RED MANGE. 623 



vesicles about the neck or behind the ears in long-haired dogs. In this form of ekzema there 

 is but little if any constitutional disturbance ; but an acute observer can easily see that the 

 animal is not in perfect health. Sometimes a bare patch will speedily heal, appear scaly for a 

 day or two, and then be seen to be covered with the young sprouting hairs. 



Simple ekzema may, if not attended to, be speedily followed by the more acute or red mange 

 of older writers. Here we have the same intense itching, or even more severe, accompanied by a 

 greater amount of redness and inflammation, and at the same time constitutional disturbance. 

 This form is well seen in some short-haired dogs, especially in the white Bull Terrier, where not 

 only is the skin of a deep red, but even the hairs themselves change colour and die. The hairs 

 fall off from the inflamed patches, which also give off a very offensive odour. The disease may 

 become chronic and increase in severity. Not only is the chest, legs, scrotum, &c., affected, but 

 the disorder extends upwards to the head and neck ; the lips may be swollen, the ears affected, 

 or the eyes bunged up. 



The animal either loses all appetite, or it becomes fastidious ; the whole alimentary canal 

 also becomes affected, and the dog's stools are offensive and never of proper consistency. This 

 state of affairs cannot continue long without producing great debility and loss of flesh, which 

 may terminate in death itself. 



There is another form of chronic ekzema which we have seen a good deal of in old dogs, 

 and which sometimes indicates the beginning of the end, the up-break of the general system. It 

 is more of the dry kind, there is abundant desquamation, great loss of hair, and a thickened hide. 

 However, the appetite is generally good, sometimes even ravenous, and, bar the discomfort from 

 the itching and probable want of sleep, the dog suffers little inconvenience. 



We should not forget to mention that over-doses of mercury, and the incautious use of 

 certain unguents, may produce a disease in every way resembling ekzema. 



Treatment. The treatment of a case of ekzema or red mange is by no means so easy as we 

 could wish. Seeing, then, that for the most part red mange depends upon constitutional causes, 

 we must at once set about correcting disordered functions, improving the blood and digestion, 

 and giving tone to the whole system. 



Our treatment must be both constitutional and local. We must attend especially to the 

 organs of digestion. We cannot err by commencing our treatment with a moderate dose of 

 opening medicine, to clear away offending matter. This simple aperient may be repeated 

 occasionally say once a week and if diarrhcea be present, it may be checked by the addition of a 

 little morphia, or dilute sulphuric acid, or any of the remedies suggested for the treatment of this 

 complaint. Mr. Gamgee recommends the exhibition of the acetate of potash in this complaint. 

 We have tried it, and have every reason to be satisfied with its effects, given in ten or fifteen- 

 grain doses thrice a day for a small dog, up to forty for a large. The acetate of potash is an 

 excellent derivation, being both diuretic and diaphoretic, but it must not be given in doses 

 large enough to purge. Aperients are useful, but they are a class of medicines which are so often 

 abused that we hesitate at times to recommend them. At the same time we may give a tonic 

 pill like the following 



Jit. Sulph. quinffi gr. \ ad gr. ij. 



Sulph. ferri ... ... gr. j. ad gr. v. 



Ext. hyoscy. ... ... gr. \ ad gr. iij. 



Ext. glyc. ... ... q. s. 



F L pil. j. Ter die. M. 



