390 THE DOG IN DISEASE. 



dog has been saved from death bj poison owing to the 

 readiness with which the canine race vomit. 



Dogs should not be allowed to pass through fields in 

 which Paris green (arsenic) is distributed to kill potato 

 bugs. 



Puppies occasionally, though less frequently than chil- 

 dren, are poisoned by the phosphorus of matches. 



Chronic poisoning from protracted dosing with arsenic 

 used for skin disease, chorea, etc., may occur. 



Arsenic should never be administered continuously, 

 and never longer than two weeks, without periodical in- 

 termissions in its use. 



The practice of drugging dogs with arsenic, etc., to 

 keep them in " show condition " can not be too highly 

 condemned. Such dogs are apt to become so dependent on 

 the drug that their health quite breaks down without it. 



Practically, cases resolve themselves into strychnine 

 and arsenical poisoning. 



The diagnosis is not usually difficult to make out. 



Strychnine causes pain, twitchings, possibly vomiting 

 and purging, but in fatal cases always characteristic tetanic 

 convulsions — i. e., there is prolonged sj)asm of the mus- 

 cles, with more or less frequent relaxation. They are 

 powerful and continuous enough to kill the dog by ex- 

 haustion, or to suffocate him by prolonged spasm of the 

 muscles of respiration, or there may be paralysis of the 

 same muscles, which leads to death in a similar way. 



Arsenic and many corrosive substances cause gastritis 

 and enteritis ; hence the burning thirst, vomiting, purg- 

 ing, etc., the dog usually dying from exhaustion or col- 

 lapse. 



