Chapter IX: Preface (6)

The symptoms of the disease are well marked. The poor beast, whether he be standing up or lying down, is constantly worried with a catching of the limb or limbs--for only one may be affected, or all four may be attacked. Sleeping or waking, the annoyance continues. The dog cannot obtain a moment's rest from its tormentor. Day and night the movement remains; no act, no position the poor brute is capable of, can bring to the animal an instant's downright repose. Its sleep is troubled and broken; its waking moments are rendered miserable by this terrible infliction. The worst of the matter is, that the dog in every other respect appears to be well. Its spirits are good, and it is alive for happiness. If it were released from its constant affliction, it is eager to enjoy its brief lease of life as in the time of perfect health. Plaintive and piteous are its looks as, lying asleep before the fire, it is aroused by a sudden pain; wakes, turns round, and mutely appeals to its master for an explanation or a removal of the nuisance. When stricken down at last, as, unable to stand, it lies upon its straw, most sad is it to see the poor head raised, and to hear the tail in motion welcoming any one who may enter the place in which it is a helpless but a necessary prisoner.

In this disorder the best thing is to pay every attention to the food. The wretched animal generally has an enormous appetite, and, when it is unable to stand, will continue feeding to the last. This morbid hunger must not be indulged. One pound of good rice may be boiled or cooked in a sufficiency of carefully made beef-tea, every particle of meat or bone being removed. This will constitute the provender for one day necessary to sustain the largest dog, and a quarter the amount will be sufficient for one of the average size. Where good rice is not to be obtained, oatmeal or bread, allowing for the moisture which the last contains, may be substituted. No bones, nor substances likely, when swallowed, to irritate the stomach, must on any account be allowed. The quantity given at one time must ever be small; and every sort of provender offered should be soft and soothing to the internal parts; though the poor dog will be eager to eat that which will be injurious. Water should be placed within its reach, and offered during the day, the head being held while the incapacitated animal drinks.

When a dog is prostrated by this affliction, it must on no account be suffered to remain on the floor, where its limbs would speedily become excoriated, being forcibly moved upon the boards; anything placed beneath the animal to save the limbs, would be saturated with the urine and faeces the poor beast is necessitated to pass. The best bed in such cases is made of a slanting piece of woodwork, of sufficient size to allow the animal to lie with ease at full length. The planks composing the wooden stage must be placed apart, be pierced with numerous holes, have the edges rounded, and be elevated at one end so as to allow all moisture readily to run off. The wood must be covered with a quantity of straw; which sort of bedding is convenient, not only because it allows the water to speedily percolate through it, but because it is warm, and being cheap, permits of repeated change.

Physic is not of much avail in this disorder; kind nursing and mild food will do more towards recovery. Still, medicine, as an accessory, may be of considerable service, and in a secondary view deserves honorable mention. Alkalies, sedatives, and vegetable bitters, may be combined in various forms. The author's favorite sedative in stomach diseases is hyoscyamus, and alkali potash. For a bitter, quassia is a very good one; better than gentian, a small amount of the extract of which, however, may be used to make up the pill. When speaking of the pill, the most important ingredient must not be forgotten--I mean nux vomica. Some people employ strychnia, but such persons more often kill than cure their patients. Strychnia in any doses, however minute, is a violent poison to the dog. While at college I beheld animals killed with it; and there does not live the person who knows how to render this agent safe to the dog. Nux vomica, even, must be used in very minute doses, to be entirely safe--from a quarter of a grain to a small pup, to two grains to the largest animal. That quantity must be continued for a week, four pills being given daily; then add a quarter of a grain daily to the four larger pills, and a quarter of a grain every four days to all the smaller ones; keep on increasing the amount, till the physiological effects of the drug, as they are called, become developed. These consist in the beast having that which uninformed people term "a fit." He lies upon the ground, uttering rather loud cries, whilst every muscle of his body is in motion. Thus he continues scratching, as if it was his desire to be up and off at a hundred miles an hour. No sooner is he rid of one attack than he has another. He retains his consciousness, but is unable to give any sign of recognition. It is useless to crowd round the animal in this state; the drug must perform its office, and will do so, in spite of human effort. The very best thing that can be done, is to let the animal alone until the attack is over, when writers on Materia Medica tell us improvement is perceptible. I wish it was so in dogs. I have beheld the physiological effect of nux vomica repeatedly, but cannot recollect many instances in which I could date amendment from its appearance.

The following is the formula for the pill recently alluded to:--

Potash Two to seven grains.
Extract of hyoscyamus Half a grain to four grains.
Quassia powder Three to sixteen grains.
Nux vomica A quarter of a grain to two grains.
Extract of gentian A sufficiency.

The above quantities are sufficient for one pill, four of which are to be given daily for a week, at the expiration of which period the increase may begin. If the above, after a fair test has been made of it, does not succeed, trial may be instituted of the nitrate of silver, the trisnitrate of bismuth, or any of the various drugs said to be beneficial in the disease, or of service in stomach complaints. In this disorder the same drug never appears to act twice alike, therefore a change is warranted and desirable.

Hopes of restoration may be entertained if the animal can only be kept alive to recover strength; then confident expectation can be expressed that the dog will outgrow the disease. The first signs perceptible which denote recovery are these:--The provender the beast consumes is evidently not thrown away. Instead of eating much, and ungratefully becoming thinner and thinner upon that which it consumes, the animal displays a disposition to thrive upon its victuals. It does not get fat on what it eats, but it evidently loses no flesh. It grows no thinner; and if the strength be not recruited, it obviously is not diminished. The animal does not gorge much wholesome diet daily, to exhibit more and more the signs of debility and starvation. If only a suspicion can be felt that the poor dog does not sink, then hope of ultimate success may warm the heart of a kind master; but when the reverse is obvious, though killing a dog is next to killing a child--and he who for pleasure can do the one, is not far off from doing the other--yet it is mercy then to destroy that existence which must else be miserably worn away. When there is no chance left for expectation to cling to, it becomes real charity to do violence to our feelings, in order that we may spare a suffering creature pain; but when there is a prospect, however remote, of recovery, I hope there is no veterinary surgeon who would touch the life. When the animal can stand, we may anticipate good; and whatever is left of the complaint, we may assure our employers will vanish as the age increases; for St. Vitus's Dance is essentially the disease of young dogs. But as recovery progresses, we must be cautious to do nothing to fling the animal back. No walks must be enforced, under the pretence of administering exercise. The animal has enough of that in its ever-jerking limbs; and however well it may grow to be while the disease lasts, we may rest assured the dog suffering its attack stands in need of repose.

BOWEL DISEASES.

Continuous with the stomach are the intestines, which are equally subject to disease, and more exposed to it in an acute form than even the former viscus. The dog will fill its belly with almost anything, but there is little that positively agrees with it. Boiled rice or lean meat, &c., and coarse biscuit, are the best general food; but without exercise, even these will not support health. The dog requires constant care if it is deprived of liberty: and those who keep these animals as pets, must submit to trouble, for though art may do much, it cannot conquer Nature.

The intestines of the dog are peculiar. In the first place, it has no colon, and all the guts are nearly of one size from the commencement to the termination; the duodenum and the most posterior portion of the rectum being the largest, though not so much so as materially to destroy the appearance of uniformity. The caecum is no more than a small appendage--a little sac attached to the main tube; it has but one opening, and that is very diminutive. I think all the food, as in other animals, passes into and out of this intestine; which, because of its peculiar formation, is therefore particularly liable to be disordered. In the dog which has died of intestinal disease, the caecum is almost invariably found enlarged and inflamed. In it, I imagine, the majority of bowel affections have their origin. The gut is first loaded, and the consequence of this is, it loses its natural function. The contents become irritants from being retained, and the whole process of digestion is deranged; other parts are involved, and inflammation is induced.

Writers do not notice the tendency of the caecum to be diseased, or remark upon its disposition to exhibit signs of alteration; but the fact being so obvious, I wonder it should have escaped observation.

COSTIVENESS is, in some measure, natural to the dog, and in that animal is hardly to be viewed as a disease. In health, the faeces are not expelled without considerable straining, and the matter voided ought to be of a solid character. It nevertheless should not be absolutely hard, or positively dry, for in that case the want of moisture shows the natural secretion of the rectum is deficient; the hardness proving prolonged detention, denoting the intestines have lost their activity.

Both Blaine and Youatt were educated in the old school of medicine, which taught them to regard purgatives as the surgeon's best friends, and the sheet-anchors of his practice. They prescribe them in almost every case, and almost on every occasion; but I rarely give these agents. In the dog I am convinced they are not safe, and their constant use is by no means imperative. Should an animal be supposed not to have been relieved for a week, this fact is no proof that a purgative is required. The animal may have eluded observation, and it cannot inform us if such has been the case. The intestines may be slow, or the digestion may be more than usually active. It is foolish to lay down rules for Nature, and punish her creatures if these laws are not obeyed. There are, however, means of ascertaining when a purgative is needed; and these, if employed, will very rarely deceive.

The muscles covering the abdomen of the dog are very thin, and through them the contents of the cavity may be plainly felt. By squeezing these together, the fingers will detect whether the rectum, which lies near to the spine, and of course backward or towards the tail, contains any substance. Should the presence of any solid body be ascertained, its character ought to be noted. If round and comparatively soft, a little exercise will cause it to be expelled; but if hard-pointed in places, and uneven, assistance should be afforded. An enema, of the solution of soap--or of Epsom salts, from half an ounce to a quarter of a pound, in a quarter of a pint to a quart of water--may be administered. A more active injection will be, from half a drachm to four drachms of turpentine, beaten up with the yolks of so many eggs as there are drachms of the oil, and mixed with the quantity of water just named.

Either of these will relieve the bowel; but the condition of one part justifies an inference as to the state of another, and the enema probably will not unload the caecum, which there is reason to suppose is also clogged. A gentle dose of castor-oil, or of the pills directed on page 116, will accomplish this intention; and, afterwards, measures must be adopted to regulate the digestion, either by tonics or such medicines as the symptoms suggest, but not by the constant repetition of laxatives.

Costiveness will sometimes produce such violent pain that alarm is created, and dogs have been destroyed under the idea that they were rabid. To guard against so fatal a mistake, I shall only here say, that rabies does not come on suddenly, or, save in the latest stage, appear to influence the consciousness, which it never entirely overpowers. The agony caused by costiveness is greater than in any other affection to which the dog is liable. Apparently well, and perhaps at play, a cry breaks forth, which is the next instant a shriek, expressive of the acutest torture. The animal takes to running, and is not aware of surrounding objects; it can recognise nothing, but will bite its master if he attempts to catch it, and hit itself against anything that may be in its way; it scampers from room to room, or hurries from place to place; it is unable to be still or silent; and perhaps getting into a corner, it makes continuous efforts as though it wished to scramble up the wall, remaining there jumping with all its strength, and at the same time yelling at the top of its voice. This excitement may last for an hour or more, and then cease only to be renewed: till at length the powers fail, and in half a day the animal may be dead. Just prior to death, a mass of compact faeces is usually passed; and blood, with dysentery, is generally witnessed for the short period the animal survives. After death, general inflammation of the intestines is discovered, and the dog is reported to have perished from an attack of enteritis which no medicine could subdue.

In such cases, the first examination should be directed to the rectum; the finger, moistened or oiled, ought to be inserted, and the intestine explored as thoroughly as possible. This operation is, however, not of further use than to confirm the opinion of the practitioner; and I, knowing the cause, therefore dispense with it. A copious enema should be immediately exhibited. One containing turpentine is the most effective; but, on account of its activity, it is only safe in the beginning of the attack. A warm bath is of service, but it takes up time which may be better employed, and does not do sufficient good to recompense for the delay. A full dose of sulphuric ether and laudanum should be given to allay the pain, and it may with this intention be repeated every ten or twenty minutes. If, from the enema, nothing follows, the finger should then certainly be introduced, and perhaps a compact mass may be felt firmly grasped by the intestine. Slowly, and with great caution, this must be broken up, and brought away bit by bit. The handle of a spoon has been recommended for this purpose, but I entreat my readers not to use it. Where pain is present, and life or death hang on the issue, there is no right to be any delicacy. An instrument of any kind introduced into such a part, and employed while the body is writhing about in agony, cannot be free from danger, and scarcely can be so used as to be effective. The finger is the quickest, the most safe, and the most effectual instrument; for we have it under our command, can guide it at our will, and with it take cognisance of all the circumstances presented. Even that must be employed gently, and this will be best done by the avoidance of haste. The surgeon is bound to be skilful, but he ought never to be in a hurry. Let all the time that can be occupied on such a matter be freely taken, and during the process, let the cries of the animal be attended to; any change of note will contain a warning which must not be disregarded. Without attending to that, the intestine might be ruptured, and death would then be certain.

When the obstruction has been overcome, let a few ethereal enemas be administered to allay any local irritability; and a dose of the purgative pills--followed, six hours afterwards, should they not have operated, by one of castor-oil mixture, blended with half a scruple of chloroform--being given to unload the caecum. The medicine having acted freely, the food must be amended, the treatment altered, and such other measures taken as the digestion may require for its restoration.

COLIC.--This is an affection to which dogs are very subject. The human infant is not more liable to be griped than are the young of the canine species. The idea of a cur with a belly-ache may, to some persons, seem to be suggestive of fun; but to the creature that suffers, it is indeed a serious business. A duchess with the spasms does not endure so much, and is not in half the danger, that a dog is exposed to during a fit of gripes. The animal must be relieved, or inflammation will speedily ensue, and death will follow. In some cases, the appearance of colic is almost a certain indication that the poor beast will die. When it comes on a week or two prior to pupping, we may cure it; but during, or soon after parturition, the bitch generally perishes. When it starts up in the later or more virulent stage of distemper, especially at the time when the champing of the jaw denotes the approach of fits, the chance of a favorable termination to the disease is materially diminished. When in a violent form it attacks a litter of puppies, either simultaneously or consecutively, it is always attended with danger. At no season, and under no circumstances, is it trivial, and never ought it to be neglected. The cries and distress of the suffering animal will, when it is fully established, enforce attention; but too often it has then proceeded so far that much medicine will not check what in the first instance a single dose might have entirely banished.

The symptoms of colic have been much confused by Blaine, who, when describing them, evidently alludes to many forms of disease with which abdominal spasm has no connexion. Youatt is far more clear; but he is too concise, and omits so much that the reader does not properly appreciate the importance of that affection which is thus slightly mentioned. Neither of the two authors seems to have carefully studied the subject; for in their writings is not to be found any account of those early symptoms which most readily yield to treatment.

Prior to evincing any sign of colic, the dog appears well; healthy in its body and easy in its mind. The appetite is good, or may be better than usual. The food has been eaten and relished; then the animal instinctively lies down to sleep and aid digestion. A moan is heard; the sound is half suppressed, and the dog that utters it appears to sleep. Another cry, as feeble, but of greater length, is noticed; and now the animal that made it changes its position. The next time it may rise, look round, and seek another place; which having found, it appears to settle itself and to go to sleep. The rest once more is broken, the voice grows more full and loud; the dog jumps up and runs about for a little while, then selects a spot where it curls its body tightly up, as if resolved to have out its nap. The interruption, however, constantly recurs; and at each return the exclamation is more emphatic--the starting more energetic--the movement more abrupt--and, contrasting these, the determination or desire to repose becomes more strong. Thus endeavoring to sleep, and being constantly disturbed by some sharp and shooting pain, the dog may continue for a day, or two, or three, its cries, during the whole period, offending a neighborhood.

During the continuance of colic, the general appearance of the animal may be but little affected. The eye is not injected, but the pupil may be slightly enlarged. The nose is cool and moist, but towards the end, irritation may render the part hot or dry. The appetite is generally slight--sometimes lost; and fluids are more readily accepted than solids. The cry, however, should be remarked; because, with the pulse, it gives the earliest notice when inflammation is commencing. While colic alone exists, the pulse may, from pain, be accelerated, and rendered more full, as well as strong, though not always to any marked extent. In inflammation, the pulse is greatly quickened, the artery becomes smaller, and its beat more jerking or wiry. During simple spasm the voice is natural, rich, sonorous, and almost musical; but in inflammation it is short, harsh, high, and broken, the exclamations not being continuous, but consisting of a series of disconnected "_yaps_."

For the treatment, in the first instance, a turpentine enema will frequently cut short the attack. Should it fail to so, injections of ether and laudanum should succeed, and doses of the mixture should also be given every half hour; the first three being exhibited at intervals only of a quarter of an hour each. The cathartic pills should be administered; and in three hours, if the bowels have not been acted upon, a dose of castor-oil should be resorted to; but where the cathartic has been responded to, the castor-oil should be delayed for eight or twelve hours.

When the pain ceases, the ether and laudanum should not be immediately discontinued; but they may be employed at longer intervals, and gradually reduced in quantity, until the bowels are thoroughly opened, when they may be withheld. Under this treatment, the affection is rarely fatal, and never so if taken in time. An injection of ether and laudanum should always be given to any pup that exhibits even the slightest symptom of uneasiness. I have never known it to do harm, but I am convinced it has often prevented danger.

In those cases where purging and other indications denote the coats of the bowels to be already involved, and spasm co-exists with enteritis, ether and laudanum must enter into all the remedies employed. On the dog their action is, in my opinion, always beneficial; and were they not directly so, the influence they possess in deadening pain would be sufficient reason to justify their adoption. The other measures consist of such as will be found mentioned under the head of enteritis; but it is essential to observe any faeces which may be ejected by the animal that has suffered colic; for by these we may sometimes guess the cause of the attack, and more often learn the means through which a return may be prevented.

As to the causes which induce colic, I can of my own knowledge offer no information. It has to me seemed to be regulated by none of those circumstances to which it is generally attributed; at all events, I think I have witnessed it in animals which have not been exposed to any of the causes that teachers and writers assert induce it. Dogs are, however, brought to us only when the cause has ceased; for we are sought for only to treat the effect. The declarations of authors may therefore be correct, although I am unable to corroborate them; and these gentlemen say colic is produced by cold, acrid food, chills, worms, hard water, &c. In cases of this kind, therefore, it may be well to inquire if the dog has been exposed, or badly fed, or is in any way unhealthy; and, so far as possible, to rectify these matters; for, even though they may not have provoked the spasm, nevertheless we shall do good by attending to the health, diet, and comfort of the animal.

ENTERITIS.--The doom of the dog which is really afflicted with this disease, is generally sealed. It is a painful and a fatal disorder--equally rapid and stubborn. I fear it more than any other affection to which the animal is subject, and more frequently than any other has it set my best endeavors at defiance.

In the dog, however, enteritis is rarely seen in a pure form. The mucous membrane of the intestines is mostly inflamed, but the serous covering, as a general rule, is in no degree involved. The stomach, however, is almost in every instance more or less implicated; its inner surface being inflamed, and its muscular coat so contracted, that the lining membrane is corrugated, and remains in that condition after death.

The incentives are, unwholesome food, which is the most frequent of the causes; exposure, especially after a dog has been in winter fantastically deprived of its long hair over the loins; and over-exertion, to which the dog is often exposed, no attention being paid to its condition. Anything which disorders the digestion, or violently shakes the constitution, will induce it; for in the dog every species of revulsion has a tendency to attack the bowels. Mange improperly treated has produced it; and this may be said of almost any skin disease; so that it has been caused not by true mange or itch alone but by a skin disease having been, under the pretence of working an immediate cure, driven into the system. Neglected impactments, or colic, are among its most frequent immediate causes; for at least three parts of those cases of enteritis submitted to my notice, have been clearly traced to have commenced with something of that kind.

Of the symptoms of enteritis, colic and constipation, with a hard thin pulse, are the most prominent. Sickness is not present, or rather I have not witnessed it, at the commencement of the disorder. The extremities are cold--the eye has a stupid expression, the pupil being much dilated--the breath is hot, and the nose dry. The tail is drawn firmly downward, and pressed upon the anus; the urine is sometimes scanty, always high-colored; the tongue is rough and clammy, the thirst strong, and the appetite lost. The dog seeks darkness and privacy, and does not ramble during the early stage; it will stretch itself out either upon its belly or on its side, and I have not seen it sit upon its haunches. The abdomen is only of the heat of the body, which is generally of an increased temperature. Pressure appears to cause no pain, and the animal rather seems grateful for friction than to resist it. As the disease proceeds, diarrhoea ensues, and with it the signs of exhaustion and death generally are exhibited. Throughout the attack there is a marked disinclination to take any remedy; which is not always displayed by these creatures, and in no other disease is so violently exhibited. Dogs often become attached to those who minister to their complaints; many of them will appear to understand and appreciate the motives of him who attempts their relief. The poor things will frequently submit to operations, and lick the hand which has performed them. Eloquent are the appeals which they sometimes make to the feelings of one in whom they have placed their confidence; often staggering to meet him when he enters; looking upward into his face, and uttering low cries, which are more expressive than words could possibly be rendered. He who has had much to do with dogs must, if he be not insensible, grow to like them, and gradually learn to think these creatures possess both knowledge and reason. They will sometimes, without a struggle, swallow the most pungent and nauseous drinks; but such is not the case during enteritis. The brain in that disease is always sympathetically affected, the state of the eye, its peculiar expression and dilated pupil, denote the fact; and the manner of the dog would, without these indications, lead us to surmise the circumstance.

The treatment must be energetic. The sharp, short cries, characteristic of enteritis, as pointed out in the preceding description of colic, will be sufficient warning of the danger, and ample intimation that there is no time to be lost. A turpentine enema should be injected. The treatment ought always to begin with this, for to unload the rectum is of all importance. Afterwards, from one to four grains of calomel, with from half a grain to two grains of opium, should be shaken upon the tongue; and when ten minutes have elapsed, a draught of ether and laudanum and water, with an injection of the same composition, ought to be exhibited. While the cries last, the ether may be continued, and when the strength appears to fail, it may also be employed. Two hours subsequent to the calomel being given, from half an ounce to three ounces of castor-oil, diluted with half the quantity of olive-oil, should be used as a drench; and thrice during the day the following may be administered either as a pill or draught, in thick gruel, soup, or mucilage, at the option of the practitioner; who will, of course, be guided by the disposition of the patient, which in every particular must be considered:--

Grey powder Five grains to a scruple.
Powdered ipecacuanha Half a grain to four grains.
Extract of hyoscyamus One to eight grains.

Bleeding is of some service, but the dog so quickly sinks, that it must be practised with caution. On this account, as well as for other reasons, leeches are to be preferred. If the patient be a male, they may be applied to the belly; but if a female, the side of the abdomen must be shaven, and that part selected. From four to twenty-four leeches will be sufficient; and half that number may be again used if no change for the better is observed, and the strength does not fail. Stimulating applications are likewise beneficial. A large mustard poultice has appeared to be more operative than more violent agents. After it has been removed, warm fomentations of water, with occasional ones of hot turpentine, may be employed.

In the early stage, a warm bath of 90 degrees, for half an hour, has been used with advantage; but the animal, when removed from it, must be wrapped well up in several hot blankets, and kept in them until it is perfectly dry.

On the second day from two to ten drops of the tincture of arnica, with half a drachm of the solution of the chloride of zinc, may be added to the ethereal drinks and injections, if the disorder has not been checked; and beef-tea, thickened with rice, may also be frequently administered, using it instead of water, both in the draughts and injections. No other food is admissible, and the return to solids must, if the animal survives, be very gradual.

DYSENTERY AND DIARRHOEA.--These diseases, which in works on human pathology are advantageously separated, I cannot here treat of as distinct disorders. In the dog they are so connected and blended that the line which divides them cannot be discovered; and for every practical purpose, they may be here considered as one and the same affection.

The young and the old are most liable to these complaints. Puppies are very subject, as also are aged gross favorites; things so fat that it becomes hard work to live are very generally attacked with diarrhoea. The pup, however, usually exhibits it in the acute form, whereas in the other description of animal it mostly appears in the chronic type.

When acute, colic may accompany or precede it. In proportion to the spasm will be the violence and the danger of the disorder. Sickness is mostly witnessed a little time prior to the attack, and the matter vomited has a peculiarly disagreeable and acrid odor. The dog does not again consume that which the stomach has thrown off, but sneaks away dejected, and afterwards seems dull. Sickness will occasionally continue throughout the complaint, but in general it departs as the disease appears. Thirst, however, is always present; and there is also a disposition to seek cold things and places. The pulse is quicker, but not stronger, and hardly at first less thin than during health. There is no pain on pressure being applied to the abdomen. The membranes of the eye are not injected; they may be a little deeper in color than is strictly natural, but occasionally they are the reverse. If, however, the anus be gently forced open, so as to expose the terminating surface of the rectum, the membrane there will be found more red, and perhaps less clear in tint, than it ought to be; and the presence of purgation, attended with a violent resistance to the administration of clysters, will leave no doubt as to the character of the affection.

In the chronic form, the membrane of the eye is pallid; the nose often moist; the breath offensive; the appetite ravenous; the pulse quick and weak; the anus inflamed; mostly protruding, and usually disfigured by piles; the faeces liquid, and of various hues; sometimes black, occasionally lighter than usual, very generally mixed with much mucus and a small quantity of blood, so that the leading symptoms are those of weakness, accompanied with purgation.

Acute diarrhoea may terminate in twenty-four hours; the chronic may continue as many days. The first sometimes closes with hemorrhage, blood in large quantities being ejected, either from the mouth or from the anus; but more generally death ensues from apparent exhaustion, which is announced by coldness of the belly and mouth, attended with a peculiar faint and sickly fetor and perfect insensibility. The chronic more rarely, ends with excessive bleeding, but almost always gradually wears out the animal, which for days previous may be paralysed in the hind extremities, lying with its back arched and its feet approximated, though consciousness is retained almost to the last moment. In either case, however, the characteristic stench prevails, and the lower surface of the abdomen, as a general rule, feels hard, presenting to the touch two distinct lines, which run in the course of the spine. These lines, which Youatt mentions as cords, are the recti muscles, which in the dog are composed of continuous fibre, and consequently, when contracted under the stimulus of pain or disease, become very apparent.

On examination after death, the stomach, especially towards the pyloric orifice, is inflamed, as are the intestines, which, however, towards the middle of the track, are less violently affected than at other parts. The caecum is enlarged, and may even, while all the other guts are empty, contain hard solid faeces. The rectum is generally black with inflammation, and seems most to suffer in these disorders. Occasionally its interior is ulcerated, and such is nearly always its condition towards the anus. Signs of colic are distributed along the entire length of the alimentary tubes.

In the acute disease, the case in the first instance should be treated as directed for colic, with turpentine enema and ether, laudanum and water, followed by mild doses of grey powder and ipecacuanha, or chalk, catechu and aromatics, in the proportions directed below:--

Powdered opium Half a grain to two grains.
Powdered prepared chalk Five grains to a scruple.
Catechu Two grains to half a scruple.
Liquor potassae Half-a-drachm to two drachms.
Powdered ginger Three to twelve grains.
Powdered caraways Three to twelve grains.
Powdered capsicums One to four grains.

This may be given every second hour. The carbonate of ammonia, from two to eight grains, is also deserving of a trial, as are the chlorides and chlorates when the odor is perceived.

Applications, as before directed, to the abdomen are also beneficial; but frequent use of the warm bath should be forbidden, for its action is far too debilitating. The ether, laudanum, and water should be persisted with throughout the treatment, and hope may be indulged so long as the injections are retained; but when these are cast back, or flow out as soon as the pipe is removed, the case may be pronounced a desperate one.

In the chronic form of diarrhoea there is always greater prospect of success. Ether, laudanum, and water will often master it, without the addition of any other medicine; but the liquor potassae and the chalk preparation are valuable adjuncts. To the anus an ointment will be useful; and it should not only be smeared well over the part, but, by means of a penholder or the little finger, a small quantity should thrice in the course of the day be introduced up the rectum. For this purpose the following will be found to answer much better than any of those which Blaine orders to be employed on similar occasions:--

Camphor powdered }
Mercurial ointment } Of each equal parts.
Elder ointment }

Cleanliness is of the utmost importance. Thrice daily, or oftener if necessary, the anus and root of the tail should be thoroughly cleansed, with a wash consisting of an ounce of the solution of chloride of zinc to a pint of distilled water. The food should be generous; but fluid beef tea, thickened with rice, will constitute the most proper diet during the existence of diarrhoea.

A little gravy and rice with scraped meat may be gradually introduced; but the dog must be drenched with the liquid rather than indulged with solids at too early a period. All the other measures necessary have been indicated when treating of previous abdominal diseases, and such rules as are therein laid down must, according to the circumstances, be applied.

PERITONITIS.--In the acute form this disease is rarely witnessed, save as accompanying or following parturition. Its symptoms are, panting; restlessness; occasional cries; a desire for cold; constant stretching forth at full length upon the side; dry mouth and nose; thirst; constipation; hard quick pulse; catching breathing, and--contrary as it may be to all reasonable expectation--seldom any pain on pressure to the abdomen, toward which, however, the animal constantly inclines the head.

The treatment consists in bleeding from the jugular, from three to twelve ounces being taken; but a pup, not having all its permanent teeth, supposing such an animal could be affected, should not lose more than from half-an-ounce to two ounces. Stimulating applications to the abdomen should be employed, an ammoniacal blister, from its speedy action, being to be preferred. Ether, laudanum, and water ought to be given, to allay the pain, with calomel in small but repeated doses, combined with one-fourth its weight of opium, in order to subdue the inflammation. A turpentine enema to unload the rectum, and a full dose of castor oil to relieve the bowels, should be administered early in the disease. The warm bath, if the animal is after it well wrapped up, may also be resorted to. A second bleeding may be necessary, but it should always be by means of leeches, and should only be practised upon conviction of its necessity, for no animal is less tolerant of blood-letting than the dog.

During peritonitis, the chief aim of all the measures adopted is to reduce the inflammation; but while this is kept in view, it must not be forgotten that of equal, or perhaps of even more, importance, is it to subdue the pain and lessen the constitutional irritation which adds to the energy of the disorder, thus rendering nature the less capable of sustaining it. With this object I have often carried ether, laudanum, and water, so far as to narcotise the animal; and I have kept the dog under the action of these medicines for twelve hours, and then have not entirely relinquished them. The consequence has not always been success, but I have not seen any reason to imagine that the life has not been lengthened by the practice; and sometimes when the narcotism has ceased, the disease has exhibited so marked an improvement, that I have dated the recovery from that period.

STRANGULATION.--This consists in the intestines being twisted or tied together, and it is caused by sudden emotion or violent exertion. From it the dog is almost exempt, though to it some other animals are much exposed. The symptoms are sudden pain, resembling acute enteritis, accompanied with sickness and constipation, and terminating in the lethargic ease which characterises mortification.

No treatment can save the life, and all the measures justifiable are such as would alleviate the sufferings of the animal; but as, in the majority of these cases, the fact is only ascertained after death, the practitioner must in a great measure be guided by the symptoms.

INTROSUSCEPTION.--This is when a portion of intestine slips into another part of the alimentary tube, and there becomes fixed. Colic always precedes this, for the accident could not occur unless the bowel was in places spasmodically contracted. The symptoms are--colic, in the first instance, speedily followed by enteritis, accompanied by a seeming constipation, that resists all purgatives, and prevails up to the moment of death. The measures would be the same as were alluded to when writing of strangulation.

STOPPAGE.--To this the dog is much exposed. These animals are taught to run after sticks or stones, and to bring them to their masters. When this trick has been learnt, the creatures are very fond of displaying their accomplishment. They engage in the game with more than pleasure; and as no living being is half so enthusiastic as dogs, they throw their souls into the simple sport. Delighted to please their lords, the animals are in a fever of excitement; they back and run about--their eyes on fire, and every muscle of their frames in motion. The stone is flung, and away goes the dog at its topmost speed, so happy that it has lost its self-command. If the missile should be small, the poor animal, in its eagerness to seize, may unfortunately swallow it, and when that happens, the faithful brute nearly always dies. The oesophagus or gullet of the dog is larger than its intestines, and consequently the substance which can pass down the throat may in the guts become impacted. Such too frequently follows when stones are gulped; for hard things of this kind, though they should be small enough to pass through the alimentary tube, nevertheless would cause a stoppage; for a foreign body of any size, by irritating the intestine, would provoke it to contract, or induce spasm; and the bowel thus excited would close upon the substance, retaining it with a force which could not be overcome. Persons, therefore, who like their dogs to fetch and carry, should never use for this purpose any pebble so small as to be dangerous, or rather, they should never use stones of any kind for this purpose. The animal taught to indulge in this amusement seriously injures its teeth, which during the excitement are employed with imprudent violence, and the mouth sustains more injury than the game can recompense.

If a dog should swallow a stone, let the animal be immediately fed largely; half-an-hour afterwards let thrice the ordinary dose of antimonial wine be administered, and the animal directly afterwards be exercised. Probably the pebble may be returned with the food when the emetic acts. Should such not be the case, as the dog will not eat again, all the thick gruel it can be made to swallow must be forced upon it, and perhaps the stone may come away when this is vomited. Every effort must be used to cause the substance to be ejected before it has reached the bowels, since if it enters these, the doom is sealed. However, should such be the case, the most violent and potent antispasmodics may be tried; and under their influence I have known comparatively large bodies to pass. No attempt must be made to quicken the passage by moulding or kneading the belly; much less must any effort be used intended to push the substance onward. The convolutions of the alimentary track are numerous, and the bowels are not stationary; therefore we have no certainty, even if the violence should do no injury, that our interference would be properly directed. Hope must depend upon antispasmodics; while every measure is taken to anticipate the irritation which is almost certain to follow.

Stoppage may be caused by other things besides stones. Corks, pins, nails, skewers, sharp pieces of bone, particularly portions of game and poultry bones, have produced death; and this fact will serve to enforce the warning which was given in the earlier portion of this work.

PARALYSIS OF THE HIND EXTREMITIES.

It appears odd to speak of such an affliction as loss of all motor power in the hind extremities, connected with deranged bowels. What can the stomach have to do with the legs? Why, all and everything. That which is put into the stomach, nourishes the legs, and that which enters the same receptacle, may surely disease the like parts. That which nurtures health, and that which generates sickness, are more closely allied than we are willing to allow. Thus, a moderate meal nourishes and refreshes; but the same food taken in too great abundance, as surely will bring disease; and it is of too much food that I have to complain, when I speak of the bowels as associated with paralysis. Dogs will become great gluttons. They like to do what they see their master doing; but as a dog's repast comes round but once a day, and a human being eats three or four times in the twenty-four hours, so has the animal kept within doors so many additional opportunities of over-gorging itself. Nor is this all. The canine appetite is soon satisfied; the meal is soon devoured. But it is far otherwise with the human repast. The dog may consume enough provender in a few minutes to last till the following day comes round; whereas the man cannot get through the food which is to support him for six hours, in less than half a division of the time here enumerated. Supposing one or two persons to be seated at table, it is very hard to withstand a pair of large, eloquent, and imploring eyes, watching every mouthful the fork lifts from the plate. For a minute or two it may be borne; but to hold out an entire hour is more than human fortitude is capable of. A bit is thrown to the poor dog that looks so very hungry; it is eaten quickly, and then the eyes are at work again. Perhaps the other end of the board is tried, and the appeal is enforced with the supplicatory whine that seldom fails. Piece after piece is thereby extracted; and dogs fed in this fashion will eat much more than if the whole were placed before them at one time. The animal becomes enormously fat, and then one day is found by the mistress with its legs dragging after it. The lady inquires which of the servants have been squeezing the dog in the door. All deny that they have been so amusing themselves, and every one protests that she had not heard poor Fanny cry. The mistress' wrath is by no means allayed. Servants are so careless--such abominable liars--and the poor dog was no favorite down stairs. Thereupon Fanny is wrapped in a couple of shawls, and despatched to the nearest veterinary surgeon.

If the gentleman who may be consulted knows his business, he returns for answer, "The dog is too fat," and must for the future be fed more sparingly--that it has been squeezed in no door--that none of the vertebrae are injured, but the animal is suffering from an attack of paralysis. He sends some physic to be given, and some embrocation to rub on the back. The mistress is by no means satisfied. She protests the man's a fool--declares she alone knows the truth--but, despite her knowledge, does as the veterinary surgeon ordered. Under the treatment the dog recovers; after which every one feeds it, and everybody accuses the other of doing that which the doctor said was not to be done. At length the animal has a second visitation, which is more slowly removed than was the first; but it at last yields; till the third attack comes, with which the poor beast is generally destroyed as incurable.

These dogs, when brought to us, usually appear easy and well to do in the world. The coats are sleek; their eyes are placid; and the extremities alone want motion, which rather seems to surprise the animal than to occasion it any immediate suffering. They have no other obvious disease; but the malignity of their ailments seems fixed or concentrated on the affection which is present. The first attack is soon conquered. A few cathartic pills, followed by castor-oil, prepared as recommended in this work (page 116), will soon unload the bowels, and clear out the digestive canal. They must be continued until, and after, the paralysis has departed. At the same time, some stimulating embrocation must be employed to the back, belly, and hind-legs, which must be well rubbed with it four times daily, or the oftener the better. Soap liniment, as used by Veterinarians, rendered more stimulating by an additional quantity of liquor ammoniae, will answer very well; more good being done by the friction than by the agent employed. The chief benefit sought by the rubbing, is to restore the circulation, and so bring back feeling with motion, for both are lost; a pin run into the legs produces no effort to retract the limb, nor any sign of pain.

The cure is certain,--and so is the second attack, if the feeding be persisted in; unless nature seeks and finds relief in skin disease, canker, piles, or one of the many consequences induced by over-feeding. The second attack mostly yields to treatment. The third is less certain, and so is each following visitation; the chances of restoration being remote, just in proportion as the assault is removed from the original affliction.

DISEASES ATTENDANT ON DISORDERED BOWELS.

RHEUMATISM.