SOME COMMON AILMENTS OF THE DOG AND THEIR TREATMENT
The experienced dog-owner has long ago realised that cleanliness,
wholesome food, judicious exercise and a dry, comfortable and
well-ventilated kennel are the surest safeguards of health, and that
attention to these necessaries saves him an infinitude of trouble and
anxiety by protecting his dogs from disease. On the first appearance
of illness in his kennels the wise dog-owner at once calls in the
skill of a good veterinary surgeon, but there are some of the minor
ailments which he can deal with himself whilst he ought at least to be
able to recognise the first symptoms of the dreaded Distemper and give
first aid until the vet. arrives to apply his remedies and give
professional advice.
DISTEMPER.
Although more than one hundred years have elapsed since this was
first imported to this country from France, a great amount of
misunderstanding still prevails among a large section of dog-breeders
regarding its true nature and origin. The fact is, the disease came to
us with a bad name, for the French themselves deemed it incurable. In
this country the old-fashioned plan of treatment was wont to be the
usual rough remedies--emetics, purgatives, the seton, and the lancet.
Failing in this, specifics of all sorts were eagerly sought for and
tried, and are unfortunately still believed in to a very great extent.
Distemper has a certain course to run, and in this disease Nature
seems to attempt the elimination of the poison through the secretions
thrown out by the naso-pharyngeal mucous membrane.
Our chief difficulty in the treatment of distemper lies in the
complications thereof. We may, and often do, have the organs of
respiration attacked; we have sometimes congestion of the liver, or
mucous inflammation of the bile ducts, or some lesion of the brain or
nervous structures, combined with epilepsy, convulsions, or chorea.
Distemper is also often complicated with severe disease of the bowels,
and at times with an affection of the eyes.
_Causes_--Whether it be that the distemper virus, the poison seedling
of the disease, really originates in the kennel, or is the result of
contact of one dog with another, or whether the poison floats to the
kennel on the wings of the wind, or is carried there on a shoe or the
point of a walking-stick, the following facts ought to be borne in
mind: (1) Anything that debilitates the body or weakens the nervous
system paves the way for the distemper poison; (2) the healthier the
dog the more power does he possess to resist contagion; (3) when the
disease is epizootic, it can often be kept at bay by proper attention
to diet and exercise, frequent change of kennel straw, and perfect
cleanliness; (4) the predisposing causes which have come more
immediately under my notice are debility, cold, damp, starvation,
filthy kennels, unwholesome food, impure air, and grief.
_The Age at which Dogs take Distemper_--They may take distemper at any
age; the most common time of life is from the fifth till the eleventh
or twelfth month.
_Symptoms_--There is, first and foremost, a period of latency or of
incubation, in which there is more or less of dullness and loss of
appetite, and this glides gradually into a state of feverishness. The
fever may be ushered in with chills and shivering. The nose now
becomes hot and dry, the dog is restless and thirsty, and the
conjunctivae of the eyes will be found to be considerably injected.
Sometimes the bowels are at first constipated, but they are more
usually irregular. Sneezing will also be frequent, and in some cases
cough, dry and husky at first. The temperature should be taken, and if
there is a rise of two or three degrees the case should be treated as
distemper, and not as a common cold.
At the commencement there is but little exudation from the eyes and
nose, but as the disease advances this symptom will become more
marked, being clear at first. So, too, will another symptom which is
partially diagnostic of the malady, namely, increased heat of body
combined with a rapid falling off in flesh, sometimes, indeed,
proceeding quickly on to positive emaciation.
As the disease creeps downwards and inwards along the air-passages,
the chest gets more and more affected, the discharge of mucus and pus
from the nostrils more abundant, and the cough loses its dry
character, becoming moist. The discharge from the eyes is simply mucus
and pus, but if not constantly dried away will gum the inflamed lids
together, that from the nostrils is not only purulent, but often mixed
with dark blood. The appetite is now clean gone, and there is often
vomiting and occasional attacks of diarrhoea.
Now in mild cases we may look for some abatement of the symptoms about
the fourteenth day. The fever gets less, inflammation decreases in the
mucous passages, and appetite is restored as one of the first signs of
returning health. More often, however, the disease becomes complicated.
_Diagnosis_--The diagnostic symptoms are the severe catarrh, combined
not only with fever, but speedy emaciation.
_Pneumonia_, as we might easily imagine, is a very likely complication,
and a very dangerous one. There is great distress in breathing, the
animal panting rapidly. The countenance is anxious, the pulse small
and frequent, and the extremities cold. The animal would fain sit up
on his haunches, or even seek to get out into the fresh air, but
sickness, weakness, and prostration often forbid his movements. If the
ear or stethoscope be applied to the chest, the characteristic signs
of pneumonia will be heard; these are sounds of moist crepitations,
etc.
_Bronchitis_ is probably the most common complication; in fact, it is
always present, except in very mild cases. The cough becomes more
severe, and often comes on in tearing paroxysms, causing sickness and
vomiting. The breathing is short and frequent, the mouth hot and
filled with viscid saliva, while very often the bowels are constipated.
If the liver becomes involved, we shall very soon have the jaundiced
eye and the yellow skin. _Diarrhoea_ is another very common
complication. We have frequent purging and, maybe, sickness and
vomiting. _Fits_ of a convulsive character are frequent concomitants
of distemper. _Epilepsy_ is sometimes seen, owing, no doubt, to
degeneration of the nerve centres caused by blood-poisoning. There are
many other complications, and skin complaints are common after it.
_Treatment_--This consists firstly in doing all in our power to guide
the specific catarrhal fever to a safe termination; and, secondly, in
watching for and combating complications. Whenever we see a young dog
ailing, losing appetite, exhibiting catarrhal symptoms, and getting
thin, with a rise in temperature, we should not lose an hour. If he be
an indoor dog, find him a good bed in a clean, well-ventilated
apartment, free from lumber and free from dirt. If it be summer, have
all the windows out or opened; if winter, a little fire will be
necessary, but have half the window opened at the same time; only take
precautions against his lying in a draught. Fresh air in cases of
distemper, and, indeed, in fevers of all kinds, cannot be too highly
extolled.
The more rest the dog has the better; he must be kept free from
excitement, and care must be taken to guard him against cold and wet
when he goes out of doors to obey the calls of Nature. The most
perfect cleanliness must be enjoined, and disinfectants used, such as
permanganate of potash, carbolic acid, Pearson's, or Izal. If the sick
dog, on the other hand, be one of a kennel of dogs, then quarantine
must be adopted. The hospital should be quite removed from the
vicinity of all other dogs, and as soon as the animal is taken from
the kennel the latter should be thoroughly cleansed and disinfected,
and the other dogs kept warm and dry, well fed, and moderately
exercised.
_Food and Drink_--For the first three or four days let the food be
light and easily digested. In order to induce the animal to take it,
it should be as palatable as possible. For small dogs you cannot have
anything better than milk porridge. [1] At all events, the dog must,
if possible, be induced to eat; he must not be "horned" unless there
be great emaciation; he must not over-eat, but what he gets must be
good. As to drink, dogs usually prefer clean cold water, and we cannot
do harm by mixing therewith a little plain nitre.
[1] Oatmeal porridge made with milk instead of water.
_Medicine_--Begin by giving a simple dose of castor oil, just enough
and no more than will clear out the bowels by one or two motions.
Drastic purgatives, and medicines such as mercury, jalap, aloes, and
podophyllyn, cannot be too highly condemned. For very small Toy dogs,
such as Italian Greyhounds, Yorkshire Terriers, etc., I should not
recommend even oil itself, but _manna_--one drachm to two drachms
dissolved in milk. By simply getting the bowels to act once or twice,
we shall have done enough for the first day, and have only to make
the dog comfortable for the night.
On the next day begin with a mixture such as the following: Solution
of acetate of ammonia, 30 drops to 120; sweet spirits of nitre, 15
drops to 60; salicylate of soda, 2 grains to 10. Thrice daily in a
little camphor water.
If the cough be very troublesome and the fever does not run very high,
the following may be substituted for this on the second or third day:
Syrup of squills, 10 drops to 60; tincture of henbane, 10 drops to 60;
sweet spirits of nitre, 10 drops to 60, in camphor water.
A few drops of dilute hydrochloric acid should be added to the dog's
drink, and two teaspoonfuls (to a quart of water) of the chlorate of
potash. This makes an excellent fever drink, especially if the dog can
be got to take decoction of barley--barley-water--instead of plain
cold water, best made of Keen and Robinson's patent barley.
If there be persistent sickness and vomiting, the medicine must be
stopped for a time. Small boluses of ice frequently administered will
do much good, and doses of dilute prussic acid, from one to four drops
in a little water, will generally arrest the vomiting.
If constipation be present, we must use no rough remedies to get rid
of it. A little raw meat cut into small pieces--minced, in fact--or a
small portion of raw liver, may be given if there be little fever; if
there be fever, we are to trust for a time to injections of plain
soap-and-water. Diarrhoea, although often a troublesome symptom, is,
it must be remembered, a salutary one. Unless, therefore, it becomes
excessive, do not interfere; if it does, give the simple chalk mixture
three times a day, but no longer than is needful.
The discharge from the mouth and nose is to be wiped away with a soft
rag--or, better still, some tow, which is afterwards to be
burned--wetted with a weak solution of carbolic. The forehead, eyes,
and nose may be fomented two or three times a day with moderately hot
water with great advantage.
It is not judicious to wet a long-haired dog much, but a short-haired
one may have the chest and throat well fomented several times a day,
and well rubbed dry afterwards. Heat applied to the chests of
long-haired dogs by means of a flat iron will also effect good.
The following is an excellent tonic: Sulphate of quinine, 1/8 to 3
grains; powdered rhubarb, 2 to 10 grains; extract of taraxacum, 3 to
20 grains; make a bolus. Thrice daily.
During convalescence good food, Virol, Spratts' invalid food and
invalid biscuit, moderate exercise, fresh air, and protection from
cold. These, with an occasional mild dose of castor oil or rhubarb,
are to be our sheet-anchors. I find no better tonic than the tablets
of Phosferine. One quarter of a tablet thrice daily, rolled in tissue
paper, for a Toy dog, up to two tablets for a dog of Mastiff size.
BRONCHITIS.
Dogs that have been exposed to wet, or that have been put to lie in a
damp or draughty kennel with insufficient food, are not less liable
than their masters to catch a severe cold, which, if not promptly
attended to, may extend downward to the lining membranes of bronchi or
lungs. In such cases there is always symptoms more or less of fever,
with fits of shivering and thirst, accompanied with dullness, a tired
appearance and loss of appetite. The breath is short, inspirations
painful, and there is a rattling of mucus in chest or throat. The most
prominent symptom, perhaps, is the frequent cough. It is at first dry,
ringing, and evidently painful; in a few days, however, or sooner, it
softens, and there is a discharge of frothy mucus with it, and, in the
latter stages, of pus and ropy mucus.
_Treatment_--Keep the patient in a comfortable, well-ventilated
apartment, with free access in and out if the weather be dry. Let the
bowels be freely acted upon to begin with, but no weakening discharge
from the bowels must be kept up. After the bowels have been moved we
should commence the exhibition of small doses of tartar emetic with
squills and opium thrice a day. If the cough is very troublesome, give
this mixture: Tincture of squills, 5 drops to 30; paregoric, 10 drops
to 60; tartar emetic, one-sixteenth of a grain to 1 grain; syrup and
water a sufficiency. Thrice daily.
We may give a full dose of opium every night. In mild cases carbonate
of ammonia may be tried; it often does good, the dose being from two
grains to ten in camphor water, or even plain water.
The chronic form of bronchitis will always yield, if the dog is young,
to careful feeding, moderate exercise, and the exhibition of cod-liver
oil with a mild iron tonic. The exercise, however, must be moderate,
and the dog kept from the water. A few drops to a teaspoonful of
paregoric, given at night, will do good, and the bowels should be kept
regular, and a simple laxative pill given now and then.
DIARRHOEA,
or looseness of the bowels, or purging, is a very common disease among
dogs of all ages and breeds. It is, nevertheless, more common among
puppies about three or four months old, and among dogs who have
reached the age of from seven to ten years. It is often symptomatic of
other ailments.
_Causes_--Very numerous. In weakly dogs exposure alone will produce
it. The weather, too, has no doubt much to do with the production of
diarrhoea. In most kennels it is more common in the months of July and
August, although it often comes on in the very dead of winter. Puppies,
if overfed, will often be seized with this troublesome complaint. A
healthy puppy hardly ever knows when it has had enough, and it will,
moreover, stuff itself with all sorts of garbage; acidity of the
stomach follows, with vomiting of the ingesta, and diarrhoea succeeds,
brought on by the acrid condition of the chyme, which finds its way
into the duodenum. This stuff would in itself act as a purgative, but
it does more, it abnormally excites the secretions of the whole
alimentary canal, and a sort of sub-acute mucous inflammation is set
up. The liver; too, becomes mixed up with the mischief, throws out a
superabundance of bile, and thus aids in keeping up the diarrhoea.
Among other causes, we find the eating of indigestible food, drinking
foul or tainted water, too much green food, raw paunches, foul kennels,
and damp, draughty kennels.
_Symptoms_--The purging is, of course, the principal symptom, and the
stools are either quite liquid or semi-fluid, bilious-looking,
dirty-brown or clay-coloured, or mixed with slimy mucus. In some cases
they resemble dirty water. Sometimes, as already said, a little blood
will be found in the dejection, owing to congestion of the mucous
membrane from liver obstruction. In case there be blood in the stools,
a careful examination is always necessary in order to ascertain the
real state of the patient. Blood, it must be remembered, might come
from piles or polypi, or it might be dysenteric, and proceed from
ulceration of the rectum and colon. In the simplest form of diarrhoea,
unless the disease continues for a long time, there will not be much
wasting, and the appetite will generally remain good but capricious.
In bilious diarrhoea, with large brown fluid stools and complete loss
of appetite, there is much thirst, and in a few days the dog gets
rather thin, although nothing like so rapidly as in the emaciation of
distemper.
_The Treatment_ will, it need hardly be said, depend upon the cause,
but as it is generally caused by the presence in the intestine of some
irritating matter, we can hardly err by administering a small dose of
castor oil, combining with it, if there be much pain--which you can
tell by the animal's countenance--from 5 to 20 or 30 drops of laudanum,
or of the solution of the muriate of morphia. This in itself will
often suffice to cut short an attack. The oil is preferable to rhubarb,
but the latter may be tried--the simple, not the compound powder--dose
from 10 grains to 2 drachms in bolus.
It the diarrhoea should continue next day, proceed cautiously--remember
there is no great hurry, and a sudden check to diarrhoea is at times
dangerous--to administer dog doses of the aromatic chalk and opium
powder, or give the following medicine three times a day: Compound
powdered catechu, 1 grain to 10; powdered chalk with opium, 3 grains
to 30. Mix. If the diarrhoea still continues, good may accrue from a
trial of the following mixture: Laudanum, 5 to 30 drops; dilute
sulphuric acid, 2 to 15 drops; in camphor water.
This after every liquid motion, or, if the motions may not be observed,
three times a day. If blood should appear in the stools give the
following: Kino powder, 1 to 10 grains; powder ipecac., 1/4 to 3
grains; powdered opium 1/2 to 2 grains. This may be made into a bolus
with any simple extract, and given three times a day.
The food is of importance. The diet should be changed; the food
requires to be of a non-stimulating kind, no meat being allowed, but
milk and bread, sago, or arrowroot or rice, etc. The drink either pure
water, with a pinch or two of chlorate and nitrate of potash in it, or
patent barley-water if the dog will take it.
The bed must be warm and clean, and free from draughts, and, in all
cases of diarrhoea, one cannot be too particular with the cleanliness
and disinfection of the kennels.
CONSTIPATION,
more commonly called costiveness, is also a very common complaint. It
often occurs in the progress of other diseases, but is just as often a
separate ailment.
Perhaps no complaint to which our canine friends are liable is less
understood by the non-professional dog doctor and by dog owners
themselves. Often caused by weakness in the coats of the intestine.
_The exhibition of purgatives can only have a temporary effect in
relieving the symptoms_, and is certain to be followed by reaction,
and consequently by further debility. Want of exercise and bath common
cause.
Youatt was never more correct in his life than when he said: "Many
dogs have a dry constipated habit, often greatly increased by the
bones on which they are fed. This favours the disposition to mange,
etc. It produces indigestion, encourages worms, blackens the teeth,
and causes fetid breath."
_Symptoms_--The stools are hard, usually in large round balls, and
defecation is accomplished with great difficulty, the animal often
having to try several times before he succeeds in effecting the act,
and this only after the most acute suffering. The faeces are generally
covered with white mucus, showing the heat and semi-dry condition of
the gut. The stool is sometimes so dry as to fall to pieces like so
much oatmeal.
There is generally also a deficiency of bile in the motions, and, in
addition to simple costiveness, we have more or less loss of appetite,
with a too pale tongue, dullness, and sleepiness, with slight redness
of the conjunctiva. Sometimes constipation alternates with diarrhoea,
the food being improperly commingled with the gastric and other juices,
ferments, spoils, and becomes, instead of healthy blood-producing
chyme, an irritant purgative.
_Treatment_--Hygienic treatment more than medicinal. Mild doses of
castor oil, compound rhubarb pill, or olive oil, may at first be
necessary. Sometimes an enema will be required if the medicine will
not act.
Plenty of exercise and a swim daily (with a good run after the swim),
or instead of the swim a bucket bath--water thrown over the dog.
Give oatmeal, rather than flour or fine bread, as the staple of his
diet, but a goodly allowance of meat is to be given as well, with
cabbage or boiled liver, or even a portion of raw liver. Fresh air and
exercise in the fields. You may give a bolus before dinner, such as
the following: Compound rhubarb pill, 1 to 5 grains; quinine, 1/8 to
2 grains; extract of taraxacum, 2 to 10 grains. Mix.
FITS.
Whatever be the cause, they are very alarming. In puppies they are
called Convulsions, and resemble epileptic fits. Keep the dog very
quiet, but use little force, simply enough to keep him from hurting
himself. Keep out of the sun, or in a darkened room. When he can
swallow give from 2 to 20 grains (according to size) of bromide of
potassium in a little camphor water thrice daily for a few days. Only
milk food. Keep quiet.
SKIN DISEASES.
In the whole range of dog ailments included in the term canine
pathology there are none more bothersome to treat successfully nor
more difficult to diagnose than those of the skin. There are none
either that afford the quack or patent-nostrum monger a larger field
for the practice of his fiendish gifts. If I were to be asked the
questions, "Why do dogs suffer so much from skin complaints?" and "Why
does it appear to be so difficult to treat them?" I should answer the
first thus: Through the neglect of their owners, from want of
cleanliness, from injudicious feeding, from bad kennelling, and from
permitting their favourites such free intercourse with other members
of the canine fraternity. Overcrowding is another and distinct source
of skin troubles.
My answer to the second question is that the layman too often treats
the trouble in the skin as if it were the disease itself, whereas it
is, generally, merely a symptom thereof. Examples: To plaster
medicated oils or ointments all over the skin of a dog suffering from
constitutional eczema is about as sensible as would be the painting
white of the yellow skin in jaundice in order to cure the disordered
liver.
But even those contagious diseases that are caused by skin germs or
animalcules will not be wholly cured by any applications whatever.
Constitutional remedies should go hand in hand with these. And, indeed,
so great is the defensive power of strong, pure blood, rich in its
white corpuscles or leucocytes, that I believe I could cure even the
worst forms of mange by internal remedies, good food, and tonics, etc.,
without the aid of any dressing whatever except pure cold water.
In treating of skin diseases it is usual to divide them into three
sections: (1) The non-contagious, (2) the contagious, and (3) ailments
caused by external parasites.
(1) The Non-Contagious.--(a) Erythema.--This is a redness, with slight
inflammation of the skin, the deeper tissues underneath not being
involved. _Examples_--That seen between the wrinkles of well-bred Pugs,
Mastiffs, or Bulldogs, or inside the thighs of Greyhounds, etc. If the
skin breaks there may be discharges of pus, and if the case is not
cured the skin may thicken and crack, and the dog make matters worse
with his tongue.
_Treatment_--Review and correct the methods of feeding. A dog should
be neither too gross nor too lean. Exercise, perfect cleanliness, the
early morning sluice-down with cold water, and a quassia tonic. He may
need a laxative as well.
_Locally_--Dusting with oxide of zinc or the violet powder of the
nurseries, a lotion of lead, or arnica. Fomentation, followed by cold
water, and, when dry, dusting as above. A weak solution of boracic
acid (any chemist) will sometimes do good.
(b) Prurigo.--Itching all over, with or without scurf. Sometimes
thickening.
_Treatment_--Regulation of diet, green vegetables, fruit if he will
take it, brushing and grooming, but never roughly. Try for worms and
for fleas.
(c) Eczema.--The name is not a happy one as applied to the usual
itching skin disease of dogs. Eczema proper is an eruption in which
the formed matter dries off into scales or scabs, and dog eczema,
so-called, is as often as not a species of lichen. Then, of course, it
is often accompanied with vermin, nearly always with dirt, and it is
irritated out of all character by the biting and scratching of the dog
himself.
_Treatment_--Must be both constitutional and local. Attend to the
organs of digestion. Give a moderate dose of opening medicine, to
clear away offending matter. This simple aperient may be repeated
occasionally, say once a week, and if diarrhoea be present it may be
checked by the addition of a little morphia or dilute sulphuric acid.
Cream of tartar with sulphur is an excellent derivative, being both
diuretic and diaphoretic, but it must not be given in doses large
enough to purge. At the same time we may give thrice daily a tonic
pill like the following:--
Sulphate of quinine, 1/8 to 3 grains; sulphate of iron, 1/2 grain to 5
grains; extract of hyoscyamus, 1/8 to 3 grains; extract of taraxacum
and glycerine enough to make a pill.
_Locally_--Perfect cleanliness. Cooling lotions patted on to the sore
places. Spratts' Cure. (N.B.--I know what every remedy contains, or I
should not recommend it.) Benzoated zinc ointment after the lotion has
dried in. Wash carefully once a week, using the ointment when skin is
dry, or the lotion to allay irritation.
(2) Contagious Skin Diseases.--These are usually called mange proper
and follicular mange, or scabies. I want to say a word on the latter
first. It depends upon a microscopic animalcule called the _Acarus
folliculorum_. The trouble begins by the formation of patches, from
which the hair falls off, and on which may be noticed a few pimples.
Scabs form, the patches extend, or come out on other parts of the body,
head, legs, belly, or sides. Skin becomes red in white-haired dogs.
Odour of this trouble very offensive. More _pain_ than itching seems
to be the symptomatic rule. Whole body may become affected.
_Treatment_--Dress the affected parts twice a week with the
following:--
Creosote, 2 drachms; linseed oil, 7 ounces; solution of potash, 1
ounce. First mix the creosote and oil, then add the solution and shake.
Better to shave the hair off around the patches. Kennels must be kept
clean with garden soap and hot water, and all bedding burned after use.
From three months to six will be needed to cure bad cases.
Mange Proper is also caused by a parasite or acarus, called the
_Sarcops canus_. Unlike eczema, this mange is spread from dog to dog
by touch or intercommunication, just as one person catches the itch
from another.
_The Symptoms_--At first these may escape attention, but there are
vesicles which the dog scratches and breaks, and thus the disease
spreads. The hair gets matted and falls off. Regions of the body most
commonly affected, head, chest, back, rump, and extremities. There may
not be much constitutional disturbance from the actual injury to the
skin, but from his suffering so much from the irritation and the want
of rest the health suffers.
_Treatment_--Avoid the use of so-called disinfectants. Most of those
sold as such are simply deodorisers, and, applied to the skin, are
useless. Nor are they of much use in cleaning the kennels. Nothing
suits better for woodwork than, first, carbolic wash, and then a
thorough scrubbing with hot water and garden soap.
Some ointment must be used to the skin, and as I am writing for laymen
only I feel chary in recommending such strong ones as the green iodide
of mercury. If you do use it mix it with twice its bulk of the
compound sulphur ointment. Do over only a part or two at a time. The
dog to be washed after three days. But the compound sulphur ointment
itself is a splendid application, and it is not dangerous.
(3) Skin Complaints from Vermin.--The treatment is obvious--get rid of
the cause.
_As their diagnosis is so difficult, whenever the dog-owner is in
doubt, make certain by treating the dog not only by local applications
but constitutionally as well_. In addition to good diet, perfect
cleanliness of coat, kennel, and all surroundings, and the application
of the ointment or oil, let the dog have all the fresh air possible,
and exercise, but never over-exciting or too fatiguing. Then a course
of arsenic seldom fails to do good.
I do not believe in beginning the exhibition of arsenic too soon. I
prefer paying my first attentions to the digestive organs and state of
the bowels. The form of exhibition which I have found suit as well as
any is the _tasteless Liquor arsenicalis_. It is easily administered.
It ought to be given mixed with the food, as it ought to enter the
blood with the chyle from the diet. It ought, day by day, to be
gradually, not hurriedly, increased. Symptoms of loathing of food and
redness of conjunctiva call for the cessation of its use for two or
three days at least, when it is to be recommended at the same size of
dose given when left off.
There are two things which assist the arsenic, at least to go well
with it; they are, iron in some form and Virol. The latter will be
needed when there is much loss of flesh. A simple pill of sulphate of
iron and extract of liquorice may be used. Dose of _Liquor arsenicalis_
from 1 to 6 drops _ter die_ to commence with, gradually increased to 5
to 20 drops.
Dandruff.--A scaly or scurfy condition of the skin, with more or less
of irritation. It is really a shedding of the scaly epidermis brought
on by injudicious feeding or want of exercise as a primary cause. The
dog, in cases of this kind, needs cooling medicines, such as small
doses of the nitrate and chlorates of potash, perhaps less food.
Bowels to be seen to by giving plenty of green food, with a morsel of
sheep's melt or raw liver occasionally. Wash about once in three weeks,
a very little borax in the last water, say a drachm to a gallon. Use
mild soap. Never use a very hard brush or sharp comb. Tar soap
(Wright's) may be tried.
PARASITES--INTERNAL.
WORMS.
We have, roughly speaking, two kinds of worms to treat in the dog:
(1) the round, and (2) the tape.
(1) _Round-worms_--They are in shape and size not unlike the garden
worm, but harder, pale, and pointed.
_Symptoms_--Sometimes these are alarming, for the worm itself is
occasionally seized with the mania for foreign travel, and finds its
way into the throat or nostrils, causing the dog to become perfectly
furious, and inducing such pain and agony that it may seem charity to
end its life. The worms may also crawl into the stomach, and give rise
to great irritation, but are usually dislodged therefrom by the
violence accompanying the act of vomiting.
Their usual habitat, however, is the small intestines, where they
occasion great distress to their host. The appetite is always depraved
and voracious. At times there is colic, with sickness and perhaps
vomiting, and the bowels are alternately constipated or loose. The
coat is harsh and staring, there usually is short, dry cough from
reflex irritation of the bronchial mucous membrane, a bad-smelling
breath and emaciation or at least considerable poverty of flesh.
The disease is most common in puppies and in young dogs. The appearance
of the ascaris in the dog's stools is, of course, _the_ diagnostic
symptom.
_Treatment_--I have cured many cases with santonin and areca-nut
powder (betel-nut), dose 10 grains to 2 drachms; or turpentine, dose
from 10 drops to 1-1/2 drachms, beaten up with yolk of egg.
But areca-nut does better for tape-worm, so we cannot do better than
trust to pure santonin. The dose is from 1 grain for a Toy up to 6
grains for a Mastiff. Mix it with a little butter, and stick it well
back in the roof of the dog's mouth. He must have fasted previously
for twelve hours, and had a dose of castor oil the day before. In four
or five hours after he has swallowed the santonin, let him have a dose
of either olive oil or decoction of aloes. Dose, 2 drachms to 2 ounces
or more. Repeat the treatment in five days. Spratts' cure may be
safely depended on for worms. [1]
[1] Many dog owners swear by the preparation called Ruby, which can be
recommended as a cure for worms.--Ed.
The perfect cleanliness of the kennel is of paramount importance.
The animal's general health requires looking after, and he may be
brought once more into good condition by proper food and a course of
vegetable tonics. If wanted in show condition we have Plasmon to fall
back upon, and Burroughs and Wellcome's extract of malt.
There is a round-worm which at times infests the dog's bladder, and
may cause occlusion of the urethra; a whip-worm inhabiting the caecum;
another may occupy a position in the mucous membrane of the stomach;
some infest the blood, and others the eye.
(2) _Tape-worms_--There are several kinds, but the treatment is the
same in all cases. The commonest in the country is the Cucumerine.
This is a tape-worm of about fifteen inches in average length,
although I have taken them from Newfoundland pups fully thirty inches
long. It is a semi-transparent entozoon; each segment is long compared
to its breadth, and narrowed at both ends. Each joint has, when
detached, an independent sexual existence.
The dog often becomes infested with this parasite from eating sheeps'
brains, and dogs thus afflicted and allowed to roam at pleasure over
fields and hills where sheep are fed sow the seeds of gid in our
flocks to any extent. We know too well the great use of Collie dogs to
the shepherd or grazier to advise that dogs should not be employed as
assistants, but surely it would be to their owners' advantage to see
that they were kept in a state of health and cleanliness.
_Treatment_--We ought to endeavour to prevent as well as to cure. We
should never allow our dogs to eat the entrails of hares or rabbits.
Never allow them to be fed on raw sheep's intestines, nor the brains
of sheep. Never permit them to lounge around butchers' shops, nor eat
offal of any kind. Let their food be well cooked, and their skins and
kennels kept scrupulously clean. Dogs that are used for sheep and
cattle ought, twice a year at least, to go under treatment for the
expulsion of worms, whether they are infested or not; an anthelmintic
would make sure, and could hardly hurt them.
For the expulsion of tape-worms we depend mostly on areca-nut. In
order that the tape-worm should receive the full benefit of the remedy,
we order a dose of castor oil the day before in the morning, and
recommend no food to be given that day except beef-tea or mutton broth.
The bowels are thus empty next morning, so that the parasite cannot
shelter itself anywhere, and is therefore sure to be acted on.
Infusion of cusco is sometimes used as an anthelmintic, so is wormwood,
and the liquid extract of male fern, and in America spigelia root and
pumpkin seeds.
The best tonic to give in cases of worms is the extract of quassia.
Extract of quassia, 1 to 10 grains; extract of hyoscyamus, 1/2 to 5
grains. To make one pill. Thrice daily.
PARASITES.--EXTERNAL.
FLEAS.
Washing with Spratts' medicated soap. Extra clean kennels. Dusting
with Keating, and afterwards washing. This may not kill the fleas, but
it drives them off. Take the dog on the grass while dusting, and begin
along the spine. Never do it in the house.
TICKS.
I have noticed these disagreeable bloodsuckers only on the heads and
bodies of sporting or Collie dogs, who had been boring for some time
through coverts and thickets. They soon make themselves visible, as
the body swells up with the blood they suck until they resemble small
soft warts about as big as a pea. They belong to the natural family,
_Ixodiadae_.
_Treatment_--If not very numerous they should be cut off, and the part
touched with a little turps. The sulphuret of calcium will also kill
them, so will the more dangerous white precipitate, or even a strong
solution of carbolic acid, which must be used sparingly, however.
LICE.
The lice are hatched from nits, which we find clinging in rows, and
very tenaciously too, to the hairs. The insects themselves are more
difficult to find, but they are on puppies sometimes in thousands. To
destroy them I have tried several plans. Oil is very effectual, and
has safety to recommend it. Common sweet oil is as good a cure as any,
and you may add a little oil of anise and some sublimed sulphur, which
will increase the effect. Quassia water may be used to damp the coat.
The matted portions of a long-haired dog's coat must be cut off with
scissors, for there the lice often lurk. The oil dressing will not
kill the nits, so that vinegar must be used. After a few days the
dressing must be repeated, and so on three or four times. To do any
good, the whole of the dog's coat must be drenched in oil, and the dog
washed with good dog soap and warm water twelve hours afterwards.