HYPERSENSITIVENESS OF PHILIPPINE DOGS 

 TO STRYCHNINE 



By Miguel Manresa 



College of Veterinary Science, University of the Philippines 



INTRODUCTION 



The belief has long been entertained by some veterinarians 

 of the Philippine Islands that native dogs possess a hypersen- 

 sitiveness to the action of strychnine sulphate and other salts 

 of that alkaloid. This belief is founded entirely upon personal 

 experience in administering the drug to these animals with 

 untoward results, so that the grounds are essentially empirical 

 and without scientific basis. Reports, however, have been so 

 numerous of cases wherein strictly therapeutic doses of strych- 

 nine sulphate have produced the characteristic symptoms of acute 

 strychnine poisoning as to give great weight to the view, and 

 the opinion may be said to have become confirmed in the minds 

 of many. . , 



As an illustration of these unfavorable clinical sequelae which 

 have apparently occurred so often, an experience may be cited 

 which I had while employed as an assistant in a veterinary 

 hospital in Manila. To each of two pups, weighing between o 

 and 6 kilograms each, was given a tablet of triple arsenites, 

 containing y 120 of a grain of strychnine arsemte to the tablet, 

 an amount not in excess of that indicated in most tex books 

 The intention was to administer one of these tablets daily but 

 about twenty minutes after the administration of the second 

 dose acute convulsive attacks in both animals occurred These 

 attacks increased in intensity as they recurred until death 

 ensued, about thirty minutes after the administration of the drug. 



The dose of strychnine by the differ** f*™ l \fj^2r 

 tration for dogs in temperate climates has been carefuUy ^deter 

 mined by various workers, but to ^, ta0 ^ q M ^^S 

 has been undertaken under tropical conditions, and ^ ^rtainly 

 not locallv Therefore, in view of the foregoing considerations 

 ?he SSL nlrauy arises: Does ^T^Z^ZZ 

 tibility of native dogs to strychnine actually exist, or can the 



