DISEASES 31 



bile, usually after eating grass, an unusual thirst, sometimes a diarrhoea, 

 refusal of food, and in some cases the eyes and mouth and skin take on 

 a yellow cast. For treatment first give a dose of castor oil, so as to keep 

 the bowels open and remove the excess of bile. If there is much nausea 

 and sickness of the stomach give carbonate of bismuth. A dose of from 

 two to twelve grains simply should be placed on the tongue and the mouth 

 held for a moment until it is swallowed. If this does not give good results 

 use the following prescription: Diluted hydrocyanic acid twenty drops, 

 liquor bismuth one ounce, water to make six ounces. The dose is from 

 a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful every three hours. In most of these 

 cases giving the stomach a complete rest will do more good than anything 

 in the way of drugs. In some cases good results follow the use of small 

 doses of quinine or the extract of taraxacum. 



Bed Sores Large, unhealthy-looking sores frequently form on the 



hips, points of the buttocks, shoulders and other parts of dogs which have 

 suffered from severe illness. Success in treatment depends upon protect- 

 ing the parts affected from further injury. First clean the parts with a 

 warm, saturated solution of boracic acid, then dry carefully with soft linen 

 rags and dust with powdered boracic acid and iodoform in equal parts; 

 encircle the injured parts with a ring of felt, kept in position with adhesive 

 tape. 



Bladder (irritable). — These cases as a rule require the attention of 

 a veterinary, as the irritation may be set up by a variety of causes, not 

 the least of which is a stone in the bladder. The common symptom of 

 bladder trouble is constant straining, even when indoors; in other cases, 

 not so bad, there is frequent micturition of high-colored, cloudy, strong- 

 smelling urine. The presence of blood, as a rule, is an indication of calcu- 

 lus, or stone. Sometimes the blood comes mixed with the urine, and in 

 other cases it comes in drops after the passing of water. In those cases 

 where the stone becomes fixed in the pasage, and the dog is incapable of 

 micturition, no time should be lost in calling in a good veterinary sur- 

 geon. If there is not much pain a course of treatment with the hyposul- 

 phite of soda is all that is necessary, the dose being from three to twenty 

 grains, diluted in water and administered three times a day before feeding. 

 If there is much pain, give the tincture of hyoscyamus in dose of from 

 two to fifteen drops in water every three hours. Feed on milk, barley wa- 

 ter and dog cakes. 



Broken Bones. — It can be ascertained that a bone of the leg is broken 

 by taking hold of the limb above the supposed fracture and moving the 

 lower portion against it, when a grating or crackling of the broken ends 

 against each other will be felt or heard. The treatment consists in ad- 

 justing the fractured parts to their natural form, and applying splints to 

 keep the parts set. Splints may be made of strips of gutta percha, softened 

 in warm water and moulded to fit the limb, or pieces of thin wood may be 

 cut the required size and well padded with wadding. The splints can be 

 kept in place by binding evenly with light cotton bandages, which, pre- 



