SOME CANINE DISEASES AND THEIR EEMEDIES. 687 



usually the first symptoms of worms to attract attention is 

 great abdominal distention or bloating. No sooner does 

 he begin to eat than this is noticed, and it is all out of pro- 

 portion to the amount of food taken. There is also, 

 usually, some diarrhea, and "wormy discharges," which are 

 largely of mucus, rusty in color, as though, mixed with 

 powdered brick-dust. These symptoms may be the only 

 noticeable ones, or there may be present others indicative 

 of indigestion. Vomiting is not unusual, and although the 

 appetite is generally voracious, the animal is almost always 

 thin in flesh. In puppies over three or four months old, if 

 infested by worms, the nose would very likely be hot and 

 dry, the breath offensive, and there might be a cough as a 

 direct consequence. A rough, dry, harsh coat is also a sign 

 of worms; and the sleep of an older puppy harboring them 

 is usually dreamy and disturbed, as evinced by nervous 

 twitchings and occasional moaning or barking. Worms in 

 puppies but two or three weeks old excite colicky pains, 

 which cause the little ones to groan constantly and with 

 almost every breath. When an attack comes on they are 

 soon powerless to move the body, and for hours lie numb 

 and cold, their piteous groaning never ceasing until just 

 before they die. Occasionally by prompt treatment one is 

 saved from this condition, but such good luck is rare 

 indeed. 



Besides the symptoms already described, which are occa- 

 sioned by worms in older puppies, there are many others, 

 and, so varied are they, the average dog-owner feels justi- 

 fied, and rightly so, in giving worm-medicine in all in- 

 stances where his pet is taken ill and he can not make out 

 the cause of the trouble. This speculative treatment is 

 often successful, and in no case is it likely to do harm if 

 the proper medicine is used. 



There can be no doubt but nursing puppies become 

 infested by worms in this way: The dam has about her the 

 eggs from which the worms are propagated, in her hair, 

 etc. They are taken up by the puppies while nursing, and 

 enter the stomach with the milk. There they meet the 



