EPILEPST. 147 



The treatment of epilepsy must be preceded by an inquiry into 

 its probable cause. Where close confinement and accumulation 

 of much flesh may be supposed the principal agents, let the dog 

 be bled, purged, moderately fed, and regularly but not violently 

 exercised. Where a natural irritability, as in the high-bred sport- 

 ing varieties, appears the cause of the excitability, it should be 

 moderated by accustoming them to a more uniform and full supply 

 of the objects occasioning it, with a habit of regular exercise, 

 whether wanted for sporting purposes or not : thus, for a valuable 

 setter belonging to a gentleman, which seldom went to the field 

 without an epileptic attack, I recommended his being taken into a 

 country more plentifully supplied with game than his neighbour- 

 hood afforded : the consequence of which was, that though, for a 

 few days after his removal, he had fits more frequently than ever, 

 yet they gradually lessened, and at length wholly left him. Where 

 repletion and want of condition appear the principal causes, lower 

 the system by bleeding, purging, and occasional emetics, as detailed 

 under the General Treatment of Dogs (p. 67). A seton is also 

 a valuable remedy, and, whenever fits have become habitual, insert 

 one, and keep it open some months. 



An epileptic fit can often be stopped by cold water thrown over 

 the head and body ; and whenever a fit has occurred, the dog 

 should have a brisk purge, as costiveness is not an unfrequent 

 cause ; and this is the more prudent, because, should it arise from 

 any other source, the treatment is equally proper. Such an oc- 

 currence ought also to be followed by an examination of the stools, 

 and by looking for other signs of worms, which are often the oc- 

 casion of it. See Worms, Class III. 



The epilepsy of hitches when suckling is of a different kind to 

 that I have been treating of, being wholly asthenic, and consequent 

 to the attempt of the mother to furnish a greater number of young 

 than the constitutional state of the animal is equal to^. It occurs 



* Without consideration, some might say, How then do dogs in a state of 

 nature survive these hazards ? to which may be replied, Let Nature alone, and 

 she will provide for her own children ; interfere with her, and she leaves the onus 



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