The Dog's Medical Dictionary / An encyclopædia of the diseases, their diagnosis & treatment, and the physical development of the dog

Inflammation:

Symptoms: Redness, swelling, and tenderness of the part affected; rise of temperature; thirst; an abscess may form.

Treatment: External Inflammation: Apply following lotion with lint and bandage, or dabbed on part often:—

Recipe:

If the temperature keeps up, say, to 3 or more degs. above normal, it is pretty certain an abscess is forming, in which case hot linseed-meal poultices should be applied. To keep the heat in the poultice, cover the outside of it with a layer of oil silk.

Internal Inflammation: Keep patient quiet; give aperient medicine, as from two to ten grains[1] of jalapin. If chest affected, put on flannel coat lined with thermogen wool. When inflammation situated in abdomen, apply heat to part, as hot flannels, hot-water bottles, or linseed-meal poultices. When temperature very high, doses of aspirin, from two to ten grains,[1] maybe given three or four times a day; and if there is much pain, from two to fifteen[1] drops of laudanum may be given in water the same time.

Diet: Light, as milk, with Benger’s food, stale bread or toast.

Influenza:

Symptoms: Dulness, loss of appetite, rise of temperature, pains in the loins, quick pulse. There is generally a cough, and bronchitis or pneumonia may develop. In some cases there is severe diarrhœa, and there may be some discharge from nose.

Treatment: Place patient in a dry and comfortable room or kennel, the temperature of which should be kept from 55 to 65 degs. F., according to whether the dog has been accustomed to live in a house or kennel. If there is constipation, give a small dose of castor oil; and if the temperature is high, give from two[1] to ten grains of salicine three or four times a day. When fever has passed, give salicylate of quinine, from a quarter[1] to a grain, made into a pill, three times a day.

Diet: Light, whilst there is any fever; but when this has passed, strengthening food is required, as under-done or raw meat with rice or bread, also tripe and fish; and if appetite bad, offer some stewed rabbit with rice or bread.

Inguinal Hernia:

See Hernia.

Insect Bites:

Symptoms: The parts may become much swollen and red, accompanied by a good deal of irritation.

Treatment: Dab parts with ammoniated quinine; failing this, eau de Cologne or methylated spirits. When place very tender, the lead and laudanum lotion as recommended for external inflammation may be used.

Invalid Foods:

When nursing sick dogs the diet is important, as it is so much better to get the dog to eat something for himself, rather than always pouring food down its throat. Taking food voluntarily not only does the dog more good, but it is less worrying to the patient, for when one has to feed with the spoon or bottle it is necessary to give nourishment very frequently, whereas when it is taken voluntarily, more, as a rule, is taken at a time, and therefore it is not necessary to offer food so often. A good meat tea is made with equal parts of veal, beef, and mutton—say half a pound of each cut up very small, then slowly stewed for three hours in a pint of water. This should be strained and given either cold or warm, whichever the dog likes best.

A jelly made from rabbit is also very nourishing, and dogs, as a rule, are very fond of it, and they will often take it when they refuse everything else. It should be made as follows:

The whole rabbit should be cut up in small pieces, including the liver; the leg bones should be cracked, the heads split open, and the whole stewed in a pint of water for some hours; then strained off, and if there is more than half a pint reduce it to that quantity, and set aside to cool. This may be given either cold or hot; a small quantity at a time, as it is, if made as directed, very strong.

Fish boiled in water, or boiled in milk; and a capital fish soup is made by stewing white fish, such as whiting, in milk for some time, and then straining off and giving the soup to drink. Also boiled fish stewed with rice makes a good food, and the different kinds of fish alone boiled. A food of this kind may be given to a dog even when he has a fever, especially if he will take it himself.

Sheep’s brains boiled in milk make an excellent and tempting food.

Calves’ sweet-breads also boiled, or even grilled, dogs are very fond of.

Chickens’ livers grilled make an appetising dish for a dog; and when a dog is convalescent, and the temperature is normal, he may be even tempted to eat by offering grilled meat.

Milk of course is one of the best and most nourishing diets, and when the dog is very weak the white of one egg to every cup of milk is very strengthening food. For a change, milk, with plasmon added, should be given, but too much of this latter food must not be given to dogs with a high temperature.

Sanatogen is a most excellent, strengthening, and easily-digested food. Dogs will often retain this when they are unable to take any other food.

Benger’s food with milk is also an easily-digested food, as it is partially predigested. Cases often arise when a dog cannot possibly retain anything in the stomach, then it is necessary to give nourishment by the rectum, and it is astonishing what a long while a dog can be kept alive and fairly strong in this way.

The best kinds of food for giving by rectum are peptonised milk, or peptonised beef-tea, and peptonised beef suppositories. Burroughs Wellcome’s are good nutritive suppositories. As to the quantity of milk to be given per rectum, from one[1] to eight tablespoonfuls, just warmed, every three or four hours alternatively with one of Burroughs Wellcome’s meat suppositories.

In giving a nutritive enema, care must be taken to pass it very slowly into the bowel so as not to excite action, or the enema will be immediately rejected, and afterwards just raise the hind-quarters a little bit so that the fluid runs well into the body, and hold the tail down for a few minutes so that it cannot escape.

The milk can be peptonised with Fairchild’s peptonised powders, which can be bought at any chemist’s shop.

Brand’s meat essences are excellent foods in cases of stomach disorders. Benger’s peptonised beef jelly is a very easily digested preparation, and very useful in cases of severe vomiting.

Raw meat beef-tea, made by soaking for a couple of hours half a pound of scraped lean raw beef in half a pint of cold water, then stood in front of a fire to get warm, then straining and squeezing through a coarse tea-cloth. Or the juice may be pressed from raw meat with one of Dr. Klein’s meat-squeezing machines. This is very nourishing and easily digested, and dogs are fond of it, and often will take it voluntarily when refusing other foods.

An excellent combined food for dogs very ill, especially with distemper, when the patient is very weak, or during convalescence, is made as follows:—

To a breakfast cup of milk, thickened with Benger’s food, add the white of an egg, a full teaspoonful of invalid bovril, and a dessertspoonful of brandy; of this give from one[1] to six tablespoonfuls every two or three hours alternately, with some beef-tea or meat extract.

Messrs. Spratts’ Patent have recently introduced a new food for invalids. It is a granulated meal, and they call it Invalid Food. It is a most excellent preparation, and every dog I have offered it to has eaten it with avidity. I have found it a very useful diet for distemper patients mixed with milk; and I have given it to puppies just weaned, and they have thriven well on it. Though this new food is called Invalid Food, it is an excellent preparation either mixed with milk or soup for small dogs; if meat is required it can easily be added, as it contains none, but I am told that it contains a special meal, and that little or no meat is necessary.

The same preparation is put up in the form of biscuits which are crisp without being hard, and small dogs eat them with pleasure. No doubt all dogs are better for having something hard to gnaw once a day. It preserves the teeth, hardens the gums, and assists digestion.

Animal Kreochyle is an excellent extract of meat for use in cases of great weakness, the result of distemper or from any other disease. It is also an excellent remedy in stomach disorders accompanied by sickness. Dogs, as a rule, take Kreochyle very readily, and it is easily digested and assimilated.

Irritation of Skin:

Symptoms: Constantly scratching, biting, and licking the skin, which when examined, there is often nothing to be seen. The condition occurs in hot weather, especially during the shedding of the old coat.

Treatment: Give a sulphur bath made by dissolving one ounce sulphurated potash in a pail of tepid water; repeat every two or three days. If this does not give relief, bathe the dog in a warm solution of borax, one tablespoonful to a gallon of water. Give saline aperient medicine, as Dinneford’s fluid magnesia, to small dogs, and Epsom salts to large ones. A meat diet is often beneficial in these cases, but sometimes it increases the irritation; then, of course, it must be avoided, and other food with green vegetables substituted.

Itch:

See Mange.

Jaundice:

Symptoms: Generally the result of congestion of the liver, caused by chill; may be due to impaction of the duct with a bile stone, or worms; or the opening of the duct into the bowel may be stopped by thickening of the bowel membrane. The attack generally commences with sickness, dullness, loss of appetite; and the membranes of the mouth and eyes turn yellow, and so does the skin. There is generally obstinate constipation, and what is passed from bowel is usually grey or slate colour. The urine is scanty and high-coloured.

Jaundice is also a symptom of organic disease of the liver.

Treatment: When the result of congestion caused by a chill, I have found, after many years’ experience, that the homœopathic preparations of Nux Vomica 3 × and Merc. Sol. 3 × act well in these cases. Of the trituration give from two[1] to ten grains of each every three or four hours. If the bowels do not operate on the second day, give an enema of from two tablespoonfuls to half a pint[1] of warm soapy water; repeat daily if necessary. Hot linseed-meal poultices may be applied to abdomen.

Diet: Mutton broth (in which some green vegetables have been cooked), with toast or stale bread; milk and Vichy water in equal parts to drink; later boiled fish or tripe. When the condition is the result of obliteration of the duct, there is nothing to be done; relief may occur spontaneously, or an operation may be performed, but it is not recommended. When jaundice is due to organic disease of the liver, it cannot be cured, but the Nux Vomica and Merc. Sol. treatment will sometimes give temporary relief. The application of iodine vasogen over the enlarged liver in these latter cases is often useful in relieving tension of the organ.

Kennels, How to Disinfect:

After dogs have been suffering from any contagious disease, like distemper or mange, in a kennel, it is necessary to thoroughly disinfect them, and it is best done in the following manner:—

In a strong tin dish from half to a pound of sulphur, according to the size of the kennel, should be placed. A few drops of methylated spirits should be poured on top of the sulphur, and a light applied, the methylated spirits being added to make the sulphur ignite more easily. The kennel should then be made as air-tight as possible by having strips of paper pasted over all the crevices and around the window-frames, so that the sulphur fumes cannot escape. The kennel should be kept sealed up for forty-eight hours, after which the windows and doors may be thrown open so as to thoroughly ventilate the place, and the following day the whole of the inside kennel should be thoroughly washed with a strong solution of Pearson’s fluid, 1 in 40. The walls and ceilings when dry should be afterwards well lime-washed or sulphur-washed—that is, finely powdered sulphur mixed with water and size, the same way as whitewash is prepared. A day or two later, when everything is thoroughly dry, the kennel will be quite fit to receive dogs, or even puppies, without any fear of infection.

Kidneys (Inflammation of, Acute):

Symptoms: The attack generally comes on suddenly; may arise from severe chill, but generally the result of stone in the kidneys. There is great pain over the loins; the dog walks with difficulty and arched back; the temperature rises 3 or 4 degs. above normal; the pulse is quick and full; the urine is high-coloured and scanty—sometimes it is the colour of blood, and mixed with mucus and pus; the limbs may swell from dropsy, and the dog is very thirsty and often frequently sick.

Treatment: Give saline purgative medicine, as Epsom salts, from twenty grains to one ounce[1] in warm milk; repeat the next or following day. Also give every four hours from five to thirty grains[1] of hyposulphite of soda in a little water. As to food, it should consist principally of milk mixed with equal parts of Vichy water, and a little boiled fish. If sickness very severe, give from half to two drops[1] of diluted hydrocyanic acid in a teaspoonful of water every two, three, or four hours, and ice to lick. After the acute stages have passed, give tonics, as the ammoniated citrate of iron, from one to five grains,[1] three times a day, in from one teaspoonful[1] to a tablespoonful of water.

Kidneys (Inflammation of, Chronic):

Symptoms: May be the sequel of an acute attack or a less severe chill, and sometimes it is caused by gravel. There is tenderness over the loins; the urine may be tinged with blood, or after passing water, which may look quite clear and normal, the dog continues to strain, and a few drops of blood escape and some mucus.

Treatment: A milk diet is important in these cases; it may be given with rice, tapioca, Force, or bread. Red meat must be avoided, but tripe and fish may be allowed. Vichy water mixed with equal parts of plain water should be given to drink; and a course of hyposulphite of soda, as recommended in acute inflammation, should be given, but only two or three times a day. If gravel or a stone is suspected, a course of boro-citrate of magnesia with bicarbonate of potash is advised. The dose of the former is five[1] to thirty grains, and of the latter from two[1] to fifteen grains mixed with the food twice a day, and be continued for some time.

Lactation (Defective):

Symptoms: A small supply or total suppression of the mammary secretion.

Treatment: Give a raw meat diet, and stimulate the glands by massage; also encourage the bitch to drink plenty of fine oatmeal gruel.

Lactation (Excessive):

Symptoms: Excessive secretion of milk. The glands are swollen, hard, and painful, and the milk often dribbles away. It may occur before the puppies are born, or just after; and it often happens to a maiden bitch to have a large secretion of milk, which shows itself about seven or eight weeks after heat, and which lasts five or six weeks. A maiden bitch in this condition is very restless and wretched. She appears to be always looking for puppies. She will walk about with her tail down, crying, and occasionally scratches and rakes at her bed, and twists round and round as if making a nest.

Treatment: In the first instance, rub the glands with warm salad oil to soften them, and draw some milk off night and morning. In the second case, simply draw some of the milk off, and avoid if possible putting anything on the glands, in case you should injure the puppies or put them off their feed. In the case of bitches having milk who have not been pregnant, purgative medicine—castor oil is the best—should be given once or twice a week, and the glands rubbed with camphorated spirits, or dabbed with a lotion made with two tablespoonfuls of gin and half a pint of water. When the milk collects in large quantities as to cause discomfort, it must be drawn off; but this should be avoided if possible, as it has a tendency to stimulate secretion. Give the food dry; biscuits are the best.

It is most important to thoroughly attend to maiden bitches when in this condition, otherwise the milk curdles and becomes hard, and this is the commencement of mammary tumours.

Larynx (Inflammation of):

Symptoms: A dry, husky cough, the dog after coughing retches as if about to vomit. If neglected, may go on to bronchitis. It is very contagious.

Treatment: An emetic gives immediate relief, give from one quarter[1] to a grain of tartar emetic shaken dry on the tongue, also give the following mixture:—

Recipe:

Doses: From half a teaspoonful to a dessertspoonful[1] two, three, or four times a day, according to the severity of the cough.

Also give purgative medicine. Holding the head over hot water, in which a little Friar’s balsam has been mixed, gives relief, and so do the fumes of burning cresoline.

The dog should be kept dry and warm; in fact, in one temperature for a few days.

Lead Poisoning:

Symptoms: Blue line on gums, vomiting, loss of appetite, great thirst, generally constipation, but there may be diarrhœa. Colicky pains, and in some cases convulsions, followed by paralysis of the hind legs.

Treatment: Give Epsom salts, from ten grains[1] to one ounce in some sweetened milk. Also a course of iodide of potassium, from half to four grains in from one teaspoonful[1] to a tablespoonful of water. For the treatment of the paralysis, see Paralysis.

Leucorrhœa:

Symptoms: A pale, yellowish discharge from vulva. May occur before heat, but more often afterwards, and frequently seen after pupping.

Treatment: Syringe with a weak tepid solution of Condy’s fluid, about half a teaspoonful to half a pint of water. If the discharge is persistent, syringe with one drachm of powdered burnt alum in half a pint tepid water night and morning.

Give tonics, as from half[1] to three grains of sulphate of iron (made into a pill), two or three times a day.

Lice:

See Insect.

Liniment:

The following is a soothing liniment for recent cases of sprains and injuries to joints, etc.:—

Recipe: The Liniment:

Apply with friction night and morning.

A stimulating liniment for bronchitis, sore throat, pneumonia, etc.:—

Recipe: The Liniment:

Apply with friction night and morning.

A Liniment for Chronic Sprains, Enlarged Joints, and Glands:

Apply with friction once a day.

Lips (Cracked):

Symptoms: The lips along the edges become dry, thick, and crack as the result of eczema.

Treatment: Paint once or twice a day with sulphurated calcium lotion; when cracks healed, anoint with boracic ointment. Give cooling medicine, as bicarbonate of potash and sulphate of magnesia, from two to ten grains of each,[1] twice a day with food.

Lips (Sore):

Symptoms: Unhealthy-looking ulcers assuming the form of cancer or lupus occasionally form on the lips.

Treatment: Clean frequently with a saturated solution of boracic acid, and paint the ulcer with a twenty-five per cent. solution of chromic acid twice a week.

Liver (Sluggish):

Symptoms: Indifferent appetite and loss of condition, the coat staring; bowels constipated, and the motions white or slate colour. Dog vomits in the morning. Tongue white and coated, and the breath foul. Eyes congested.

Treatment: Give from one to six grains[1] of grey powder, which repeat in a few days; also give a course of the following:—

Recipe:

From one teaspoonful to a tablespoonful[1] three times a day.

Diet: Spratt’s biscuits soaked in soup, with green vegetables added.

Lock-jaw:

Symptoms: A rare disease, but occurs occasionally, the result of injury to the head or severe hurt to the eye, and may result from sunstroke. It is seldom that the whole body as well as the jaw is affected in the dog as in other animals and people, and, as a rule, it assumes a chronic form. Though the dog is unable to open his mouth, he is generally able to suck in fluid food, as milk with eggs and strong beef-tea. The muscles of the head become much wasted.

Treatment: At first give sedatives, as from two to ten grains[1] each of hydrated chloral and bromide of potassium in water three or four times a day. After a time, means must be taken by aid of levers to gently force the jaws apart. It must be done very gradually by increasing the extent of the opening a little more each day. The treatment requires to be continued some time to obtain permanent beneficial results; but directly the dog is able to open his mouth a little, encourage the gnawing of bones.

Lumbago:

Symptoms: A form of rheumatism affecting the loins. The dog shows signs of much pain when walking or upon pressure to the parts. Dogs affected with lumbago often lose all power for a time in the hind legs; in fact, it is the cause of many cases of paraplegia.

Treatment: See Rheumatism.

Lungs (Inflammation of):

Symptoms: Not a common ailment of dogs, except in cases of distemper or influenza, but it may result from cold. The attack generally commences with rigors or shivering; the temperature rises to 103 or 104, in some cases even higher; pulse is increased in frequency, full and hard. The breathing is quick, and at each expiration the dog may give a suppressed grunt. The chest is tender on pressure. If the ear is put to the chest, crepitation will be detected; and as the disease advances, the parts of the lungs affected become quite dull, and there are no sounds to be heard except the air passing in and out of the large tubes. At the commencement of the attack, the dog may have a husky cough, but it generally stops after a day or so, to commence again later. The dog is generally off his food, and the eyes are congested.

Treatment: Place the dog in a jacket lined with thermogen wool, or apply hot linseed-meal poultices right round chest. If no better on second day, apply a blister to front of chest; the liquor epipasticus is as good as anything. The hair must first be cut off closely over the part, and the blister rubbed into the skin for five minutes. If the skin is not blistered the next day, rub a little red blister ointment into the place. Care must be taken that the dog is not allowed to lick the blisters, as they are poisonous. For medicine give from one[1] to ten grains of phenacetin every six hours to reduce the temperature, but it must not be continued for long; brandy may also be given in small quantities often. If the dog becomes very weak and the pulse feeble, give every four or six hours from two[1] to ten drops of Tincture Digitalis, with from one[1] to five drops of Tincture Nux Vomica, in water. In bad cases the inhalation of oxygen relieves the distressing breathing. It is important to keep the bowels open; in fact, it is generally a good plan to give a purge at first. The diet must be light, and consist of milk, beef-tea, meat extracts, and such like food.

Lupus:

See Lips (Sore).

Maggots:

Dogs with a long coat kept in a dirty state sometimes become infested with maggots, especially in those parts near the tail.

Treatment: Wash daily for a week with Pearsons fluid diluted eighty times with warm water. Afterwards dry and comb out all mats. In very bad cases it is best to cut the hair off short.

Mange (Sarcoptic or Common):

Symptoms: This disease, which is very contagious from one dog to another, and readily caught by people, is due to a small insect. The complaint once contracted soon spreads more or less all over the body, but the most favourite spots for it to attack is the skin around the eyes, the outside of the ears, the elbows, and the outside of the hind legs, as well as the skin covering the abdomen, and underneath parts of the chest. Small red spots like flea-bites appear where the insect burrows into the epidermis, and the acrid matter which they excrete sets up intolerant irritation, causing the dog to constantly scratch, breaking the coat, which is now very brittle, and leaving bare patches, besides injuring the skin and creating sores which dry and scab. If there is any doubt about the case, the skin should be scraped where bad with a knife, and the scrapings examined under a microscope, and if the disease is mange the parasite will be found.

Treatment: The disease is easily cured, and the specific remedy is powdered sulphur, one part mixed with eight parts of vegetable oil, which should be thoroughly well rubbed all over the dog every four days for three times; three or four days after the last dressing, the dog may be washed.

It is important to thoroughly disinfect the kennels by fumigation, and well washing the walls and floors with a strong solution of Pearson’s fluid; also all the collars, leads, combs, and brushes used for the dog, should be disinfected by baking or soaking in a solution of Pearson’s fluid.

Mange (Follicular):

A skin disease confined principally to puppies, though adult dogs do occasionally contract it. It is not contagious to people.

Symptoms: It is a slowly progressive disease, and may commence with a single circular bare patch, about the size of a shilling, on the face or side of nose. The disease is, of course, not confined to the head, as the first sign may appear on some part of the body or one of the legs. The patch is generally of a dirty grey colour, and upon which will be found a number of reddish pimples or elevations of the skin, somewhat larger than those seen in ordinary mange; some contain a blood-coloured fluid, others ordinary pus, or matter tinged with blood, which is easily evacuated by squeezing. This fluid contains the parasite, which looks, when examined under the microscope, like a small silk-worm.

As time goes on, the original patch increases in size and others form, the pimples break, one running into another, and unhealthy-looking sores result. When these wounds heal, the skin has a dry, corrugated appearance, and little excrescences of skin are formed, and the hair does not always grow again.

The skin in follicular mange generally turns a dark greyish-blue or black colour, and the disease is called by some people “black mange”.

Treatment: It is a most unsatisfactory disease to treat, for often after months of hard work the dog is no better, but on the contrary is much worse, the disease having progressed in spite of everything. If the patient is not a valuable dog, and the attack a bad one, it is much better to destroy him at once; however, when it is decided to give the dog a chance, treatment should commence by having the dog, if a long-coated one, clipped all over, so that the sores may be got at, and then dress him all over with the following:—

Recipe:

With this, dress the dog all over once a week, but before each dressing have him thoroughly washed, using Cook’s 3% mercurial soap, and carefully dry before applying the dressing. To the spots apply Naphthol Beta ointment daily. If this does not heal them, then dab on the sores twice a day peroxide of hydrogen (20 volumes). For a change, the sores may be dressed with the following:—

Recipe:

In treating follicular mange a change of dressing to the sores is necessary. During the treatment an occasional course of arsenic often does good; give from one[1] to five drops of liquor arsenicalis in water after food; gradually increase the dose to from two[1] to ten drops. Continue the medicine for about three weeks at a time, and after a week’s interval give it again as before.

Marasmus:

Symptoms: Loss of condition, colour, flesh, and strength.

Treatment: A raw meat diet with tonics, or the following pills:—

Recipe:

Divide into 12 pills. One twice a day after food.

Cod-liver oil is also advised after food, from half a teaspoonful[1] to a tablespoonful twice a day.

Mastitis (Inflammation of Breast):

Symptoms: This complaint is not uncommon in bitches when nursing puppies. One or more of the milk-glands may be affected. The breast is swollen, red, and very tender. The bitch is off her feed, and there is often a good deal of fever. An abscess generally forms, which should be lanced as soon as it becomes soft and points.

Treatment: Hot water fomentations are the best, as it is difficult to apply poultices when a bitch is nursing puppies. If the temperature is very high, from two[1] to ten grains of salicylate of soda may be given three or four times a day.

After the abscess has been opened, or has broken, tonics as from a quarter of a grain[1] to one grain of sulphate of quinine should be given three times a day.

Meningitis (Inflammation of the Membranes of the Brain):

Symptoms: Occasionally occurs in young puppies, particularly when suffering from worms, but is more often the result of a protracted attack of distemper.

In young puppies, the patient rolls its head from side to side, is constantly whining and crying, has convulsions, and the head is burning hot. When the result of distemper, convulsions are always present, the dog champs the jaws, emitting a quantity of frothy saliva. These are what are called distemper fits. The eyes are congested, and there are generally two, three, or more degrees of fever. The patient is frequently crying or whining, denoting evident signs of pain. As a rule, in these cases the patient becomes greatly emaciated and very weak—in fact, paralysed; and often, as the inflammation extends to the spinal cord, which it frequently does, chorea or St. Vitis’s dance sets in, which is practically incurable.

Treatment: When occurring in young puppies, worm medicine should always be given; and to allay the pain and stop the convulsions, small doses of bromide of potassium be given—from two[1] to five grains in a little milk three or four times a day. Ice may also be applied to the head in a sheep’s bladder. When the convulsions have quite stopped, small doses of cod-liver oil do good. When meningitis follows distemper, if the attack is a bad one, there is little hope of recovery, and as a result the proper course to pursue is to have the dog mercifully put out of his misery. However, people seldom will agree to this without, as they say, giving the dog a chance, and when the case is not a bad one recovery is not impossible, though the chances are greatly against it, for usually it is a progressive disease. If the bowels are not operating (but there is generally diarrhœa) give a dose of castor oil, and commence a course of bromide of strontia at once. Give from two[1] to ten grains, or even fifteen grains, if the dog is a very big one, every three, four, or six hours, according to the severity of the case. Apply an ice-bag to the head for a quarter of an hour or longer at a time, and put a seton in the back of the neck, just behind the ears, which dress with turpentine ointment. Keep the dog absolutely quiet in a dark room, and feed entirely on a liquid diet—as milk, with white of egg; Benger’s food or toast; and some beef-tea. Brand’s essence or rabbit soup may be given occasionally, but those latter foods are more stimulating than nourishing. The milk foods mentioned are perfect food, and will support the dog an indefinite time. For the treatment of chorea and paralysis, see the articles on those subjects.

The bromide must be continued for some time, even though the convulsions stop, but given in less quantities.

Milk:

It is not generally known how much stronger or more nourishing a bitch’s milk is than cow’s milk, and when I had some samples analysed I was surprised myself. Below I give the analysis of a fair sample of each kind:—

Practically a bitch’s milk is nearly three times as strong as a cow’s, and yet people, when giving the latter to puppies, often dilute it with one-third of water, and thus add to its weakness. Consequently a much larger quantity has necessarily to be given to a puppy for it to derive sufficient nourishment to sustain it, and as a result the stomach is over-distended. Indigestion follows, and the puppies do not thrive. All breeders must have noticed how often puppies go back directly artificial food is given them, even before being entirely weaned, and this, no doubt, is in a great measure due to improper food in overloading the stomach with a quantity of waste and superfluous fluid. Even when cow’s milk is given pure, nearly three times the quantity in bulk ought to be given than if bitch’s milk is used, and it is thus seen at a glance how a puppy’s stomach, which is naturally small, is over-distended. A dog’s digestive organs are arranged to receive food in a concentrated form—as, for instance, dogs in nature eat only meat, and until they get this food they have nothing else but the dam’s milk, which is also a concentrated food. When about five or six weeks old the mother goes out in search of food, and comes back with her stomach loaded, which, after a time, when it is partially digested, she ejects by vomiting, and this the puppies eat, and thus they get naturally partially-digested food suitable for a puppy’s delicate stomach.

To treat cow’s milk so as to make it as like bitch’s milk as possible, to every three-quarters pint of the former add two and a half ounces of cream—that is, about three tablespoonfuls—two and a quarter ounces of plasmon, and five ounces of water. First mix the plasmon with the water, add the milk and slowly boil in an enamel saucepan for two minutes, then add the cream when cold and well mix.

When feeding puppies with artificial bitches’ milk, it must be remembered that only a small quantity is necessary—for instance, about the third part one would give of cow’s milk.

Milk (Defective Secretion):

See Lactation (Defective).

Milk (Excessive Secretion):

See Lactation (Excessive).

Mouth:

See Gumboil, Lips, Teeth, Toothache.