SOME CANINE DISEASES AND THEIR REMEDIES. 677 



its nutritive value. Eggs contain all the elements needed 

 to sustain Mm, but if they were alone depended upon the 

 large number necessary to supply one important nutritive 

 principle would overload the system with other elements. 

 Hence, of course, if one limited himself strictly to an egg 

 diet he would die, although he obtained therefrom all his 

 system actually needed in the way of support. 



It will appear from the foregoing that if a dog is given 

 too much starchy food he is quite certain, sooner or later, 

 to have dyspepsia, which trouble is one of the most com- 

 mon causes of eczema. Some have thought an excess of 

 meat capable of exciting this skin affection. Evidently 

 the theory is inferential drawn from the effect of such a 

 diet on man. It certainly creates in him an eczematous 

 tendency, but there is no reason to believe that it has the 

 same effect on the dog. Far from it; meat is so essential in 

 the treatment of eczema, it must be considered a remedial 

 agent of the first importance. Not only is what is known 

 as dyspepsia a cause of the disease in question, but all dis- 

 turbances of the stomach and intestines are capable of pro- 

 ducing it. 



Dogs are singularly subject to worms, which, while not 

 causing any special trouble in some instances, yet in others 

 give rise to quite serious symptoms, and to them eczema is 

 often due. Poverty of the blood is not uncommon in dogs, 

 and it is quite sure to exist in those which have for a consid- 

 erable time been improperly fed. It shows itself in the 

 mucous membranes, and these, instead of being of the rich 

 red color, are pale. Eczema naturally occurs in such cases 

 as a complication. It also often appears in young puppies 

 and their dams. It is liable to come on in the course of any 

 disease which runs the dog low in flesh and strength. In 

 fact, whenever the general health is impaired, whatever be 

 the cause, an eruption of eczema is likely to occur. 



That the disease is hereditary there is good reason to 

 believe. It does not necessarily follow that if the sire or 

 dam has had eczema, it must necessarily be carried on to 

 the next generation. One would not expect this if the 



