44 EVERYTHING ABOUT DOGS. 



causes producing deafness, blows may be mentioned: also lugging at the ear a 

 most brutal mode of punishment often resorted to by keepers and those having 

 the care of sporting field dogs and the lodgment of water in the ear cavity. In 

 the latter case, pouring in a little pure oil of isweet almonds may give relief; 

 and in the other cases the treatment recommended for internal canker may be 

 beneficially followed with, in addition, the application of a blister behind the 

 ears. Whilst the dog is under treatment, cooling, aperient medicine should be 

 given, and a light diet with green vegetables adopted. You will find that dogs born 

 deaf, like a deaf and dumb person, have their other senses quickened, and the 

 dog will be remarkably sharp at interpreting signs given by the master, who 

 should adopt a system of signs and keep to them. If you own -a deaf dog, you 

 should have an enclosed yard for him so no danger of his getting out on the 

 street and hurt or killed by a passing wagon or street car and remember, if 

 you have him out for a walk, that he is deaf, so that no harm befalls him; you 

 do the watching out in this case. Deafness does not transmit simply happens 

 so that a deaf bitch will be just as good to use for breeding purposes. 



DISLOCATIONS. It i much the safest and best plan in such cases to at 

 once summon the veteriarian, and not trust to yourself, as the veterinarian's 

 knowledge of anatomy and experience in operations of this kind enables him to 

 perform it more readily, and with the least pain possible to the dog. If you are 

 situated so that you cannot secure the veterinary, first examine and determine 

 in what direction the bone is parted from its socket; for instance, in dislocation 

 of the hip, the head of the thigh bone is generally carried upwards and back- 

 wards, this being apparent to the eye, as the injured side is thereby made higher 

 and can readily be felt. Have an assistant to hold the dog around the loins 

 steady in one position, while you take hold of the dislocated limb above the stifle 

 joint, which will retract the thigh bone downward and forward. In similar 

 operations you must be guided by the same principle. Rest will be needed for 

 the patient, and violent exercise must not be allowed for some time. There is 

 always a disposition to a repetition of a dislocation. 



DROPSY. This is an unnatural accumulation of water in different parts of 

 the body, as in water on the brain, dropsy of the chest, dropsy of the skin, and 

 dropsy of the belly; and it is the last-named to which the dbg is most liable. 

 Dropsy is generally, if not always, the result of some other debilitating disease, 

 and especially of inflammatory disorders; but it may also be brought on by 

 unsuitable diet, or by the abuse of drastic purgatives. With the development of 

 shows a new danger has sprung up, as dogs are too often kept on their benches 

 to the suppression of the discharge of the excretions, which is a recognized 

 cause of inducing dropsy. Dropsy of the belly need not in the bitch be mistaken 

 for pregnancy, for in the latter the teats enlarge with the belly, which is alto- 

 gether firmer, and does not droop until just before whelping, while the puppies 

 can be felt through the abdominal walls. In dropsy the belly is more pendulous 

 and baggy, the back is arched, and the water moves readily under pressure; the 

 dropsical animal, too, is generally poor in flesh and harsh in coat. The medicines 

 principally employed in dropsy are iodine, iron and other mineral tonics, with 

 digitalis and diuretics; 5 to 15 drops of benzoate of ammonium, or 1 to 3 drops 

 of oil of juniper, with 5 to 20 drops of tincture of nux vemica, in water, three 

 times a day, are also useful in treating the disease which, however, is always 

 best left to a veterinary surgeon. 



