Foui. OR CANKERED MOUTH. 645 



2. Foul Mouth. 



There is a condition of the canine mouth very often seen to which we give the above 

 name. The highest bred dogs are those most subject to it, and among these it is more fre- 

 quently seen in household pets. The symptoms vary in degree, but in a well-marked case 

 you will find your patient is generally somewhat surly and snappish, and on inquiry we will 

 not be surprised to learn that he gets but little exercise perhaps because he has become too 

 fat to take it that he gets what he likes to eat, everybody gives him tit-bits, and perhaps 

 that he sleeps before the fire, or in a bed, or on the couch, and is restless at night, and often 

 troubled with bad dreams. Examination of the mouth reveals, first, a very obnoxious breath, 

 the gums are swollen, may be ulcerated at the edges, but at all events bleed with the 

 slightest touch. Some of the teeth may be loose or decayed, but invariably even the sound 

 ones are encrusted with tartar. Coupled with this, the dog generally has a capricious appetite 

 and a penchant for dainties. 



Treatment. The treatment of such a case is very simple, when we can get the owner to 

 act as our first-lieutenant, and see that our orders are obeyed. Cases of this kind are much 

 better treated in hospital. Now, it used to be the custom of the older practitioners to commence 

 the treatment of such cases by two or three days' wholesale starvation. This treatment is terribly 

 cruel, and any one who should prescribe such should be punished by law. You ought to begin 

 by thoroughly cleaning and scaling the teeth ; this done, use a wash water well reddened with 

 permanganate of potash. The teeth are to be cleansed every morning with vinegar and water. 

 The only medicine needful will be an aloetic aperient once or twice a week, and a dinner pill. 



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Rhei ) 



. ., a, a, gr. ij. ad gr. v. 



Zingiber. J 



Ext. tarax. q. s. M. 



The feeding must be altered for the better. If the dog is fat and gross, meat, and especially 

 sugar and fat, must be prohibited. Put him on oatmeal porridge and milk, or boiled Spratt cake, 

 either alone or with a little sheep's-head broth. If lean and poor, an allowance of meat must be 

 given, or the thirty per cent. Spratt cake, and also from a teaspoonful upwards of cod-liver oil 

 twice a day. Let the drink be pure water or butter-milk. The bath matutinal douche does 

 much good in cases of this kind, and two hours' good romping exercise every day must be strictly 

 enjoined. Perseverance in such treatment, simple though it be, must prove successful after a 

 time, unless the dog is very old. 



3. Canker Or is. 



Popularly called canker of the mouth, and, properly speaking, caries of the jaw, or at least 

 the fangs of some of the molar teeth. It is called by some authorities dental gangrene. 



Causes. Generally either the result of age, or it has its origin in a neglected state of the 

 teeth from improper feeding. The mischief generally begins in the neck of the tooth, i.e., between 

 the root and the crown. 



Symptoms. These are seldom noticed until the disease is pretty far advanced, and a swelling 

 is formed on the dog's jaw beneath or over the carious tooth. This swelling discharges either 

 pus and blood or thin sanious effusion. In either case the discharge is offensive. There is pain, 

 as evinced by the unwillingness of the dog to have his mouth examined or the jaw touched. 



