554 THE BOOK OF THE DOG. 



4. Diarrhoea. 



Diarrhoea, or looseness of the bowels, or purging, is a very common disease among dogs of 

 all ages and breeds. It is, nevertheless, more common among puppies about three or four 

 months old, and among dogs who have reached the age of from seven to ten years. 



The name, diarrhoea, is given by medical men to all cases where purging is the principal 

 symptom, and when there exists no concomitant disease of any important organ, for diarrhoea 

 is often symptomatic of other ailments. 



Causes. These are very numerous. In some weakly dogs exposure alone will produce it. 

 The weather, too, has no doubt much to do with the production of diarrhoea. In most kennels 

 it is more common in the months of July and August, although it often comes on in the very 

 dead of winter. Puppies, if overfed, will often be seized with this troublesome complaint. A 

 healthy puppy hardly ever knows when it has had enough, and it will, moreover, stuff itself with 

 all sorts of garbage ; acidity of the stomach follows, with vomiting of the ingesta, and diarrhoea 

 succeeds, brought on by the acrid condition of the chyme, which finds its way into the duodenum. 

 This stuff would in itself act as a purgative, but it does more, it abnormally excites the secretions 

 of the whole alimentary canal, and a sort of subacute mucous inflammation is set up. The liver, 

 too, becomes mixed up with the mischief, throws out a superabundance of bile, and thus aids in 

 keeping up the diarrhoea. 



Among other exciting causes, we find the eating of indigestible food, in even small quantities, 

 drinking foul or tainted water, too much green food, raw paunches, foul kennels, and damp, 

 draughty kennels. 



Diagnosis. It can hardly be mistaken for any other complaint, unless perhaps for dysentery, 

 into which the diarrhoea often merges, or, more correctly speaking, dysentery often commences 

 with an attack of diarrhoea. Now, many dog doctors tell us that if there be blood and mucus 

 found in the stools, the case is one of dysentery "undoubtedly." It may be nothing of the 

 kind, however, for we may often find small quantities of blood and mucus in simple diarrhoea. 

 Neither are hard scybalous masses always found in dysentery. In dysentery there is always 

 tenesmus, much straining, a dejected appearance of countenance, pain, and an anxious look about 

 the eye, with frequent micturation, and a highly- coloured state of the urine. 



Prognosis. You can cure nineteen cases out of twenty if the animal is in the prime of 

 life. If old there is less chance, and the diarrhoea of puppyhood is often very serious and fatal. 



Symptoms. The purging is, of course, the principal symptom, and the stools are either 

 quite liquid or semi-fluid, bilious-looking, dirty-brown or clay coloured, or mixed with slimy 

 mucus. In some cases they resemble dirty water. Sometimes, as already said, a little blood 

 will be found in the dejection, owing to congestion of the mucous membrane from portal 

 obstruction. In case there be blood in the stools, a careful examination is always necessary in 

 order to ascertain the real state of the patient. Blood, it must be remembered, might come 

 from piles or polypi, or it might be dysenteric, and proceed from ulceration of the rectum 

 and colon. In the simplest form of diarrhoea, unless the disease continues for a long time, 

 there will not be much wasting ; and the appetite will generally remain good but capricious. 



In bilious diarrhoea, with large brown fluid stools and complete loss of appetite, there is 

 much thirs.t, and, in a few days, the dog gets rather thin, although nothing like so rapidly as in 

 the emaciation of distemper. 



Treatment. A case of simple diarrhoea should never be deemed unworthy of attention. 

 Attack the disease at its commencement. A puppy that has once had a bad attack of this com- 



