688 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



conditions favorable for their development. Just what 

 conditions are required for that are not known, but there 

 is reason to believe that mucus is specially essential. 

 The inside of the intestines of young puppies is thickly 

 coated with mucus, and owing to the character of the food 

 which they live on during the first five or six weeks of life, 

 this coating is but little affected and much of it remains, 

 or at least there is always what appears to be an excess. 

 When the puppies begin to take solid food, in its passage 

 through the intestinal canal it carries mucus with it, and 

 less is left within. It is then that the puppies begin to 

 free themselves of their pests. This fact is generally recog- 

 nized and taken advantage of. Breeders, as a measure 

 against worms, change the diet from liquid to solid as soon 

 as the latter can be borne. 



Those who have successfully treated puppies for worms 

 have doubtless been surprised at the large number expelled. 

 They multiply with marvelous rapidity. Eschright esti- 

 mates, in the body of the female lumbricoid found in the 

 intestines of man, the number of eggs to be 64,000,000. 

 These eggs after being discharged retain their vitality for 

 many months, and if they are so deposited that they can be 

 taken up either in the food or drinking-water, worms 

 are propagated from them in the intestinal canal of the 

 victim. 



Sour milk is believed to be a preventative for worms, 

 and many breeders feed it to their puppies at least once a 

 day. Charcoal is considered to possess vermifuge proper- 

 ties, and is also given. Probably both have a salutary 

 action, but it can not be a powerful one. For puppies from 

 but three to five weeks old the safest remedy for worms is 

 the fluid extract of pink-root and senna. Five drops may 

 be given once a day, for three or four days, on an empty 

 stomach. At the end of that time a tea-spoonful of castor- 

 oil should be administered, to clear out the intestinal canal. 

 For worms in puppies three months old and upward, and 

 matured dogs, the best remedy is areca-nut, or betel-nut, 

 as it is called. In purchasing this, choose the dark-colored 



