DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS 67 



must be looked upon as symptomatic, and treated 

 accordingly. Bismuth is a useful remedy. 



Diseases of the Teeth. 



Both kittens and adult cats are troubled with 

 irregularities of their teeth, but decay of the teeth 

 usually affects the latter, though these animals, on 

 the whole, are singularly free from dental troubles. 

 A loose or decayed tooth must be extracted, and 

 the same remark applies when the permanent teeth 

 are replacing the temporary ones. 



Entanglement of the fang, especially of the 

 molars, occasionally occurs, preventing a permanent 

 tooth from occupying its proper place in the jaw. 

 Cats should be allowed to gnaw at a bone now and 

 then, as this is their natural tooth-brush. 



Obstruction in the Throat (Choking}. 



The cat seems particularly unfortunate in suffer- 

 ing from the lodgment of foreign bodies in the 

 back part of the mouth and gullet, and most 

 extraordinary substances have been taken from the 

 latter by veterinary surgeons. In one case, a cat 

 swallowed a steel hat-pin, four or five inches in 

 length, shown in position by the X-rays. This 

 was extracted, and the cat did well. The writer 

 has frequently found pieces of bone lodged across 

 the back part of the mouth, likewise fish-bones, but 

 it is not necessary that the offending body should 



