DISEASES OF THE RECTUM. 563 



is out of order. Although it is by no means a common disease in the dog, still it is one 

 of so painful and distressing a nature that it demands our best attention. From the natural 

 movements of the bowel, and owing to the fact which the reader already knows, that the 

 sphincter ani or muscle which closes the end of the rectum is naturally in a state of con- 

 traction, this disease is most difficult to heal, and only succumbs to surgical interference. 



Treatment. This painful disease very often requires an operation which need not be 

 described here further than as the Scotch veterinary surgeon graphically described it, " cut- 

 ting oot the grip." The treatment must be both local and constitutional. The constitutional 

 treatment consists in giving the dog a fair allowance of wholesome food of a laxative nature, 

 such as oatmeal porridge and milk, or oatmeal brose and sheep's-head broth. Be careful 

 that he neither gets bones or dog-grass, nor those masses of wool which you often see 

 adhering to a skinned (?) sheep's-head, and which many people do not take the trouble to 

 remove, being under the impression that anything is good enough for a dog. Give the dog 

 a moderate amount of healthful exercise, but do not overdo it ; and permit him to have a swim 

 daily if he chooses. At the same time he will require some tonic, such as the following 



R Sulph. Zinci -\ 



Ext. Gentian > a, a, gr. j., ad gr. v. 

 Ext. Taraxac. ) F' - pil. j. M. 



or from half a teaspoonful to a dessertspoonful of Parrish's Chemical Food, to be given twice a 

 day. 



Never allow the bowels to become constipated. If they can be kept easy by means of 

 food so much the better, if not, an occasional gentle laxative will be required, such as castor 

 oil or olive oil. But avoid aloes as you would poison. Keep the parts clean, always using a 

 few drops of carbolic acid in the water you wash them with. 



N.B. The above constitutional treatment stands good in nearly all diseases of the rectum 



Local treatment. If the fistula be a complete one, nothing but a surgical operation will 

 do any good ; if a blind, external one, an attempt should be made to cure it. The gut ought 

 to be syringed out every morning with cold water to give tone to it ; and the fistula, about 

 every second day, must be gently probed, the probe having been previously dipped in a 

 solution of nitrate of silver (ten grains to the ounce). This is all that can be suggested ; and, 

 after all, it must be confessed, that simple though the latter operation reads on paper, very few 

 dogs will submit to it twice without a strenuous resistance- 



Without the aid of the knife fistula in ano is only very slightly amenable to treatment. 



13. Other Diseases of tlie Rectum. 



The rectum in the dog is particularly liable to disease of different kinds, not to mention 

 cancer, which shall be treated of under another heading. Abscesses often form around or near 

 the anus, filled with pus of a peculiarly fetid odour. In these cases not only must the treat- 

 ment be directed to the improvement of the general health, but as soon as fluctuation can be 

 detected, the abscess is to be freely opened in the dependent position ; then after the matter has 

 been evacuated, it may be treated as a simple ulcer. Great cleanliness must be observed, and 

 washing frequently with water to which a few drops of strong solution (50 per cent.) of carbolic acid 

 has been added. If the ulcer becomes indolent, it is to be brushed every morning with a ten- 

 grains-to-the-ounce solution of nitrate of silver. Or it may be touched with a bit of blue-stone 

 or nitric acid. 



