68 A MANUAL OF TOY DOGS 



of one or two dogs apparently immune. There is, 

 however, no excuse for allowing it to spread, as it is 

 easy to cure. Some of the strongest tincture of iodine 

 available should be well soaked into the spot, and 

 round the edges thereof, using a little ball of cotton 

 wool tied on to the end of a tiny stick, or an aural sponge, 

 and rubbing the iodine somewhat in with this. Two 

 applications will generally kill the spores the disease 

 is a parasitic fungus and should be made at an interval 

 of a couple of days. For some time fresh spots are 

 likely to appear, and should be touched up at once. 

 The muzzle, legs, and chest are generally most affected. 

 If left quite alone the complaint would disfigure the 

 dog terribly, but would, after a time, die out of its 

 own accord. I have not found that human subjects 

 were infected with this disease from the dog. A little 

 iodide of potassium ointment may be put on the patches 

 once or twice, to hasten the complete cure, or they 

 may be washed with the phenyl lotion, in which the 

 proportion is i in 40. The hairs are weakened, and 

 take some little time to grow properly again, but the 

 disease is by no means a serious one, and it is not neces- 

 sary to use any such stronger and dangerous remedies 

 as carbolic acid, as sometimes suggested. 



Erythema, a general redness and rash, most often 

 seen over the inside of the thighs, and sometimes all over 

 a dog's least hairy parts, is about the only skin disease 

 if we except the curious and rare condition, " hide- 

 bound " from which dogs very occasionally suffer, 

 that, in a common way, arises from over-feeding. It is 

 best treated by change of diet, small nourishing meat 

 meals, and the avoidance of any heating, farinaceous 

 substances, milk, or greasy food of any kind. A small 

 dose of sulphate of magnesia twice a week in food as 

 much as will lie, not heaped, on sixpence for a 6-lb. dog 

 is often all the medicine needful. Want of exercise is 

 a frequent producer of skin disease. Dogs not sufficiently 

 exercised, or kept much shut up in hot rooms, have 

 inactive livers, whence all kinds of evils. 



