174 VETERINARY LECTURES 



DOG. 



271. The arrangement of the alimentary canal of the dog is 

 rather peculiar. The stomach is pear-shaped, slightly curved, and 

 very simple ; the bowels are short and nearly all of the same size, 

 while the caecum is almost rudimentary. From the guzzling pro- 

 pensity of the majority of dogs, the crushing and bolting of partially 

 chewed bones, and the cramming of the stomach with raw, putrid, 

 filthy flesh, it is strange that the dog does not suffer more from 

 derangements of the stomach and bowels. The great point in the 

 dog's favour is that he can readily eject matters from an overloaded 

 stomach. Although numerous writers have from time to time 

 written at some length on the various derangements and diseases of 

 the stomach and bowels of the dog, I can only say that in country 

 practice they are very rare. Those that are mostly met with are 

 indigestion, costiveness, impaction of the rectum, diarrhoea, worms, and liver 

 disorders. 



272. Indigestion, or a want of tone to convert the food into 

 nutriment, is mostly seen in old, fat, and pampered dogs. The 

 symptoms are a morbid appetite, foul breath, and a great fancy for 

 eating or chewing foreign bodies, such as rope, wood, rags, etc., 

 accompanied by costiveness. When these are observed, the dog 

 should be carefully watched and sparingly and regularly fed. Treat- 

 ment. — The following tonic alterative medicine can be given : 

 10 grains each of powdered aloes, rhubarb, bicarbonate of soda, 

 and extract of gentian, made up into a small ball or pill, and given 

 once every other day if necessary. The above dose is for an adult 

 collie or spaniel, and larger and smaller doses ought to be regulated 

 according to the age, size, and breed of the dog. 



273. Costiveness, or retention of the faecal matters in the 

 intestine. The faeces of the dog are, as a rule, of a very dry nature, 

 and usually expelled with a great amount of straining, due to the 

 great fondness the dog has for eating bones, without a sufficiency of 

 other food to counteract the dry, costive effect. The symptoms are 

 somewhat analogous to those given in the preceding paragraph (272), 

 but on pressure being applied to the belly with the fingers behind 



