588 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



7. The state of the BOWELS and KIDNEYS 

 should never be overlooked in disease. An 

 abundance of pale urine proves indirectly 

 that no fever is present. 



8. Loss OF APPETITE is usually, but not 

 always, present in disease; hence the fal- 

 lacy of believing that so long as a dog 

 takes his food well he is all right. 



9. THIRST alone does not indicate fever; 

 any large discharge, from either the in- 

 testines or the kidneys, induces it. In 

 diuresis, diabetes, and diarrhoea there is 

 thirst. 



10. PAIN does not, as some people 

 imagine, always indicate inflammation. 

 There are nervous pains, and pains of 

 many different descriptions. 



11. TENDERNESS. This is an important 

 point in our diagnosis, for the pain of in- 

 flammation is almost invariably of a tender 

 nature ; that is, it is increased by pressure, 

 and sometimes cannot be felt without 

 pressure. 



12. VOMITING. A dog can vomit at will, 

 or by merely eating a little grass or some 

 rough leaf, such as that of vegetable mar- 

 row. The character of the vomit is often 

 characteristic of some organic or functional 

 disorder, as the bilious, yellow-looking 

 matter dogs bring up of a morning when 

 stomach and liver are out of order, or the 

 vomit mixed with blood in cases of gas- 

 tritis or gastric catarrh. 



13. EXPRESSION OF THE COUNTENANCE. 

 When the animal is in pain and suffering, 

 his face is pinched, he looks nervous and 

 thin ; even if he does not moan, he appears 

 by his countenance to think that he is being 

 badly treated in some way. In dyspncea 

 there is a look of anxiety mingled with 

 that of terror. 



14. EMACIATION is always a bad sign, but 

 taken alone it is not diagnostic. It is very 

 rapid, however, in many febrile disorders, 

 such as distemper, for example. Emacia- 

 tion, when coming on slowly, indicates mal- 

 nutrition of the body in some way, some 

 interference with the blood-making process, 

 and great debility. 



15. OBESITY is to all intents a disease. 

 It must not be confounded with anasarca 

 or general dropsy of the flesh. A fat dog 

 feels firm, the flesh of a dropsical dog gives 

 way to the fingers pits on pressure. 



16. POSITION OF BODY. The wish to lie 

 on the belly in disease of the liver, especi- 

 ally in some cold corner; the persistent 

 standing or sitting up in cases of pneu- 

 monia ; the arched back of inflammations 

 in the abdominal regions (arched in order 

 to release the muscles and prevent press- 

 ure on the painful parts); the pitiful 

 appearance of a dog in rheumatism all tell 

 their own tale, and speak volumes to the 

 skilled veterinary surgeon. A slow gait is 

 indicative of debility, stiffness of rheu- 

 matism, or old age, and the curious twitch- 

 ing or jerking movements of St. Vitus's 

 Dance need only be once seen to be 

 remembered. 



Simple Remedies. Much good may at 

 times be done to sick dogs by administer- 

 ing even seemingly simple medicines, and 

 these do all the more good if given in time, 

 for little ailments, if not seen to, often lead 

 to very serious mischief. 



Take, then, a case of simple fever. This 

 is sometimes called ephemeral fever, be- 

 cause it is supposed only to last for about 

 a day.* Towards evening the dog will 

 seem dull and dispirited, and either refuse 

 his food or eat lazily ; his nose may not 

 be hot, nor his eye injected, but under the 

 thighs greater heat than usual will be felt; 

 and if the dog's owner has been in the 

 habit of feeling his pulse in health, he will 

 now find it is increased in frequency, and 

 he will be sensible, too, of a greater heat 

 than usual on the top of the head. Now 

 what has to be done in this case is sim- 

 plicity itself. First give a pill, compounded 

 of from one-sixteenth of a grain of podo- 

 phyllin for a Toy up to half a grain or 

 more for a St. Bernard or a dog of that size, 

 mixed with from three to fifteen grains of 

 extract of dandelion.t This at once; then, 

 before sleeping time, give from a teaspoon- 

 ful up to six drachms of the solution of 

 the acetate of ammonia in a little water, 

 adding thereto from ten drops to two tea- 

 spoonfuls of sweet spirits of nitre. In the 

 morning give a simple dose of castor-oil 



* In the dog its usual duration is from one to 

 five days. 



t In this treatise, wherever such words occur as 

 say, " Dose from two drachms to one ounce," the, 

 smaller dose has reference to a Toy dog, the larger 

 one to St. Bernard or Mastiff size. 



