490 DOGS USED FOR SPORT. 



ration difficult or long drawn ; and general symptoms of uneasi- 

 ness and inquietude. 



The bowels are usually constipated, and the urine very high 

 colored and scanty. The animal is constanty licking or attempt- 

 ing to swallow stones and other cold articles, and during the first 

 stages scratches his bed up into a heap, and presses the belly upon 

 it, and darkness is preferable to light. The tail is also drawn firmly 

 downwards, and in many cases, not always, the pupil is dilated. 



When vomiting is absent, the disease is generally more trouble- 

 some. As the trouble progresses, the symptoms are more aggra- 

 vated, and in the second stage the flanks are drawn in, the mus- 

 cles of the abdomen hard and tense, the dog continually giving 

 expression to low moans with occasional sharp cries of pain. Con- 

 stipation is frequently present from first to last, though diarrhoea 

 often supervenes in the last stage enhancing the prostration, already 

 excessive, of the poor animal. 



Great care must be taken at the outset not to confound this 

 disease with colic. The moment that peritonitis is diagnosed 

 beyond doubt, remove the animal to cool dry quarters, and ad- 

 minister at once a full dose of calomel and opium (No. 15). You 

 will doubtless be told that the bowels are already inflamed and 

 demand rest, and they should not move. Pay no attention to such 

 advice. Nine times in ten the impaction of faecal matter is aggra- 

 vating the inflammation, and safety demands its removal. If this 

 does not operate, follow with a saline cathartic as Rochelle salts, 

 which will not only remove the difficulty, but prove very grateful 

 to the patient. Except the first dose, do not again give opium in 

 full dose. The cathartic having operated the pulse will be found 

 to have diminished. Now administer one drop of tincture of 

 aconite with three grains of bromide of potash (No. 1 1) every 

 two hours, watching the pulse carefully, resorting to opium in the 

 form of tincture of wine in case the bromide is not sufficiently 

 sedative ; as six drops of tincture repeated every half hour will be 

 sufficient, and answer the purpose better than larger doses given 

 less frequently. Should the stomach be too irritable to retain the 

 medicine,* pursue just the same, giving with each dose three grains 



* Should vomiting occur within six hours after calomel is given, pay no atten- 

 tion to it. It will pass ofTof itself with the action of the medicine. 



