THE MANAGEMENT OF DOGS IN HEALTH. 105 



already laid such stress, the whole matter will become 

 plainer to the most unscientific or inexperienced. 



As are the ways of men so are the ways of dogs in 

 feeding as in other matters. Our own diet, when we fol- 

 low our instincts freely, is made to vary with the season, 

 the climate, mode of life, and a thousand other things we 

 can not always define. Exactly so is it with dogs alto- 

 gether more so than with any other of our domestic ani- 

 mals. 



The diet of the plowman or lumberman differs widely 

 from that of the clerk or bookkeeper ; and if the latter 

 were to change his occupation, he would soon be under 

 the necessity of altering his diet to a more nitrogenous 

 one i. e., one in which flesh, etc., was. more prominent ; 

 though we have in the Highlanders of Scotland a people 

 that flourished on oatmeal and milk. But then milk and 

 meat are similar in nutritive qualities if not in effect on 

 the activities of the body. 



Whole kennels of mastiffs have been kept largely on 

 horseflesh. But these dogs roamed the country fields, had 

 abundance of exercise, pure air, etc. 



Certain vegetables when cooked such as carrots, cab- 

 bage, etc. furnish little nutriment for man or dog, but 

 they do under certain circumstances serve to rectify the 

 workings of the machinery of life. They are in a sense 

 medicines or correctives rather than foods. Plainly they 

 are not at all necessary under some circumstances, and 

 may be positively injurious in some cases, as in dogs hunt- 

 ing day after day. But why does the dog nibble grass, 

 etc., if green vegetables serve no purpose under any cir* 

 cumstances ? 



