88 LAXATIVES AND PURGATIVES. 



Newfoundland dog without extreme catharsis ; but, as before ob- 

 served, dogs differ much in their different habits, and it is there- 

 fore most prudent to begin with a dose too small than too large ; 

 hundreds of dogs are every year destroyed by temerity in this par- 

 ticular. Whenever a purgative is administered, let the dog have 

 some vegetable food, if possible, a day or two previously ; an active 

 catharic, given soon after a full meal of flesh or bones, might 

 destroy by hurrying the undigested food into the intestines, where 

 it might form such an impacted and obstructing mass as could not 

 be overcome ; it is prudent to place before the dog some broth, 

 milk, &c., to assist purgation. Let me warn sportsmen who are 

 putting their dogs through a course of physic, for hunting or 

 coursing purposes, to be aware, that it is not the inordinate strength 

 of the dose which does good; on the contrary, violent physic often 

 defeats its own purpose : it is a mild and repeated emptying of the 

 bowels which unloads the system at large, and at once strengthens 

 the solids and purifies the fluids. 



