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VERMIN ON THE SKIN OF DOGS. 



As vermin are productive of mange, so the destruction of them 

 is a very proper consideration in canine pathology. Ticks will 

 adhere closely, and imbed themselves within the flesh ; these it is 

 common to pull away with the fingers, which often makes a dog 

 shy of approaching his owner : if the tick be cut in two, it destroys 

 it, and gives no pain to the dog. Fleas irritate many dogs almost 

 to distraction, and render them obnoxious to their owners also ; 

 and I hardly know a more frequent inquiry than how to destroy 

 them, and how they can be prevented from accumulating in the 

 coat. Washing the body well with soap-suds, and directly after- 

 wards carefully combing it with a small-toothed comb, are the 

 most ready means of dislodging these nimble gentry. But it must 

 be remembered, that the previous washing is only to enable the 

 comb more readily to overtake them : the water does not destroy 

 them ; for dogs who swim every day are still found to have fleas. 

 These insects are very tenacious of life, and soon recover this 

 temporary drowning ; the comb, therefore, is principally to be de- 

 pended on for their caption before they recover. But as washing 

 is not, in many instances, a salutary practice, and as, in many 

 others, it is a very inconvenient one, so it becomes a matter worthy 

 of consideration how to be enabled to destroy them without these 

 means. 



Sopping the skin with tobacco-water has been recommended ; 

 but it has only a momentary effect, and it not unfrequently poisons 

 the dog. — See Mange, Innumerable other means I have tried to 

 drive away fleas, but the only tolerably certain one I have dis- 

 covered is to make dogs sleep on fresh yellow deal shavings. 

 These shavings may be made so fine as to be as soft as a feather 

 bed, and, if changed every week or fortnight, they make the most 

 cleanly and wholesome bed that a dog can rest on ; and the tur- 

 pentine in them is very obnoxious to the fleas. But, where it is 

 absolutely impracticable to employ deal shavings, it will be found 



