236 The Sporting Dog 



kennel where other dogs have been kept for any 

 length of time. The most lavish use of disin- 

 fectants will not secure immunity, though it re- 

 duces the danger. 



A great physician said last year in a conven- 

 tion that with only four medicines nearly all dis- 

 eases could be treated in common practice : calo- 

 mel, quinine, carbolic acid, and iodide of potash. 

 Dogs have exactly the same diseases which afflict 

 men, and respond to the same medicines. With 

 some changes these four standard medicines are 

 all that the owner will ordinarily find necessary. 

 The dog physiology is particularly susceptible 

 to calomel, and that mineral should never be 

 used. Substitute castor oil or cascara for calo- 

 mel, and the medicine chest is pretty nearly full, ex- 

 cept for santonin and areca nut against the great 

 enemy — worms. Santonin is used for young 

 dogs and in the case of common worms ; the areca 

 nut for tapew^orm. Carbolic acid, of course , is 

 for external skin troubles and wounds. Salicyl- 

 ate of soda should take the place of iodide. It is 

 an intestinal disinfectant, or " blood purifier," and 

 while not a specific for distemper, is by all odds 

 the most valuable among the simple medicines 

 so far applied to that disease. The dose is from 

 three to eight grains, according to the dog's age, 

 three times a day. Hyposulphite of soda is used 

 for the same purpose. It would be useful also if 



