Diseases of the Dog. 1 1 1 



are inflamed, and the disease being violent the effects 

 upon the system, already influenced by the initial shock, 

 is more than it can bear, death arising, not from the 

 result of the original injury, but from the impediment 

 raised within the circulatory system. In other words, the 

 constitutio7ial disturbance in its magnitude and severity is 

 the cause of death, and being the indication of the serious 

 nature of the original injury, it is understood as being 

 symptomatic in its real nature. 



Specific Fever is a similar, but more frequently a 

 milder, form of constitutional disturbance, resulting from 

 some form of animal poison within the system, and pro- 

 pagated by contact with other subjects of the disease. 

 Contagious fevers supply the needed examples, which 

 differ from the subjects in the preceding class in their 

 slow and insidious nature as a rule, the absence of violent 

 shock, and few sudden deaths. 



Treatment of Fever. — The rule is embodied in the 

 apt expression : " Remove the cause and the effects will 

 cease." This is an easy procedure with Simple Fever. 

 Change of diet, lodging, a supply of fresh air, light, and 

 water ; more frequent exercise, cleanliness, friction to the 

 skin, &c., will usually effect the desirable changes; or 

 when the causes have been long applied, a moderate 

 purgative, or a dose of alkaline medicine, is probably 

 effectual. As regards Sy^jiptomatic Fever the case is widely 

 different. The causes are more powerful and destructive. 

 We cannot replace arteries, veins, and nerves, as well as 

 muscular and other tissues destroyed or disorganised by 

 violence in one form or other, or forces of the most 

 subtle character which wait upon injury and disease in 

 all their fulness and potency for evil. 



Inflammation. — The infallible signs are heat^ pain^ 

 redness^ and swellifig. The first and second are usually 

 evident, but owing to the dense covering of hair in many 

 animals, redness and swelling are not so readily observed. 

 In small pet animals, with light-coloured or white coats 

 and thin skin, the difficulties are not so great. Inflam- 

 mation is the result of violent causes, consisting of an 

 increase of blood in the affected part, with more or less 



