Iodide of ironOne to four grains.Sulphate of ironTwo to eight grains.Extract of gentianTen grains to half a drachm.Powdered capsicumsTwo to eight grains.Powdered quassiaA sufficiency.
The above will make two pills; and it is better to make these the more frequently, as they speedily harden, and we now desire their quickest effect, which is sooner obtained if they are soft or recently compounded.
During recovery the food must be mild, and tonics must be administered. Exercise should be allowed with the greatest caution, and all excitement ought to be avoided. The dog must be watched and nursed, being provided with a sheltered lodging and an ample bed in a situation perfectly protected from winds or draughts, but at the same time cool and airy.
Asthmais a frequent disease in old and petted dogs. It comes on by fits, and, through the severity of the attack, often seems to threaten suffocation; but I have not known a single case in which it has proved fatal. The cause is generally attributable to inordinate feeding, for theanimals thus afflicted are always gross and fat. The disorder comes on gradually in most instances, though the fit is usually sudden. The appetite is not affected, or rather it is increased often to an extraordinary degree. The craving is great, and flesh is always preferred, while sweet and seasoned articles are much relished. On examination, the signs denoting the digestion to be deranged will be discovered. Piles are nearly constantly met with; the coat is generally in a bad condition, and the hair off in places. The nose may be dry; the membrane of the eyes congested; the teeth covered with tartar, and the breath offensive. The dog is slothful, and exertion is followed by distress. Cough may or may not exist; but it usually appears towards the latter period of the attack.
ASTHMA.ASTHMA.
Asthma is spasm of the bronchial tubes, and when it is thoroughly established it is seldom to be cured. All medicine can accomplish is the relief of the more violent symptoms. The fits may be rendered comparatively less frequent and less severe; but the agents that best operateto that result are likely in the end to destroy the general health. Between two evils, therefore, the proprietor has to make his choice; but if he resolves to treat the disorder, he must do so knowing the drugs he makes use of are not entirely harmless.
Food is of all importance. It must be proportioned to the size of the patient, and be rather spare than full in quantity. Flesh should be denied, and coarse vegetable diet alone allowed. The digestion must also be attended to, and every means taken to invigorate the system. Exercise must be enforced, even though the animal appear to suffer in consequence of being made to walk. The skin should be daily brushed, and the bed should not be too luxurious. Sedatives are of service; and as no one of these agents will answer in every case, a constant change will be needed, that, by watching their action, the one which produces the best effect may be discovered. Opium, belladonna, hyoscyamus, assafœtida, and the rest, may be thus tried in succession; and often small doses produce those effects which the larger one seems to conceal. A pill containing any sedative, with an alterative quantity of some expectorant, may be given three times daily; but when the fit is on, I have gained the most immediate benefit by the administration of ether and opium. From one to four leeches to the chest, sometimes, are of service; but small ammoniacal blisters applied to the sides, and frequently repeated, are more to be depended upon. Trivial doses of antimonial wine or ipecacuanha wine, with an occasional emetic, will sometimesgive temporary ease; but the last-named medicines are to be resorted to only after due consideration, as they greatly lower the strength. Stomachics and mild tonics at the same time are to be employed; but a cure is not to be expected. The treatment cannot be absolutely laid down; but the judgment must be exercised, and whenever the slightest improvement is remarked every effort must be made to prevent a relapse.
CHRONIC HEPATITIS.CHRONIC HEPATITIS.
Livercomplaints were once fashionable. A few years ago the mind of Great Britain was in distress about its bile, and blue pill with black draught literally became a part of the national diet. At present nervous and urinary diseases appear to be in vogue; but, with dogs, hepatic disorders are as prevalent as ever. The canine liver is peculiarly susceptible to disease. Very seldom have I dipped into the mysteries of their bodies but I have foundthe biliary gland of these animals deranged; sometimes inflamed—sometimes in an opposite condition—often enlarged—seldom diminished—rarely of uniform color—occasionally tuberculated—and not unfrequently as fat with disease as those are which have obtained for Strasburg geese a morbid celebrity.
It is, however, somewhat strange that, notwithstanding the almost universality of liver disease among petted dogs, the symptoms which denote its existence are in these creatures so obscure and undefined as rarely to be recognised. Very few dogs have healthy livers, and yet seldom is the disordered condition of this important gland suspected. Various are the causes which different authors, English and foreign, have asserted produced this effect. I shall only allude to such as I can on my own experience corroborate, and here I shall have but little to refer to. Over-feeding and excessive indulgence are the sources to which I have always traced it. In the half-starved or well-worked dog I have seen the liver involved; but have never beheld it in such a state as led me to conclude it was the principal or original seat of the affection which ended in death. On the other hand, in fatted and petted animals, I have seen the gland in a condition that warranted no doubt as to what part the fatal attack had commenced in.
When death has been the consequence of hepatic disorder, the symptoms have in every instance been chronic. I am not aware that I have been called upon to treat a case of an acute description, excepting as aphase of distemper. It would be too much to say such a form of disease does not exist in a carnivorous animal; but I have hitherto not met with it. Neither have I seen it as the effect of inveterate mange; though I have beheld obstinate skin disease the common, but far from invariable, result of chronic hepatitis. I have also known cerebral symptoms to be produced by the derangement of this gland, which, in the dog, may be the cause of almost any possible symptom, and still give so little indication of its actual condition as almost to set our reason at defiance.
When the animal is fat, the visible mucous membranes may be pallid; the tongue white; the pulse full and quick; the spirits slothful: the appetite good; the fœces natural: the bowels irregular; the breath offensive; the anus enlarged, and the rump denuded of hair, the naked skin being covered with a scaly cuticle, thickened and partially insensible.
When the animal is thin, almost all of the foregoing signs may be wanting. The dog may be only emaciated—a living skeleton, with an enlarged belly. It is dull, and has a sleepy look when undisturbed; but when its attention is attracted, the expression of its countenance is half vacant and half wild. The pupil of the eye is dilated, and the visual organs stare as though the power of recognition were enfeebled. The appetite is good and the manner gentle. The tongue is white, and occasionally reddish towards the circumference. The membranes of the eye are very pale, but not yellow. The lining ofthe mouth is of a faint dull tint, and often it feels cold to the touch. The coat looks not positively bad; but rather like a skin which had been well dressed by a furrier, than one which was still upon a living body.
The history in these cases invariably informs us that the animal has been fat—very fat—about six or twelve months ago. It fell away all at once, though no change was made in the diet; and yet we learn it has been physicked. No restraint has been put upon buckthorn, castor oil, aloes, sulphur, and antimony, but yet the belly will not go down—it keeps getting bigger; and now we are told the animal has a dropsy which "wants to be cured." It is natural the figure and condition should suggest the idea of ascites; but the hair does not pull out—none of the legs are swollen—the shape of the abdomen wants the appearance of gravitation, and if the patient be placed upon its back the form of the rotundity is not altered by the position of the body. Moreover, the breathing is tolerably easy: and, though if one hand be placed against the side of the belly, and the part opposite be struck with the other, there will be a marked sense of fluctuation; still we cannot accept so dubious a test against the mass of evidence that declares dropsy is not the name of the disease. To make sure, we feel the abdomen near to the line of the false ribs. This gives no pain, so we press a little hard, and in two or three places on either side, on the right, or may be the left, high up or low down; for in abnormal growths there can be no rule—in two or three places we can detect hard, solid, but smooth lumpswithin the cavity. This last discovery leaves no room for further doubt, so we pronounce the liver to be the organ that is principally affected. In chronic cases, especially after the dog has begun to waste, enlargement nearly always may be felt, not invariably hard, yet often so, but never soft or so soft as the other parts; and this proof should, therefore, in every instance of the kind be sought for.
With regard to treatment, the food must not be suddenly reduced to the starvation point. Whether the dog be fat or lean, let the quality be nutritious, and the quantity sufficient; from a quarter of a pound to a pound and a half of paunch, divided into four meals, will be enough for a single day; but nothing more than this must be given. Tonics, to strengthen the system generally, should be employed; and an occasional dose of the cathartic pills administered, providing the condition is such as justifies the use of purgatives. Frequent small blisters, applied over the region of the liver, may do good; but they should not be larger than two or four inches across, and they should be repeated one every three or four days. Leeches put upon the places where hardness can be felt, also are beneficial; but depletion must be regulated by the ability of the animal to sustain it. A long course of iodide of potassium in solution, combined with the liquor potassæ, will, however, constitute the principal dependence.
Iodide of potassiumTwo drachms two scruples.Liquor potassæOne ounce and a half.Simple syrupSix ounces.WaterTwelve ounces and a half.
Give from half a teaspoonful to a teaspoonful three times a day.
The above must be persevered in for a couple of months before any effect can be anticipated. Mercury I have not found of any service, though Blaine speaks highly of it, and Youatt quotes his opinion. Perhaps I have not employed it rightly, or ventured to push it far enough.
Under the treatment recommended, the dog may be preserved from speedy death; but the structures have been so much changed that medicine cannot be expected to restore them. The pet may be saved to its indulgent mistress, and again perhaps exhibit all the charms for which it was ever prized; but the sporting-dog will never be made capable of doing work, and certainly it is not to be selected to breed from after it has sustained an attack of hepatitis.
Sometimes, during the existence of hepatitis, the animal will be seized with fits of pain, which appear to render it frantic. These I always attribute to the passage of gall stones, which I have taken in comparative large quantities from the gall-bladders of dogs. The cries and struggles create alarm, but the attack is seldom fatal. A brisk purgative, a warm bath, and free use of laudanum and ether, afford relief; for when the animal dies of chronic hepatitis, it perishes gradually from utter exhaustion.
The post-mortem examination generally presents that which much surprises the proprietor; one lobe of the gland is very greatly enlarged; it evidently containsfluid. It has under disease become a vast cyst, from which, in a setter, I have actually extracted more than two gallons of serum: from a small spaniel I have taken this organ so increased in size that it positively weighed one half the amount of the body from which it was removed. The wonder is that the apparently weak covering to the liver could bear so great a pressure without bursting.
Things must seem to have come to a pretty pass when a book is gravely written upon dyspepsia in dogs. Nevertheless, I am in earnest when I treat upon that subject; and could the animals concerned bear witness, they would testify it was indeed no joke. The Lord Mayor of London does not retire from office with a stomach more deranged than the majority of the canine race, shielded by his worshipful authority, could exhibit. The cause in both instances is the same. Dogs as they increase in years seem to degenerate sadly; till at length they mumble dainties and relish flavors with the gusto of an alderman. Pups even are not worthy of unlimited confidence. The little animals will show much ingenuity in procuring substances that make the belly ache; and, with infantine perversity, will, of their own accord, gobble things which, if administered, would excite shrieks of resistance. A litter of high-bred pups is a source of noless constant annoyance, nor does it require less incessant watching, than a nursery of children. There is so much similarity between man and dog that, from fear of too strongly wounding the self-love of my reader, I must drop the subject.
Indigestion in dogs assumes various forms, and is the source of numerous diseases. Most skin affections may be attributed to it. The inflammation of the gums, the foulness of the teeth, and the offensiveness of the breath, are produced by it. Excessive fatness, with its attendant asthma and hollow cough, are to be directly traced to a disordered digestion. In the long run, half of the petted animals die from diseases originating in this cause; and in nearly every instance the fault lies far more with the weakness of the master than with the corruptness of the beast. He who is invested with authority has more sins, than those he piously acknowledges his own, to answer for.
The symptoms are not obscure. A dislike for wholesome food, and a craving for hotly spiced or highly sweetened diet, is an indication. Thirst and sickness are more marked. A love for eating string, wood, thread, and paper, denotes the fact; and is wrongly put down to the prompting of a mere mischievous instinct: any want of natural appetite, or any evidence of morbid desire in the case of food, declares the stomach to be disordered. The dog that, when offered a piece of bread, smells it with a sleepy eye, and without taking it licks the fingers that present it, has an impaired digestion.Such an animal will perhaps only take the morsel when it is about to be withdrawn; and, having got it, does not swallow it, but places it on the ground, and stands over it with an expression of peevish disgust. A healthy dog is always decided. No animal can be more so. It will often take that which it cannot eat, but, having done so, it either throws the needless possession away or lies down, and with a determined air watches "the property." There is no vexation in its looks, no captiousness in its manner. It acts with decision, and there is purpose in what it does. The reverse is the case with dogs suffering from indigestion. They are peevish and irresolute. They take only because another shall not have. They will perhaps eat greedily what they do not want if the cat looks longfully at that which had lain before them for many minutes, and which no coaxing could induce them to swallow. They are, in their foibles, very like the higher animal.
The treatment is simple. The dog must be put upon, and strictly kept upon, an allowance. Some persons, when these animals are sent to them, because the creatures are fat and sickly, shut the dogs up for two or four days, and allow them during the period to taste nothing but water. The trick often succeeds, but it is dangerous in severe cases, and needless in mild ones. This is a heartless practice, which ignorance only would resort to; but such conduct is very general, and the people who follow it boast laughingly of its effect. They do not care for its consequences. A weakly stomach cannot bebenefited by a prolonged abstinence. I have kept a dog four-and-twenty hours without food, but never longer, and then only when the animal has been brought to me with a tale about its not eating. The report, then, is assurance that food has been offered, and the inference is that the stomach is loaded. A little rest enables it to get rid of its contents, and in some measure to recover its tone. The dog, as a general rule, does well on one meal a day; afterward, the food is regularly weighed, and nothing more than the quantity is permitted. This quantity may be divided into three or four meals, and given at stated periods, so that the last is eaten at night. When thus treated, animals, which I am assured would touch nothing, have soon become possessors of vigorous appetites. At the same time, exercise and the cold bath every morning is ordered; and either tonic or gentle sedatives, with alkalies and vegetable bitters, are administered. The following are the ordinary stomach-pills, and do very well for the generality of cases:—
Extract of hyoscyamusSixteen grains.Sodæ carb.Half an ounce.Extract of gentianHalf an ounce.Ferri carb.Half an ounce.
Make into sixteen, thirty, or eight pills, and give two daily.
The reader, however, will not depend upon any one compound, for stomach disease is remarkably capricious. Sometimes one thing and sometimes another does a greatdeal of good; but the same thing is seldom equally good in any two cases. Stimulants, as nitrate of silver, trisnitrate of bismuth, or nux vomica, are occasionally of great service; and so also are purgatives and emetics, but these last, when they do no benefit, always do much injury. They should, therefore, be tried last, and then with caution, the order being thus:—Tonics, sedatives, and alkalies, either singly or in combination, and frequently changed. Stimulants and excitants in small doses, gradually increased. Emetics and purgatives, mingled with any of the foregoing. The food and exercise, after all, will do more for the restoration than the medicine, which must be so long continued that the mind doubts whether it is of any decided advantage. The affection is always chronic, and time is therefore imperative for its cure.
Dogs are afflicted with a disease of the stomach, which is very like to "water-brash," "pyrosis," or "cardialgia," in the human being. The animals thus tormented are generally fully grown and weakly: a peculiarity in the walk shows the strength is feeble. The chief symptom is, however, not to be mistaken. The creature is dull just before the attack: it gets by itself, and remains quiet. All at once it rises; and without an effort, no premonitory sounds being heard, a quantity of fluid is ejected from the mouth, and by the shaking of the head scattered about. This appears to afford relief, but the same thing may occur frequently during the day. This disease of itself is not dangerous; but it is troublesome,and will make any other disorder the more likely to terminate fatally; it should, therefore, be always attended to. The food must not be neglected, and either a solution of the iodide of potassium with liquor potassæ, or pills of trisnitrate of bismuth, must be given. The preparations of iron are sometimes of use; and a leech or two, after a small blister to the side, has also seemed to be beneficial. When some ground has been gained, the treatment recommended for indigestion generally must be adopted, the choice of remedies being guided by the symptoms. The practitioner, however, must not forget that the mode of feeding has probably been the cause; and, therefore, it must ever after be an object of especial care. The cold bath and exercise, proportioned to the strength, are equally to be esteemed.
Very old dogs often die from indigestion, and in such cases the stomach will become inflated to an extent that would hardly be credited. These animals I have not observed to be subject to flatulent colic; when, therefore, the abdomen becomes suddenly tympanitic the gas is usually contained in the stomach. Fits and diarrhœa may accompany or precede the attack, which in the first instance yields to treatment; but in a month more or less returns, and is far more stubborn. Ether and laudanum, by mouth and enema, are at first to be employed; and, generally, they are successful. The liquor potassæ, chloride of lime in solution, and aromatics with chalk, may also be tried, the food beingstrengthening but entirely fluid. The warm bath is here highly injurious; and bleeding or purging out of the question. When the distension of the stomach is so great as to threaten suffocation, the tube of the stomach-pump may be introduced; but, unless danger be present, the practitioner ought to depend upon the efforts of nature, to support which all his measures should be directed. After recovery, meat scraped as for potting, without any admixture of vegetables, must constitute the diet; and while a sufficiency is given, a very little only must be allowed at a time. With these precautions the life may be prolonged, but the restoration of health is not to be expected.
Dogs are abused for their depraved tastes, and reproached for the filth they eat; but if one of them, being of a particular disposition in the article of food, takes to killing his own mutton, he is knocked on the head as too luxurious. It is a very vulgar mistake to imagine the canine race have no preferences. Theyhave their likes and dislikes quite as strong and as capricious as other animals. Man himself does not more frequently impair his digestion by over indulgence than does the dog. In both cases the punishment is the same, but the brute having the more delicate digestion suffers most severely. The dog's stomach is so subject to be deranged that few of these creatures can afford to gormandize; to which failing, however, they are much inclined. The consequence is soon shown. A healthy dog can make a hearty meal and sleep soundly after it. The petted favorite is often pained by a moderate quantity of food, and frequent are the housemaid's regrets that his digestion is not more retentive. He spoils other things besides victuals; and the more daintily he lives the more generally is he troublesome. It is the variety that diseases him. He grows to be omnivorous. He learns to relish that which nature did not fit him to consume, and as a consequence he pays for his bad habits. The dog in extreme cases can digest even bones; a banquet of tainted flesh will not disorder him; but he cannot subsist in health on his lady's diet. His stomach was formed to receive and assimilate certain substances, and to deny these is not to be generous or kind.
Gastritis is very common with ladies' favorites. Its symptoms are well marked. Frequent sickness is the first indication. This is taken little notice of. The mess is cleared up, and the matter is forgotten. Thirstis constant, and the lapping is long; but no further notice is taken of this circumstance, than to remark the animal has grown very fond of water. At last the thirst has increased, and no sooner is the draught swallowed than it is ejected. The appetite which may have been ravenous a little time before, now grows bad, and whatever is eaten is immediately returned. The animal is evidently ill. The nose is dry, and the breathing quick. It avoids warmth, and lies and pants, away from the hearthrug. It dislikes motion and stretches itself out, either upon its chest or on its belly. Sometimes it moans, and more rarely cries. The stomach is now inflamed; and if the symptoms could have been earlier understood, frequently has the animal been seen, prior to this stage of attack, licking the polished steel fire-irons. It has been horrifying its mistress's propriety, by its instinctive desire to touch something cold with its burning tongue; and the poor little beast perhaps has been chastised for seeking a momentary relief to its affliction.
Dogs that are properly treated rarely have gastritis. When they do, it is generally induced by some unwholesome food. I have known it to be caused by graves more often than by anything else they are accustomed to eat. I never recommend this stuff to be given to dogs. Meal and skim milk is far better, and that can always be procured where flesh is scarce. The entrails of sheep, &c., if washed and boiled with a large quantity of any kind of meal, are nutritious and wholesome; nay, even when a little tainted, they will not be refused. If, however, theywere hung up in a strong draught, they would soon dry; and in that state might be preserved for use any length of time; all they afterwards require would be boiling. The paunch can be prepared in the same manner; and it would be worth some little trouble to avoid a mixture which contains nothing strengthening, and too often a great deal that is injurious.
The treatment of gastritis is simple. It is generally accompanied by more or less diarrhœa; but the violence of the leading symptom renders that of comparatively little consequence. The degree of sickness will always indicate whether the stomach is the principal seat of disease.
As nothing is retained, it would be a needless trouble to give many solids or fluids, by the mouth. From half a grain to a grain and a half of calomel, thoroughly mixed with the same quantities of powdered opium, may be sprinkled upon the tongue; and from one drachm to four drachms of sulphuric ether may be given in as much water as will dissolve it twenty minutes afterwards. The medicine will most probably be ejected; but, as it is very volatile, it may be retained sufficient time to have some influence in quieting the spasmodic irritability of the stomach. Ethereal injections should be administered every hour, and no food of any kind allowed. Besides this, from a quarter of a grain to a grain of opium may be sprinkled on the tongue every hour; and the ether draught continued until the sickness ceases, or the animal displays signs of being narcotised. An ammoniacal blister,if the symptoms are urgent, may be applied to the left side; but in mild cases, a strong embrocation will answer every purpose. Except the constitution be vigorous, and the pulse very strong, it will not be advisable to bleed, but from two to twelve leeches may be applied to the lower part of the chest. Cold water may be allowed in any quantity, but nothing warm should be given. The colder the water, the better, and the more grateful it will be to the animal. Where it can be obtained, a large lump of ice may be placed in the water, for the dog often will lick this, and sometimes even gnaw it. Small lumps of ice may be forced down as pills, and a cold bath may be given, the animal being well wrapped up afterwards, that it may become warm, and the blood, by the natural reaction, be determined to the skin.
When the sickness is conquered, the following should be administered:—
Powdered nux vomicaA quarter of a grain to a grain.Sulphate of ironOne grain to four grains.Extract of gentianSufficient to make a pill.
The above may be repeated every four hours until the stomach is quiet; but it is not always tranquillized; sickness may return, and the pills may possibly seem to aggravate it. If such should appear to be the case, try the next:—
Acid hydrocyanic, L.P.One drop to four drops.Carbonate of sodaThree grains to twelve grains.WaterA sufficiency.
The ether and opium must also he persevered with, regulating the last of course by the action which it induces.
Food should consist of cold broth, slightly thickened with ground rice, arrowroot, starch, or flour, and for some days it must be composed of nothing more; but by degrees the thickness may be increased, and a little bread and milk introduced. After a time a small portion of minced underdone meat, without skin or fat, may be allowed; but the quantity must be small, and the quality unexceptionable.
The second day generally sees an abatement of the more urgent symptoms, and then the draught may be composed of five minims of laudanum to every drachm of ether, and ten drachms of water. This to be given both by mouth and injection six times daily. The former pills were intended only to allay the primary violence of the disease, and when that object is attained, the following remedy may be employed:—
Extract of hyoscyamusOne grain to four grains.Carbonate of sodaThree grains to twelve grains.Carbonate of ammoniaHalf a grain to two grains.Extract of gentianFive grains to a scruple.Powdered quassiaA sufficiency.
The above is for one pill, which should be repeated four times daily, and continued for some days; when, if the dog seems quite recovered, a course of the quinine tonic pills, as recommended for distemper, will be of use; but should any suspicion be created of the disorder notbeing entirely removed, the animal may be treated as advised for indigestion.
Sporting dogs are frequently sent to me suffering under what the proprietors are pleased to term "Foul." The history of these cases is soon known. They have been withdrawn from the field at the close of the season, and have ever since been shut up in close confinement, while the working diet has been persevered with. The poor beast is supposed capable of vegetating until the return of the period for shooting requires his services. He remains chained up till he acquires every outward disease to which his kind are liable; and then, when he stinks the place out, his owner is surprised at his condition, pronouncing his misused animal to be "very foul." "Foul" is not one disease, but an accumulation of disorders brought on by the absence of exercise with a stimulating diet. The sporting dog, when really at work, may have all the flesh it can consume; but at the termination of that period its food should consist wholly of vegetable substances, while alittleexercise daily is necessary, not to health, but absolutely for life. The dog with "foul" requires each seat of disease to be treated separately; beginning of course with the dressing for mange or for lice, one or the other of which the animal is certain to display.
This disease generally is assumed to be a nervous disorder, and so the symptoms declare it to be; but onpost mortemexaminations no lesion is found either upon the brain, spinal marrow, or the nerves themselves. This last circumstance, however, proves nothing; for the same thing may be said of tetanus in the human being, and of stringhalt in the horse; both of them being well-marked nervous affections. I append St. Vitus's Dance to the stomach, not because of that which I have not beheld, but because of that which I have positively seen.
It follows upon distemper. I do not know it as a distinct disorder, though it is asserted to exist as such when the greater or leading disease is unobserved. It then follows up the affection which primarily involves the stomach and intestines, and to which indications all other symptoms are secondary. On everypost mortemwhich I have made of this disorder, I have discovered the stomach inflamed; and, therefore, not because the nerves or their centres are blank, but because on one important viscus I have found well marked signs to impress my reason, I propose to treat of this disorder as connected with the stomach.
THE POINTER.THE POINTER.
The signs to which I allude, consists of patches of well-defined inflammation; and hence, knowing how distemper has the power to involve other organs, I conclude it has caused the spinal marrow to be sympathetically affected.
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, willcontinue 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 fæces 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 theyare 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:—
PotashTwo to seven grains.Extract of hyoscyamusHalf a grain to four grains.Quassia powderThree to sixteen grains.Nux vomicaA quarter of a grain to two grains.Extract of gentianA 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 sufferingcreature 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.
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 onesize 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 cæcum 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 cæcum 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 cæcum 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.
Costivenessis, in some measure, natural to the dog, and in that animal is hardly to be viewed as a disease. In health, the fæces 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; thehardness 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 solutionof 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 cæcum, which there is reason to suppose is also clogged. A gentle dose of castor-oil, or of the pills directed on page116, 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 catchit, 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 fæces 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 ortwenty 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—beinggiven to unload the cæcum. 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.