CANCER OF ABDOMINAL ORGANS. 269 



but something may be done to mitigate the symptoms. 

 Dieting, with special reference to both quantity and qual- 

 ity of food, is of the greatest importance. Ko fatty or 

 starchy foods should be given for a time, and as little as 

 possible later. The animal should be fed on a limited 

 quantity of meat, on sweet milk and on buttermilk. 



If the liver is greatly deranged, its glycogenic func- 

 tion may be altered — i„ e., its manufacture of animal 

 starch, and the distribution of this to the body as sugar 

 by the medium of the blood. When this function is 

 disordered, dieting is the chief reliance, and all saccharine 

 and starchy food must, as far as possible, be withheld. 

 Skim-milk is useful. 



CANCER OF ABDOMINAL ORGANS. 



In dogs past their prime, and especially in old animals, 

 cancer is not so very rare. It does not commonly attack 

 the liver primarily, but more frequently the stomach or 

 upper part of the small intestine {duodenum), though it 

 is rarely confined to these regions unless death speedily 

 ensues. 



The symptoms indicate serious disturbance of the di- 

 gestive processes and great irritability of the digestive 

 organs ; hence vomiting, tenderness on pressure, loss of 

 aj^petite, capricious appetite, and, as properly elaborated 

 material is not supplied by the digestive tract to the blood, 

 there is wasting and loss of strength, which the misery 

 augments. 



Cancer is generally, but not always, a painful disease. 

 It is, perhaps, invariably fatal, and the only thing the prac- 

 titioner can do is to make the patient as comfortable as 



