70 ' DISEASES OF DOGS. 



also be completely secured, and a little elevated, to prevent 

 the liquid remedy from ag^ain running- out. 



Balls of a soft consistence, and those composed of nauseous 

 ingredients, should be wrapped in silver or other thin paper, 

 and greased, or they may occasion so much disg-ust as to be 

 returned. Medicines wholly without taste, as mercurials, 

 antimonials, &c. may be frequently given in the food ; but 

 sometimes a considerable inconvenience attends this, which 

 is, that, if the deception is discovered by the dog", he will ob- 

 stinately refuse his food for some time afterwards. The purg- 

 ing- salts may also be sometimes given in food, being mistaken 

 by the animal for the sapid effect produced by common salt. 



Dogs are not only very susceptible of disease, but, when ill, 

 they require great attention and care to insure their recovery. 

 It is however too common with many persons to neglect them 

 under these circumstances ; and if they are placed in a cold 

 room, or an outhouse, with stale or broken victuals and water 

 placed before them, it is frequently all the attention they 

 experience : unless, perhaps, to all this may be added, some- 

 thing of doubtful efficacy as a remedy. But when we con- 

 sider how very tender many of these animals are rendered by 

 confinement and artificial habits, it will be clear that, un- 

 der sickness, they must require peculiar care and attention. 

 Warmth seems particularly congenial to the feelings of sick 

 dogs, and is often of more consequence to their recovery than 

 is imagined. Many of their diseases degenerate into convul- 

 sions when the sick are exposed to cold. Cleanliness, and a 

 change of their litter or bed, is very grateful to them in many 

 cases of putridity, as in distemper, &c. Complaints purely 

 inflammatory, it is evident, must be treated by abstinence ; 

 but, in all others, the weakness present must be combated by 

 nutritious aliment. 



It is not sufficient, as is often imagined, that food, particu- 

 larly of the common kind, be merely placed before a sick 

 dog. In many such cases, the appetite wholly fails ; and, if 

 even the animal could eat, the stomach would not at this 



