454 DOGS : THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



beginning of the healing process, set in, and the action 

 of this inflammation contracts the hanging skin ; so that 

 if a portion be removed, there will remain an open 

 wound to that extent ; and as skin is slowly reproduced, 

 the cure may be retarded for months. 



The first part of the business being well concluded, 

 the dog must remain muzzled, and be returned to its 

 proprietor with a bottle of healing fluid, the sore which 

 has been made being left uncovered. The healing fluid 

 is to be used frequently ; and if the case be a good one, 

 the orifice quickly becomes small, and heals. In some 

 animals, however, there is a disposition to gnaw or lick 

 the part ; thus undoing everything the veterinary sur- 

 geon has been accomplishing. To check this habit, a 

 cradle round the neck ; wide collars which prevent the 

 head from being turned round ; and various splints which, 

 by keeping the limb extended, thereby hinder the animal 

 from touching the wound, are employed. Any or all of 

 these, in untoward cases, may be necessary ;- and in very 

 high-bred animals the Jiealing powers of nature are fre- 

 quently slow, consequently in such the after-consequences 

 of an operation are likely to prove very annoying. 



