CHAPTER LXIX' 



TREATMENT OF COMMON AILMENTS 



SUCH a work as this would be incomplete witKouf 

 some advice as to the treatment of some of the 

 commonest ailments which may occur to any dog. 

 The hints are necessarily of a more or less elementary 

 nature, for, in cases of really serious illness, the 

 advice of a skilled veterinary surgeon should at once 

 be sought. It is not difficult to tell when an animal 

 is sick ; his whole demeanour is sufficiently expres- 

 sive to let even the most unobservant know that he 

 is ailing. The surest indication is to be found in 

 a rise of temperature, and for this reason the dog- 

 owner should be equipped with a clinical thermo- 

 meter. The usual method of ascertaining the 

 temperature is in the rectum or groin, the former 

 being the most reliable. It is impossible to say 

 with exactitude what is the normal temperature, for 

 individuals vary, and experiments have shown that 

 the same animal may have a range of as much as 

 2 in the same day. For ordinary working purposes, 

 however, we may put it at about 102, and any eleva- 

 tion above this figure may be taken as indicating 

 something wrong. In the groin the normal would 

 be about i less, and in puppies it is slightly higher ; 



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