of some muscle or set of muscles. It is
an occasional consequence of distemper that has been unusually severe or
imperfectly treated, and sometimes it is seen even after that disease
has existed in its mildest form.
[This nervous affection, more commonly known as St. Vitus' dance, is not
a rare disease, and we doubt not that examples of it have been seen by
most of our readers, more particularly in young dogs affected with
distemper.
This malady is characterized by sudden involuntary twitchings of the
different muscles of the body, the disease being sometimes confined to
one limb, sometimes to two, and frequently pervades the whole system,
giving the dog a distressing and painful appearance. These involuntary
motions, it is very true, are generally restricted during sleep,
although in old chronic cases of long standing they often continue in
full activity without any remission whatever. The disease is not
attended with fever, and all the functions generally remain for a
considerable time unimpaired.--L.]
It first appears in one leg or shoulder, and is long, or perhaps
entirely, confined to that limb. There is a singular spasmodic jerking
action of the limb. It looks like a series of pulsations, and averages
from forty to sixty in a minute. Oftener, perhaps, than otherwise, both
legs are similarly affected. When the animal is lying down, the legs are
convulsed in the way that I have described, and when he stands there is
a pulsating depressing or sinking of the head and neck. In some cases,
the muscles of the neck are the principal seat of the disease, or some
muscle of the face; the temporal muscle beating like an artery; the
masseter opening and closing the mouth, the muscles of the eyelid, and,
in a few cases, those of the eye itself being affected. These convulsive
movements generally, yet not uniformly, cease during sleep, but that
sleep is often very much disturbed. If the case is neglected, and the
dog is in a debilitated state, this spasmodic action steals over the
whole frame, and he lies extended with every limb in constant and
spasmodic action.
In the majority of cases, such an expenditure of nervous and muscular
power slowly destroys the strength of the animal, and he dies a mere
skeleton; or the disease assumes the character of epilepsy, or it quiets
down into true palsy.
In the most favourable cases, no curative means having been used, the
dog regains his flesh and general strength; but the chorea continues,
the spasmodic action, however, being much lessened. At other times, it
seems to have disappeared; but it is ready to return when the animal is
excited or attacked by other disease. In a variety of instances, there
is the irritable temper which accompanies chorea in the human being, and
most certainly when the disease has been extensive and confirmed.
Chorea, neglected or improperly treated, or too frequently pursuing its
natural course, degenerates into paralysis agitans. There is a tremulous
or violent motion of almost every limb. The spasms are not relaxed, but
are even increased during sleep, and when the animal awakes, he rises
with agitation and alarm. There is not a limb under the perfect control
of the will; there is not a moment's respite; the constitution soon
sinks, and the animal dies. No person should be induced to undertake the
cure of such a case: the owner should be persuaded to permit a speedy
termination to a life which no skill can render comfortable.
Chorea is oftenest observed in young dogs, and especially after
distemper; and it seems to depend on a certain degree of primary or
sympathetic inflammatory affection of the brain.
Chorea is often very plainly a consequence of debility: either the
distribution of nervous power is irregular, or the muscles have lost
their power of being readily acted upon, or have acquired a state of
morbid irritability. The latter is the most frequent state. Their action
is irregular and spasmodic, and it resembles the struggles of expiring
nature far more than the great and uniform action of health. It is not
the chorea that used to be described, in which there was an irresistible
impulse to excessive action, and which was best combated by complete
muscular exhaustion; but the foundation of this disease is palpable
debility.
[Rickets, bad feeding, cold and damp housing, worms in the alimentary
canal, mange, and other chronic affections, are all forerunners of this
malady.--L.]
In the treatment of chorea there must be no bleeding, no excessive
purgation, but aperients or alteratives, merely sufficient to keep the
fæces in a pultaceous state, so as to carry off any source of irritation
to the intestinal canal, and particularly some species of worms, too
frequent sources of irritation there. To these should be added
nutritious food, gentle exercise, tonic medicines, and general comforts.
Counter-irritants may be applied--such as blisters over the head, and
setons, extending from poll to poll--the application of turpentine, or
the tincture of cantharides; but all of these will frequently be of no
effect, and occasionally a rapid and fearful increase of irritability
will ensue: antispasmodics are in this case of no use, and narcotics are
altogether powerless. As for tonics, iron and gentian have been
serviceable to a certain extent, but they have never cured the
complaint. The nitrate of silver will be the sheet-anchor of the
practitioner, and if early used will seldom deceive him. It should be
combined with ginger, and given morning and night, in doses varying from
one-sixth to one-third of a grain, according to the size of the dog.
The condition and strength of the dog, and the season of the year, will
be our best guides. If the patient has not lost much flesh, and is not
losing it at the time that we have to do with him, and has few symptoms
of general debility, and spring or summer are approaching we may with
tolerable confidence predict a cure; but, if he has been rapidly losing
ground, and is doing so still, and staggers about and falls, there is no
medicine that will restore him.
5th October, 1840.--A pointer, eighteen months old, had had the
distemper, but not severely, and was apparently recovering when he
suddenly lost all voluntary power over his limbs. He was unable to get
up, and his legs were in constant, rapid, and violent motion. This
continued three days, during which he had refused all food, when, the
dog being in the country, my advice was asked. I ordered a strong emetic
to be given to him, and after that a dose of Epsom salts, the insertion
of a seton, and, in addition to this, our usual tonic was to be given
twice every day. His food to consist chiefly of good strong soup, which
was to be forced upon him in a sufficient quantity.
In two days he was able to get up and stagger about, although frequently
falling. His appetite returned. He continued to improve, and most
rapidly gained strength and especially flesh. A very peculiar,
high-lifting, clambering, and uncertain motion of the legs remained,
with an apparent defect of sight, for he ran against almost everything.
In six weeks the seton was removed, and the dog remained in the same
state until the 7th of December. The uncertain clambering motion was now
increasing, and likewise the defect of sight. He ran against almost
every person and every thing. The cornea was transparent, the iris
contracted, there was no opacity of the lens, or pink tint of the
retina, but a peculiar glassy appearance, as unconscious of everything
around it. An emetic was given, and, after that, an ounce of sulphate of
magnesia.
8th. He was dreadfully ill after taking the salts; perhaps they were not
genuine. For two days he panted sadly, refused his food, and vomited
that which was forced upon him. His muzzle was hot; he could scarcely
stand; he lost flesh very rapidly. An emetic was given immediately, and
a distemper-ball daily.
16th. He soon began rapidly to recover, until he was in nearly the same
state as before, except that the sight was apparently more deficient.
The sulphate of magnesia was given every fourth day, and another seton
inserted.
21st. He continued the medicine, and evidently improved, the sight
returning, and the spasms being considerably less. The distemper-ball
was continued.
4th January, 1841.--The spasms were better; but the vision did not
improve. In the afternoon he fell into a momentary fit. He almost
immediately rose again, and proceeded as if nothing had happened. An
ounce of Epson salts was given, and then the tonic balls as before.
22d. The spasms were lessened, the clambering gait nearly ceased, but
the vision was not improved. The seton was removed, and only an
additional dose of salts given.
27th. The spasms suddenly and very considerably increased. The left side
appeared now to be particularly affected. The left leg before and behind
were most spasmed, the right scarcely at all so. The vision of the left
eye was quite gone. The dog had been taken to Mr. Alexander's, the
oculist, who attributed the affection of the eye and the general
spasmodic disease to some pressure on the brain, and recommended the
trial of copious and repeated bleeding.
28th. The dog was dull; the spasms appeared to have somewhat increased
and decidedly to affect the left side. Fever-balls were ordered to be
given.
29th. Considerable change took place. At three o'clock this morning I
was disturbed by a noise in the hospital. The poor fellow was in a
violent fit. Water was dashed in his face, and a strong emetic given;
but it was not until seven o'clock that the fit had ceased; he lay until
eleven o'clock, when the involuntary spasms were almost suspended. When
he was placed on his feet, he immediately fell; he then gradually
revived and staggered about. His master brought a physician to see him,
who adopted Mr. Alexander's idea and urged bleeding. Ten ounces of blood
were immediately taken; the dog refused to eat.
1st February.--The strength of the animal was not impaired, but the
spasms were more violent, and he lay or wandered about stupid and almost
unconscious. I subtracted eight ounces more of blood.
2d. The spasms were fully as violent, and no amendment in the vision.
Eight ounces more of blood were subtracted without benefit. A fever-ball
was ordered to be given.
3d. No amendment; but the bleeding having been carried to its full
extent, I again resorted to the tonic balls, which were given morning
and night. The dog was well fed and the seton replaced.
5th. A very considerable amendment is evident.
9th. The spasms rapidly subsided and almost disappeared. Vision was not
perfectly restored; but the dog evidently saw with his left eye. He was
taken away, and tonic balls sent with him and ordered to be continued.
6th March.--The dog had improved in strength and no spasmodic affection
remained; he likewise evidently saw with his left eye. The tonic-balls
had been discontinued for a week, and his master hoped that all would
turn out well, when suddenly, while at home, he was seized with a fit
that lasted ten minutes. A strong emetic was given, which brought up a
vast quantity of undigested food. A strong purging-ball was given to him
in the evening.
13th. The dog had lain slightly spasmed for two or three days, when they
all at once ceased, and the animal appeared as well as before. Suddenly
he was taken with another fit, and again a vast quantity of food was
vomited. These spasms remained two days, but on the 21st the fit
returned with the same discharge of food. Courses of purgatives were
then determined on. A strong dose of sulphate of magnesia was given
every third day. After four doses had been given, it was impossible to
force any more upon him. The syrup of buckthorn was tried, but the
fourth dose of that it was impossible to give. The dog was then sent
into the country; no fit occurred, but there were occasional spasms.
23d September.--He was brought back to town, and I saw him. During the
last month he had had many fits. His owner at length consented that the
actual cautery should be applied to his head. The searing-iron for
doctoring was used, and applied red-hot to the centre of the head. It
was exceedingly difficult so to confine the dog as to make the
application effectual, without destroying the skin.
Under the influence of the sudden violent pain, he wandered about for
more than two hours, and then the spasms returned with greater force
than usual. He refused all food.
We determined to try the cautery to its full extent. We chained him up
in the morning, and penetrated through the skin with the budding-iron.
The spasms were dreadfully violent, and he was scarcely able to walk or
to stand. This gradually subsided, and then he began to run round and
round, and that increased to an extraordinary velocity: he would then
lie for a while with every limb in action. The owner then yielded to all
our wishes, and he was destroyed with prussic acid. No morbid appearance
presented itself in the brain; but, on the inner plate of the right
parietal bone, near the sagittal suture, were two projections, one-sixth
of an inch in length, and armed with numerous minute spicula. There was
no peculiar inflammation or vascularity of any other part of the brain.
[We once cured a case quite accidentally, by throwing a pup into a cold
stream of water, and making him swim ashore; we do not recommend the
plan, although we should be willing to try it again with one of our own
dogs. The animal should be forced to swim till nearly exhausted, and
wrapped up in blankets on coming out of the water. The intense alarm
created in the pup, together with the violent struggle and coldness of
the water, all act as revulsives to the disease, which, if purely
nervous, may be overcome by these powerful agents.
If the dog be weak, and the stomach deranged, the following tonic balls
will answer a good purpose:
[Symbol: Rx]: Carbonate of Iron.
Ground Ginger, ââ, grs. X, made into two pills, one given morning and
evening, or more frequently according to the age or size of the
animal.--L.]
RHEUMATISM AND PALSY.
I do not know any animal so subject to 'rheumatism' as the dog, nor any
one in which, if it is early and properly treated, it is so manageable.
[We agree with our author, that the canine family are exceedingly liable
to inflammation of the fibrous and muscular structures of the body, and
there is no disease from which they suffer more, both in their youth and
old age, than rheumatism. No particular species of dogs are more subject
to its attacks than others, all being alike victims to its ravages. Mr.
Blaine remarks, that the bowels always sympathize with other parts of
the body suffering under this disease, and that inflammation will always
be found existing in the abdominal viscera, if rheumatism be present,
and the lower bowels will be attended with a painful torpor, which he
designates as rheumatic colic. We ourselves noticed, that old setters
particularly, when suffering from this disease, are frequently attacked
with an acute diarrhoea, or suffer from obstinate constipation attended
by griping pains, but did not know that this state of things was so
uniform an accompaniment to the other affection. There are two varieties
of rheumatism, the 'acute' and 'chronic', both of which are attended
with either general fever or local inflammation. The attacks usually
come on rather suddenly, the joints swell, the pulse becomes full and
tense, the parts tender, and the eyes blood-shot, the stomach deranged,
and the bowels costive. Severe lancinating pain runs through the
articulation, and along the course of the larger muscles, the tongue is
coated, the muzzle hot and dry, and the poor animal howls with agony.
The breathing becomes laboured, all food is rejected, and if you attempt
to move the sufferer he sends forth piteous cries of distress. 'The
causes' of this serious affection are very numerous; among the most
usual and active agents may be enumerated, exposure to atmospherical
vicissitudes, remaining wet and idle after coming from the water, damp
kennels, suppressed perspiration, metastasis of eruptive diseases,
luxurious living, laziness and over-feeding. These and many other causes
are all busy in the production of this disease. Duck dogs on the
Chesapeake, we have noticed as often suffering from this affection,
owing no doubt to the great exposure they are obliged to endure; but few
of them arrive at old age without being martyrs to the chronic form.
'Chronic rheumatism', generally the result of the other form of disease,
is most usually met with in old dogs: it is attended with little fever,
although the local inflammation and swelling is sometimes considerable.
The pain is often stationary in one shoulder or loin, at other times
shifts about suddenly to other portions of the body. The muscles are
tender and the joints stiff, the animal seems lame till he becomes
healed, and limber when all appearance of the disease vanishes. In old
cases the limbs become so much enlarged, and the joints so swollen, that
the dog is rendered perfectly useless, and consequently increases his
sufferings by idleness. 'This form of the disease is known as gout.'
Treatment of 'acute rheumatism'--bleeding largely is very important in
this affection, and if followed up with two or three purges of aloes,
gamboge, colocynth and calomel will arrest the progress of this disease.
Rx. Extract of Colocynth 3 [Symbol: scruple] i.
Calomel grs. x.
Powdered Gamboge grs. ii.
Socet. Aloes grs. x.
Made into four pills, two to be given at night, and the other the
following morning. If these medicines should not be handy, give a large
purging ball of aloes, to be followed by a full dose of salts. When the
inflammatory action is not sufficiently high to demand depletion, warm
bathing, friction and keeping the dog wrapped up in blankets before a
fire will generally afford relief. If the pain appear very severe, it
will be necessary to repeat the baths at short intervals: great
attention must be paid to the state of the bowels: if a diarrhoea
supervenes, it must not he checked too suddenly, by the use of
astringent medicines, but rather corrected by small doses of oil and
magnesia. If constipation attended with colic be the character of the
affection, small quantities of oil and turpentine in connexion with warm
enemata will be the proper remedies. If paralysis should occur, it will
be found very difficult to overcome, but must be treated, after the
reduction of inflammation, upon principles laid down under the head of
this latter affection. Blisters to the spine, setons, electricity,
acupuncturation, &c.
'Treatment of chronic rheumatism'--warm baths are useful, and warm
housing absolutely necessary, attention to diet, and an occasional purge
of blue mass and aloes, together with electricity, acupuncture,
rubefacient applications to the spine, &c.--L.]
A warm bath--perchance a bleeding--a dose or two of the castor-oil
mixture, and an embrocation composed of spirit of turpentine, hartshorn,
camphorated spirit, and laudanum, will usually remove it in two or three
days, unless it is complicated with muscular sprains, or other lesions,
such as the 'chest-founder' of kennels.
This chest-founder is a singular complaint, and often a pest in kennels
that are built in low situations, and where bad management prevails.
Where the huntsman or whippers-in are too often in a hurry to get home,
and turn their dogs into the kennel panting and hot; where the beds are
not far enough from the floor, or the building, if it should be in a
sufficiently elevated situation, has yet a northern aspect and is
unsheltered from the blast, chest-founder prevails; and I have known
half the pack affected by it after a severe run, the scent breast-high,
and the morning unusually cold. It even occasionally passes on into
palsy.
The veterinary surgeon will be sometimes consulted respecting this
provoking muscular affection. His advice will comprise--dryness,
attention to the bowels, attention to the exercise-ground, and perhaps,
occasionally, setons--not where the huntsman generally places them, on
the withers above, but on the brisket below, and defended from the teeth
of the dog by a roller of a very simple construction, passing round the
chest between the fore legs and over the front of the shoulders on
either side.
The pointer, somewhat too heavy before, and hardly worked, becomes what
is called chest-foundered. From his very make it is evident that, in
long-continued and considerable exertion, the subscapular muscles will
be liable to sprain and inflammation. There will be inflammation of the
fasciæ, induration, loss of power, loss of nervous influence and palsy.
Cattle, driven far and fast to the market, suffer from the same causes.
[By palsy, we mean a partial or complete loss of the powers of motion or
sensation in some portion of the muscular system: this affection is very
common to the canine race, and very few of them reach an advanced age
without having at some time in their life experienced an attack of this
malady.
The loins and hind legs suffer oftener than other parts, in fact we do
not recollect ever meeting with paralysis of the fore limbs alone.
Although the limbs become perfectly powerless, and are only dragged
after the animal by the combined efforts of the fore legs and back, it
is seldom that they lose their sensibility.--L.]
Palsy is frequent, as in the dog. However easy it may be to subdue a
rheumatic affection, in its early stage, by prompt attention, yet if it
is neglected, it very soon simulates, or becomes essentially connected
with, or converted into, palsy.
No animal presents a more striking illustration of the connexion between
intestinal irritation and palsy than the dog. He rarely or never has
enteritis, even in its mildest form, without some loss of power over the
hinder extremities. This may at first arise from the participation of
the lumbar muscles with the intestinal irritation; but, if the disease
of the bowels continues long, it will be evident enough that it is not
pain alone that produces the constrained and incomplete action of the
muscles of the hind extremities, but that there is an actual loss of
nervous power. A dog is often brought to the veterinary surgeon, with no
apparent disease about him except a staggering walk from weakness of the
hind limbs. He eats well and is cheerful, and his muzzle is moist and
cool; but his belly is tucked up, and there are two longitudinal cords,
running parallel to each other, which will scarcely yield to pressure.
The surgeon orders the castor-oil mixture twice or thrice daily, until
the bowels are well acted upon, and, as soon as that is accomplished,
the dog is as strong and as well as ever. Perhaps his hind limbs are
dragged behind him; a warm bath is ordered, he is dosed well with the
castor-oil mixture, and, if it is a recent case, the animal is well in a
few days. In more confirmed palsy, the charge, or plaster on the loins,
is added to the action of the aperient on the bowels. The process may be
somewhat slow, but it is seldom that the dog does not ultimately and
perfectly recover.
It is easy to explain this connexion, although we should have scarcely
supposed that it would have been so intimate, had not frequent
experience forced it on our observation. The rectum passes through the
pelvis. Whatever may be said of that intestine, considering its vertical
position in the human being, it is always charged with fæces in the
quadruped. It therefore shares more in the effect, whatever that may be,
which is produced by the retention of fæces in the intestinal canal, and
it shares also in the inflammatory affection of other parts of the
canal. Almost in contact with this viscus, or at least passing through
the pelvis, are the crural nerves from the lumbar vertebræ, the
obtusator running round the rim of the pelvis, the glutal nerve
occupying its back, and the sciatic hastening to escape from it. It is
not difficult to imagine that these, to a certain degree, will
sympathize with the healthy and also the morbid state of the rectum; and
that, when it is inert, or asleep, or diseased, they also may be
powerless too. Here is something like fact to establish a very important
theory, and which should be deeply considered by the sportsman and the
surgeon.
[Loss of the contractile power of the sphincters of the bladder and
rectum, sometimes attends this disease, and involuntary evacuations are
constantly taking place, or costiveness and retention are the
consequences.--L.]
Mr. Dupuy has given a valuable account of the knowledge we possess of
the diseases of the spinal marrow in our domestic quadrupeds.
He has proved:
1. That in our domestic animals the spinal marrow is scarcely ever
affected through the whole of its course.
2. That the dorsal and lumbar regions are the parts oftenest affected.
3. That inflammation of the spinal marrow of these regions always
produces palsy, more or less complete, of the abdominal members.
4. That, in some cases, this inflammation is limited to the inferior or
superior parts of the spinal marrow, and that there is loss only of
feeling or of motion.
5. That sometimes animals die of palsy without any organic lesion.
[Blows on the head, producing effusion on the brain, poisoning by lead,
inflammation of the spinal marrow, affections of the nerves, caries of
the spine, costiveness and affections of the bowels, are all productive
of palsy. If the disease proceeds from rheumatism, or other inflammatory
affections, independent of any organic lesion, the disease, if taken
early, is not difficult to overcome in the young subject. Warm baths,
bleeding, purging, and stimulating applications to the parts and along
the spine, will answer. Castor oil and turpentine is a good purge: where
the malady depends upon costiveness, purges of aloes should be
administered in connexion with warm enemata, stimulating frictions along
the spine, and hot baths. Croton oil dropped on the tongue will also be
of great benefit: if there should be effusion or compression from
fracture of the bones of the cranium, nothing but trephining will be of
any service, as we can hardly hope for the absorption of the matter, and
the removal of the spicula of bone can alone afford relief to the
patient. Paralysis arising from poisoning should be treated as described
under the head of mineral poisons. Chronic cases of paralysis arising
from want of tone of the nerves and spinal marrow, repeated blistering,
introduction of the seton along the spine, electricity, &c., have all
been tried with some success.
Strychnia, from its peculiar effects upon the animal economy, and its
almost exclusive direction to the nerves of motion, makes it a medicine
particularly applicable to the treatment of this disease. It may be
given in all stages of the malady, but is most serviceable after the
reduction of inflammatory action, and when we are convinced that the
disease depends upon want of tone in the motor muscles.
Great care should be had in its administration, as it is a powerful
poison in too large doses, to a large dog; commence with a quarter of a
grain in pill, three times daily, and gradually increase to a half grain
or more if the animal seems to bear it well. But it should be
discontinued immediately on the appearance of any constitutional
symptoms, such as spasmodic twitchings of the eyelids or muzzle.--L.]
PALSY--MANGE
11th February, 1835.--A Persian bitch, at the Zoological Gardens, who
was well yesterday, now staggers as she walks, and has nearly lost the
use of her hind legs. Gave a good dose of the castor-oil mixture.
18th. She is materially worse and drags her hind legs after her. I would
fain put on a charge, but the keeper does not like that her beautiful
coat should be spoiled, and wishes to try what gentle exercise will do.
She certainly, after she has been coaxed a great deal, will get on her
legs and stagger on fifty yards or more. Gave the castor-oil mixture
daily.
19th. She is a little stronger, and walks a little better. Continue the
mixture. Embrocate well with the rheumatic mixture--sp. tereb., sp.
camph., liq. ammon., et tinct. opii--and give gentle exercise.
2d March.--She does improve, although slowly; the charge is therefore
postponed. Continue treatment.
30th. She is considerably better. Continue the mixture, and use the
embrocation every second day.
10th April--She has mange in the bend of her arm, and on her chest. Use
the sulphur ointment and alterative balls, and omit the embrocation and
mixture. In less than a week she nearly recovered from her lameness, and
ran about almost as well as ever.
30th. She runs about very fairly, but the mange has assumed that
character of scurvy which I do not know how to grapple with. Continue
the alterative balls, and the ointment.
18th May.--The mange has disappeared, but the palsy is returning; she
staggers slightly, and droops behind. Give the castor-oil mixture and
use the embrocation.
14th June.--Mange quite gone, but palsy continues to a very considerable
degree. I want to use the plaster; but the keeper pleads for a little
delay. Continue the treatment.
1st July.--I have at length determined to have recourse to the charge. A
piece of thick sheep's leather was fitted lo her loins and haunches.
18th. She appears to be improving, but it is very slowly.
31st. Very little change. The plaster keeps on well: she has no power
over her hind limbs; but she eats and drinks as well as ever.
23d August.--No change. Give her half a grain of strychnia, morning and
night.
26th That singular secretion of milk, to which the bitch is subject nine
weeks after oestrum, is now appearing. Her mammæ are enlarged, and I
can squeeze a considerable quantity of milk out of the teats. Give an
aloetic pill, and continue the strychnia.
31st. The secretion of milk continues. There is slight enlargement and
some heat of the mammæ; but she feeds as well as ever. Increase the
dose of strychnia to three-quarters of a grain.
On the following day she was found dead. In making the usual
longitudinal incision through the integuments of the abdomen a
considerable quantity of milky fluid, mingled with blood, followed the
knife. There was very slight enlargement of the teats, but intense
inflammation of the whole of the mammary substance. The omentum, and
particularly the portion opposite to the external disease, was also
inflamed. Besides this there was not a vestige of disease.
This is an interesting case and deserves record. I fear that justice was
not done to the animal at the commencement of the paralytic affection.
In nineteen cases out of twenty in the dog, the constant but mild
stimulus of a charge over the lumbar and sacral regions removes the
deeper-seated inflammation of the spinal cord or its membranes, when the
palsy is confined to the hind extremities, and has not been sufficiently
long established to produce serious change of structure. The charge
should have been applied at first. The almost total disappearance of the
palsy during the cutaneous disease, which was attended with more than
usual inflammation of the integument, is an instructive illustration of
the power of counter-irritation, and of what might possibly have been
effected in the first case; for much time was lost before the
application of the charge, and when at length it was applied, it and the
strychnia were powerless.
I consider the following case as exceedingly valuable, at least with
reference to the power of strychnia in removing palsy:--
19th August, 1836.--A fine Alpine dog was suddenly attacked with a
strange nervous affection. He was continually staggering about and
falling. His head was forcibly bent backward and a little on one side,
almost to his shoulder. A pound of blood was abstracted, a seton
inserted from ear to ear, and eight grains of calomel administered.
21st. He has perfectly lost the use of every limb. He has also
amaurosis. perfect blindness, which had not appeared the day before. He
hears perfectly, and he eats, and with appetite, when the food is put
into his mouth. Gave him two large spoonfuls of the castor-oil mixture
daily; this consists of three parts of castor-oil, two of syrup of
buck-thorn, and one of syrup of white poppies.
23d. A little better; can lift his head and throw it upon his side, and
will still eat when fed. Continue the mixture, and give half a grain of
strychnia daily.
24th. Little change.
27th. No change, except that he is rapidly losing flesh. Continue the
treatment.
31th. The strychnia increased to three-fourths of a grain morning and
night. The castor-oil mixture continued in its full quantity. He was
fed well, but there was a sunken, vacant expression of countenance.
2d September.--He can move his head a little, and has some slight motion
in his limbs.
4th. He can almost get up. He recognises me for the first time. His
appetite, which was never much impaired, has returned: this is to be
attributed to strychnia, or the seton, or the daily aperient mixture.
They have all, perhaps, been serviceable, but I attribute most to the
strychnia; for I have rarely, indeed, seen any dog recover from such an
attack. Continue the treatment.
6th. Fast recovering. Medicine as before.
14th. Improving, but not so fast as before. Still continue the
treatment.
28th. Going on slowly, but satisfactorily. Remove the seton, but
continue the other treatment.
13th October.--Quite well.
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