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CHAPTER X. 



COMMONER AILMENTS OF THE DOG IN CHINA AND SOME SIMPLE REMEDIES. 



'•Let lis use the means placed within our reach to allay suffering and to afford to those animals which 

 are the firm, faithful friends and companions of man the best and most humane treatment we are capable of 

 bestowing" (Hill), ever remembering that above and beyond their companionship they possess— 



" Many a good 

 " And useful quality, and virtue too — 

 Attachment never to be weaned or changed 

 By any change of fortune ; proof alike 

 Against unkindness, absence and neglect; 

 P'idelity that neither bribe nor threat 

 Can move or warp; and gratitude for small 

 And trivial favours, lasting as the life, 

 And glistening even in the dying eye." 



"When we consider the sagacity and kindly social habits of the canine race, the hearty and willing 

 service which dogs render to man in all his varied relations, it is but an act of justice to contribute to their 

 comfort when overtaken bv sickness and disease." — Speedy. 



npHE climate is held to be largely responsible for many of the ailments from which dogs 

 suffer in China ; whereas, as a matter of fact, most of the complaints are traceable to 

 causes with which climate has little or nothing to do. 



The origin of most of the ills which affect our dogs here as elsewhere are overwork, 

 that is hard work when dogs are in soft condition, neglect through the long summer months, 

 irregular feeding and bad kenneling, from which causes are often too distinctly traceable 

 those common but practically avoidable ailments diarrhoea, dysentery and jaundice. 

 Clearly dogs may and do live long and heathly lives in China if common sense actuate 

 their management and ordinary precautions be early taken when they fall sick. And in 

 support of this contention it may be mentioned that I have the records of 43 sporting dogs 

 of my own, retrievers spaniels pointers and setters, all hardworked in their day, whose 

 average sporting life was rather over five years. It may be, of course, that unusually good 

 luck was experienced but I attribute the comparatively longlivedness of my animals in 

 a measure to the fact that the attempt has always been made to bring common sense to 

 bear upon their management when in health and common sense treatment when sick. Not 

 a single death has been due to distemper, dysentery or worms in the heart, but the almost 

 invariable causes have been inflammation of the lungs or of the liver, the latter usually in the 



