COSTIVENESS. 161 



In some instances I have witnessed the good effects of a daily 

 warm bath. I have also observed, where the diarrhoea of distem- 

 per has existed in a dog who had been before closely confined, that 

 removing him into a more free and pure atmosphere has tended 

 greatly to check the disease. 



COSTIVENESS. 



Dogs, as carnivorous animals, have naturally a constipated 

 habit which is increased, in many cases, by the bones they receive 

 as food, and which, when given in great quantities, aggravate the 

 natural torpor of their bowels, particularly where they cannot re- 

 lieve themselves by a natural evacuant in the dog-grass. 



Costiveness is productive of numerous evils; it increases the 

 disposition to mange and other diseased secretions. It also pro- 

 duces indigestion, encourages worms, makes the breath foetid, and 

 blackens the teeth : but it is principally to be avoided from the 

 danger, that the contents of the bowels may accumulate and bring 

 on iuflammation. — See Injiamed Bowels. Whenever a dog has 

 been costive three days, and one or two moderate aperients have 

 failed of opening the bowels, it is not prudent to push the means 

 of relief farther by more violent purgatives ; for this would be apt 

 to hurry the contents of the intestinal canal into one mass, whose 

 resistance being too great for the bowels to overcome, inflamma- 

 tion follows. Mild aperients may be continued, but clysters are 

 principally to be depended upon. — See Clysters. In such cases, 

 the introduction of the clyster pipe will often detect a hardened 

 mass of excrement. If the action of the pipe, or the operation of 

 the liquid, should not break this down ; it is absolutely necessary 

 to introduce the "finger, or, in a very small dog, a lesser apparatus, 

 and mechanically to divide the mass and bring it away. The re- 

 currence of costiveness is best prevented by vegetable food and 

 exercise : but when vegetable food disagrees, or is obstinately re- 

 fused, boiled liver often proves a good means of counteracting the 

 complaint. — See Feeding. 



