RICKETS OBESITY GOITRE. 597 



supplying it with a diet unsuited to its digestion, will produce rickets. A weakly bitch, or 

 one chat has been over-suckled, will often have rickety pups. A damp or wet and unwhole- 

 some kennel, and the breathing of foul air, with little exercise in the warm sunshine, especially 

 if combined with insufficient food, will be very likely to induce rickets in a puppy. 



Symptoms. The first symptom will be decline of the general health. The pup is not so 

 lively as he ought to be, and suffers from indigestion, with occasional attacks of diarrhoea. 

 The coat is not so nice as it ought to be ; it is dirty and harsh and staring. At the same 

 time there will be more or less tumefaction of the belly. Soon the bones begin to bend, 

 especially the fore-legs, and there is no longer any doubt about the nature of the complaint, 

 although ten to one the puppy has been previously treated for worms. 



Now if the deformity has proceeded to any extent the case should not be taken in hand. 

 Bandy-legged dogs ought not to be permitted to live ; and we merely mention rickets to show 

 how the disease can be prevented, and cases that have not made any great advance cured. 



You must give the puppy good wholesome nourishing food suited to his time of life ; his 

 sleeping-berth ought to be dry and warm, and free from all bad smells, and he must have 

 sufficient exercise and sunshine. Sunshine is a great vital restorative. A douche bath every 

 morning will do good if the puppy can have a run immediately afterwards not otherwise. 

 Good milk with a little lime-water will do good, and beef-tea may be given with advantage. 



The only medicine you need use is an occasional dose of castor-oil say once a week, or 

 when the dog is constipated. Parrish's syrup of the phosphates will help to strengthen the 

 constitution, and, in conjunction with cod-liver oil, is sometimes wonderful in its action for 

 good. We may support the bones by gutta-percha splints, but there is seldom need to do so, 

 and the bones often straighten again of their own accord. Bone-meal does good in these 

 cases. 



6. Obesity. 



Although a dog is much better to be plump than lean, over-fatness or obesity is really a 

 disease, and not only so, but it tends to induce other diseases both of the heart and nervous 

 centres, and the dogs who are very obese are likely some day to drop suddenly dead. 



Prevention of obesity is certainly better than cure, but much can be done to restore the dog 

 to a state of frame conducive to his comfort. Give a good wholesome diet with meat and soup, 

 or Spratt cake with thirty per cent, of meat in it. Give no rice, potatoes, or any farinaceous 

 food or vegetables, except oatmeal or stale bread. Give an occasional aperient and plenty of 

 walking exercise, and not too warm or soft a bed at night. Avoid giving the dog anything 

 sweet, especially sugar, which not only renders lap-dogs fat, but induces dyspepsia and causes 

 premature decay of the teeth. The following medicine may also be given with advantage : From 

 one to six grains of carbonate of ammonia, and from three to ten grains of carbonate of magnesia > 

 made into a bolus with a little Castile soap and extract of taraxacum. This is to be given twice 

 a day before meals. The bromide of ammonium might be tried. 



7. Goitre. 



Goitre is a word of Swiss origin. This disease is better known in this country as bronchocele, 

 and consists of a painless swelling or enlargement of the thyroid gland, which flanks the larynx, 

 or organ of voice. It is apt to arise in dogs of all ages, only in older dogs it comes on much 

 more gradually than it does in puppies. In older dogs, too, it is seldom fatal to life, but it is 

 often the death of pups. 



