AILMENTS AND ILLNESSES 55 



than iron upon the parasites being safe for toy pups 

 under three months old. After that age it is safe to give 

 very small doses of oil of male-fern and absolutely minute 

 ones of santonine. These are best combined in a capsule, 

 in which form they can be given without distressing 

 the patient, and a perfectly safe capsule after this 

 formula is, among the Kanofelin remedies which are 

 not secret, but are compounded after recognised 

 formulae, and equally suitable for dogs or children 

 in the purity of their drugs and safety of their action. 

 If any of the popular advertised remedies are used for 

 adults, experiment should be made at first with much 

 smaller doses than are cited, and safety thus assured, 

 for a microscopic dose will often act quite severely 

 enough for the toy dog owner's purpose, and dogs are 

 as variously sensitive to drug action as we ourselves. 



In very young puppies the bringing up by the mouth 

 of round worms is not at all unusual, especially when 

 they are pups born of " kennel " parents, dogs crowded 

 together in numbers, insufficiently fed (although pos- 

 sibly upon an excessive quantity of oatmeal and Indian 

 corn meal), denied meat, and leading a completely 

 unnatural life in every respect. It is rather a shock 

 to an amateur when this occurs, but as a rule little 

 anxiety need be felt, for if the puppy is properly fed 

 upon small dry meals of a very digestible and nourishing 

 nature, say two tablespoonfuls of good underdone 

 rump-steak, or the same quantity of roast mutton, three 

 times a day for a dog the size of a pug, and given a 

 one-grain dose of iron with two of these meals, he will be 

 pretty sure to grow out of his troubles. In any such 

 case great attention must be paid to keeping up the 

 strength of the patient, in order to tide him over the 

 time when by reason of youth and his very tender little 

 stomach, it is impossible to give him any stronger medi- 

 cine with safety. 



Extreme thinness and loss of coat are sometimes 

 attributed to that wonderful power worms, in old- 

 fashioned eyes, possessed. Both of these symptoms 



