22 THE DOGS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 



6. CHOREA or PALSY may be treated by a change to country air if the puppy 

 has been in the town, and by giving from 3gr. to 5gr. of sulphate of zinc in a pill 

 every day. The eyes are best left to themselves ; and, however bad they may 

 appear, they will generally recover their- brilliancy as the strength is restored. If 

 not, apply a wash composed of 2gr. or 3gr. of nitrate of silver dissolved in loz. of 

 distilled water, or the same proportions of the sulphate of zinc and water. 



N.B. The above doses are calculated for a full-sized dog. For their reduction 

 see the directions at the head of list of drugs at page 8. 



RHEUMATIC FEVER, 



Or Acute Rheumatism, is a very common disease in the dog, though not very 

 generally attended to or described by writers on their complaints. It arises from 

 exposure to cold, when the dog has been overfed, and rendered unfit to bear its 

 attacks upon a system full of inflammatory matter. The pampered pet is the most 

 liable ; but greyhounds and pointers which are highly fed, and sometimes not 

 sufficiently exercised, are also very liable to its approaches. In the dog rheumatism 

 is either confined to the muscular system or to the coverings of the spinal marrow, 

 which sometimes take on the rheumatic inflammation to such an extent as to cause 

 paralysis of the hind-legs. General rheumatic fever, or acute rheumatism, is 

 characterised by intense soreness of the surface, so that the dog shrinks on the 

 approach of the hand from fear of being touched. He will almost always retire to 

 some corner, and refuse to leave it on being called by his owner ; and if brought out 

 by force, he will stand and snarl at every hand ; and this is one of the best methods 

 of diagnosis with which we are acquainted. The treatment should be as follows : 

 First give a smart purge (1) or (2) in the list of aperients. After this has acted 

 give the following pill, or half of it, according to the size of the dog, three times 

 a day until the pain has abated : Calomel and powdered opium, of each 1 grain ; 

 colchicum powder, 2 grains ; syrup to form a pill. When the pain is gone, if the 

 bowels are not very relaxed, give a dose of castor oil ; and during the whole continu- 

 ance of the pain use a warm anodyne embrocation, composed of laudanum, spirit of 

 camphor, and liq. ammoniae in equal proportions. This will act still better if the dog 

 is first put into a hot bath at 100 degrees of Fahrenheit, then dried well by a good fire, 

 and afterwards the liniment rubbed into the parts which are most full of pain. For 

 the more chronic forms, called kennel-lameness and paralysis of the hind-quarter 

 the warm bath and liniment may be used with the aperients, as above ; but instead 

 of the calomel and opium, give one or two tablespoonfuls of the following mixture 

 twice a day : Iodide of potassium, 1 drachm ; sweet spirits of nitre, 3 drachms ; 

 nitre, 1J drachm; camphor mixture, 6 ounces. Mix. The diet in each case 

 should be low, all animal food should be taken away, and the dog fed upon 

 meal or rice according to the state of the bowels. It is a disease in great 

 measure the result of too stimulating a food, and a withdrawal of meat will go far 

 towards a cure, which, however, is seldom of long continuance when the disease has 

 become chronic. 



