55 THE BOOK OF THE DOG. 



an appetite. They live hardy, healthy, active lives, are not often troubled with illness, and, if 

 they do not get cut off by accident, they either live to a decent old age, or die in the prime 

 of their lives, slain by some sthenic inflammation, or some other gentlemanly disorder. Seldom 

 do they hang about for months with chronic ailments ; their rule is to be ill for a day or two 

 then die. 



But it must not be inferred that sporting dogs never suffer from dyspepsia. Unfortunately 

 they do at times, although it is very often the fault of those who own them. 



Pathology, What has been already said on the subject of digestion will be quite sufficient 

 to enable us to understand the pathology of dyspepsia. Some of the glandular secretions necessary 

 to the proper assimilation of the food are either too scanty, over-abundant, or vitiated. 



Dyspepsia is said to be of three different species (i) Stomachic, when the gastric juices 

 are at fault ; (2) Duodenal, when the pancreas or liver err ; and (3) Intestinal, when there is a 

 want of proper absorbing power, and the muscular coats of the long portion of the alimentary 

 canal are weak. As the same causes produce all three, and the treatment but little different, 

 we include them all under the simple heading dyspepsia. 



Dyspepsia is generally considered a very simple ailment. It is a complaint that is so 

 very apt to be pooh-poohed. " His stomach is out of order, nothing more," is the common 

 observation. But dyspepsia, or in other words indigestion, is the forerunner of very many 

 illnesses in the dog. It is often but the shadow of some coming evil, the prelude to some 

 organic disease that in all probability will end his life. Happily, however, we can cure 

 dyspepsia, and bar the way, by proper regimen, against its return, and thus keep at bay almost 

 any disease that is not epizootic, and many that are. 



Causes. One cause of indigestion is improper feeding ; want of proper exercise is another ; 

 and want of cleanliness a third. We have not far to look for others : irregularity in the time 

 of feeding ; and, in sporting dogs, too hard work soon tells a tale. 



The errors in diet alluded to as the chief cause of indigestion are either the administration 

 of improper and unwholesome food, or the giving of food in too great abundance. Food is 

 given in too large quantities, and the dog enticed to eat under the mistaken notion that it will 

 do him good. But no mistake could be more fatal to the animal's health and comfort. The 

 power of the muscular coat of the stomach to properly mix and digest a meal is in indirect 

 ratio to the size of that meal if the meal is very large the power will be small, and vice 

 versa, because if the organ is overfilled it becomes stretched, and the muscular coat is thinner 

 in consequence, and paralysed and weakened. 



Too dainty food, on the other hand, has not the same power to excite the secretion of the 

 gastric juices, nor the peristaltic action of the intestines, that a coarser diet possesses. 



Over-work in the field, or over-exertion of any sort, depresses the nervous power, and in 

 this way produces dyspepsia. 



Prognosis. If the ailment is taken early, and proper attention is paid to the orders of 

 the veterinary surgeon who is consulted, nothing is more simple than to correct the digestion. 

 Old-standing cases resist treatment, probably because some organic lesion has taken place. 

 The liver or pancreas or spleen may have become the seat of disease. 



The train of symptoms of the dyspepsia we usually see in the dog is the following: The 

 dog has been ailing for some time, never very ill, and never really well. He never has very 

 much appetite, or if he has it is a depraved and capricious one. 



Perhaps he is fat ; and when we inquire into the case and ask how he has been fed, it 

 will usually be found that, especially if he be a lady's pet, he has had whatever he cared to cat. 



