PART THE THIRD, 



THE DISEASES OF DOGS. 



GENERAL TREATMENT OF DOGS UNDER DISEASE. 



I SHALL commence the subject with making some observa- 

 tions on the diseases of dogs generally ; and with offering some 

 practical directions applicable to the principal of them. The dog 

 I have already shewn to be partially an omnivorous animal* 

 Man is decidedly omnivorous, and, as might be expected, a great 

 likeness exists between their organs of assimilation, which extends 

 itself into their diseases also, the human and canine maladies run- 

 ning a remarkable parallel together. This similarity of disease 

 does not, however, equally extend to all the domestic animals 

 around us. The sequine and human diseases have numerous dis- 

 similarities ; the bovine still more, and consequently the diseases 

 of the dog must be studied distinctly from the other branches of 

 veterinary inquiry ; to which circumstance we must attribute the 

 lamentable state of canine pathology until now. The human prac- 

 titioner, from this striking similitude of disease, might often safely 

 and beneficially prescribe for the dog, while the veterinarian is 

 precluded by the specialities alluded to. Unfortunately, however, 

 the one has often thought the matter beneath him, while the other 

 found it above him ; and thus, between the two, the poor dog has 

 been too often neglected. The time is, however, arrived when 

 this valuable servant of man will find succour in his hour of need : 

 these pages, I believe, have done something for him : he has a 

 warm and able friend in the humane and ingenious veterinarian, 

 Mr. Youatt (see the end of this article). Nor will the medical 

 treatment of the dog hereafter fail to form a part of the course of 

 instruction in the St. Pancras Institution. 



