6 GENERAL EXAMINATION 



fever, and cold in animals that are very much debilitated, or after severe 

 external or internal hemorrhage, or collapse from shock. In fat dogs the 

 skin has a very unpleasant greasy feel to the touch. An unfavoraljle 

 symptom of disease is when a fold of the skin is lifted by the hand and 

 remains in the same position when released. Profuse perspiration is 

 rarely seen in dogs except where they may have been badly frightened. 

 Dogs do perspire constantly, but it is insensible perspiration. 



The hair is also a useful guide in diagnosis. In sick, badly fed, or 

 neglected animals, or if they are infested with parasites, it loses its gloss, 

 becomes dry and brittle, breaking easily, and in some cases falls out par- 

 tially or entirely. As a rule, in all dogs that have undergone a severe 

 illness, the hair falls out to a large extent; in bitches that have nursed a 

 large litter of puppies, the hair falls out in large Ciuantities after weaning. 



Fig. 1. — Dog with a?deina of the skin. + marks indentation made bj' the pressure of the finger. 



The odor of the skin is sometimes very offensive, especially in dogs 

 suffering with distemper and septicaemia, meat poisoning, infectious 

 hemorrhagic gastro-enteritis, and certain skin affections, and in animals 

 that are neglected and filthy. 



CEdema and emphysema of the skin are very important diagnostic 

 points. By oedema or dropsy of the skin (anasarca) we understand it to 

 be an abnormal accumulation of fluids in the skin and the subcutaneous 

 cellular tissues. This condition is caused by the fluids not being reabsorbed 

 by the lymph vessels in the same proportion that they come out of the 

 blood vessels. We recognize oedema by a swollen or bloated, painless, 

 cool condition of the skin, with the obliteration of all wrinkles; if the 

 swelling is pressed with the finger, the indentation remains visible for 

 sometime (Fig. 1) ; this may come from a number of diseased conditions, 

 and it is seen sometimes over the entire body, but chiefly in the lower 



