A SCAB IS MARGINATA. 146 



worms, absolute dependence should not be placed upon any one agent, 

 but others should be given after a proper interval has been allowed. 



Treatment for round-worms should always be premised by fasting and a 

 purgative. Food should be denied puppies for twelve hours at least, and 

 old dogs twenty-four hours. Castor oil is the better purgative to adminis- 

 ter, and should be given six or eight hours before the worm medicine is 

 employed. 



Among the more reliable agents destructive of round-worms, santonine 

 in two grain doses, is one of the most active ; it is insoluble or nearly so, 

 and passes into the small intestines and acts on them as a poison. It will 

 be easily taken in pill form mixed with lard, and can be given two or three 

 times a day ; after the second or third day a generous dose of castor oil 

 should be administered and the santonine discontinued. 



The oil of turpentine as a vermifuge is highly esteemed, especially In 

 tape-worm. In cases of round-worms which do not yield to other agents, 

 this remedy could be tried. Its action is to destroy or debilitate the 

 parasite, which losing its hold upon the bowels, is then easily discharged. 

 When worms exist in the stomach they are by its action killed, and then 

 digested as any other dead animal matter. 



It is to be remembered that turpentine in small doses, frequently re- 

 peated, stimulates the kidneys, increasing the secretion of urine, and 

 often producing if long continued, painful irritation of the urinaiy pas- 

 sages, amounting sometimesto complete stoppage. Large closes generally 

 act speedily on the bowels, in which case the oil is hurried out, and no 

 time being allowed for absorption, it is less liable to irritate the kidneys 

 and bladder than in small and repeated doses. 



When proper precautions, suggested by the physiological action of tur- 

 pentine, are observed, the remedy is not only harmless but very efficient ; 

 fifteen drops can be given twice a day for a week without injury. If at 

 the end of this time worms are not expelled, it would be well to give one 

 final large dose of one teaspoonful, and if it does not operate freely in 

 two hours then administer castor oil. The turpentine can be given in 

 milk or beaten up with a raw egg and a little sweet oil. 



Pinkroot is a drug which has been much used as a vermifuge, and is 

 reasonably safe and reliable. In very large doses it has a narcotic effect, 

 but this is altogether obviated by combining it with cathartics. The fluid 

 extract of pinkroot and senna is a combination which acts admirably in 

 many cases of worms in puppies, causing little or no gastric disturbance. 

 The dose for them when four or Ave weeks old is fifteen drops ; for matured 

 dogs, from one to two teaspoonsful in a little water. In all cases this rem- 

 edy should be given twice a day for three or four days, after which a 

 generous dose of castor oil should be administered. 



