DOGS I THEIR MANAGEMENT. 257 



ENTERITIS. The doom of the dog which is really 

 afflicted with this disease, is generally sealed. It is a 

 painful and a fatal disorder equally rapid and stub- 

 born. I fear it more than any other affection to which 

 the animal is subject, and more frequently than any 

 other has it set my best endeavors at defiance. 



In the dog, however, enteritis is rarely seen in a pure 

 form. The mucous membrane of the intestines is mostly 

 inflamed, but the serous covering, as a general rule, is 

 in no degree involved. The stomach, however, is almost 

 in every instance more or less implicated ; its inner sur- 

 face being inflamed, and its muscular coat so contracted, 

 that the lining membrane is corrugated, and remains in 

 that condition after death. 



The incentives are, unwholesome food, which is the 

 most frequent of the causes ; exposure, especially after 

 a dog has been in winter fantastically deprived of its 

 long hair over the loins ; and over-exertion, to which the 

 dog is often exposed, no attention being paid to its con- 

 dition. Anything which disorders the digestion, or vio- 

 lently shakes the constitution, will induce it ; for in the 

 dog every species of revulsion has a tendency to attack 

 the bowels. Mange improperly treated has produced it ; 

 and this may be said of almost any skin disease ; so 

 that it has been caused not by true mange or itch alone 

 but by a skin disease having been, under the pretence 

 of working an immediate cure, driven into the system. 

 Neglected impactments, or colic, are among its most fre- 

 quent immediate causes ; for at least three parts of those 



