170 DOGS: THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



action, that we can suit the remedy to the circumstances, 

 which, in the instance of a creature so sensitive and 

 irritable as the dog, is of all importance. The blister 

 which I employ in distemper fits is composed of equal 

 parts of liquor ammonia and camphorated spirits. I 

 saturate a piece of sponge or piline with this compound ; 

 and having removed the hair, I apply it to the nape of 

 the neck, where it is retained from five to fifteen minutes, 

 according to the effect it appears to produce. Great 

 relief is often obtained by this practice ; and should it 

 be necessary, I sometimes repeat the application a little 

 lower down towards the shoulders, but never on the same 

 place ; for even though no apparent rubefaction may be 

 discerned, the deeper seated structures are apt to be 

 affected, and should the animal survive, serious sloughing 

 may follow, if the blister be repeated too quickly on one 

 part. 



The directions given above apply to that stage when 

 the eye and other symptoms indicate the approach of fits, 

 or when the champing has commenced. The tonic pills 

 and liquor arsenicalis may nlso then be continued ; but 

 when the fits have positively occurred, other measures 

 must be adopted. If colic should attack the animal, 

 laudanum must be administered, and in small but repeat- 

 ed doses, until the pain is dismissed. Opium is of itself 

 objectionable ; but the drug does less injury than does 

 the suffering, and, therefore, we choose between the two 

 evils. From five to twenty drops of the tincture, com- 

 bined with half-a-drachm to two drachms of sulphuric 



