686 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG 



punished with medicines, for, as we have said, they will do 

 him no good. 



WORMS. 



Worms are a common enemy to dogs, and no small per 

 cent, of puppies die from this cause. As to how they 

 become infested, there are many popular theories, the gen- 

 erally accepted one being through the milk fed to them 

 after having been weaned. Why cow's milk should be 

 accused of being the means of conveyance, or what there is 

 about it to create worms, no one seems to know. It is one 

 of those delusions, without a grain of truth, which have 

 been handed down from generation to generation, and, like 

 all other such, is hard to dispel. Cow's milk, either fresh 

 or boiled, never causes worms in dogs, and, hence, can 

 always safely be given them. 



The worm which occasions young dogs the most trouble 

 is the lumbricoid, a round worm resembling the common 

 earth-worm, or what country boys call the "angle- worm." 

 It varies in length, being from two to six inches, and is of 

 a pale pink color, perfectly round in shape, and tapers 

 toward each extremity. Probably the tape-worm is the one 

 which troubles old dogs the most. Although there are 

 fully a score or more different forms of worms which infest 

 the canine race at least three-fourths of it are troubled 

 with them these two varieties are all that it is necessary 

 for us to consider, for the treatment, the point we shall 

 dwell upon, is much the same in all cases. 



Round worms sometimes come up into the stomach and 

 are vomited, but more often they are passed downward. 

 When they are present, in a small proportion of cases they 

 do not give rise to any marked symptoms, but as a rule they 

 cause no little disturbance; and that they do sometimes give 

 rise to convulsions, chorea, paralysis, and certain other seri- 

 ous affections of the nervous system, is a well-known fact. 

 Frequently puppies, and much less often old dogs, partially 

 lose the power of their hind legs, and rapidly recover as 

 soon as a discharge of the worms occurs. In a puppy, 



