228 DOGS : THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



less constant annoyance, nor does it require less incessant 

 watching, than a nursery of children. There is so much 

 similarity between man and dog that, from fear of too 

 strongly wounding the self-love of my reader, I must 

 drop the subject. 



Indigestion in dogs assumes various forms, and is the 

 source of numerous diseases. Most skin affections may 

 be attributed to it. The inflammation of the gums, the 

 foulness of the teeth, and the offensiveness of the breath, 

 are produced by it. Excessive fatness, with its attend- 

 ant asthma and hollow cough, are to be directly traced to 

 a disordered digestion. In the long run, half of the 

 petted animals die from diseases originating in this cause ; 

 and in nearly every instance the fault lies far more with 

 the weakness of the master than with the corruptness 

 of the beast. He who is invested with authority has 

 more sins, than those he piously acknowledges his own, 

 to answer for. 



The symptoms are not obscure. A dislike for whole- 

 some food, and a craving for hotly spiced or highly 

 sweetened diet, is an indication. Thirst and sickness 

 are more marked. A love for eating string, wood, 

 thread, and paper, denotes the fact ; and is wrongly put 

 down to the prompting of a mere mischievous instinct : 

 any want of natural appetite, or any evidence of morbid 

 desire in the case of food, declares the stomach to be 

 disordered. The dog that, when offered a piece of 

 bread, smells it with a sleepy eye, and without taking it 

 licks the fingers that present it, has an impaired diges- 



