246 DOGS : THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



ing creature pain ; but when there is a prospect, however 

 remote, of recovery, I hope there is no veterinary sur- 

 geon who would touch the life. When the animal can 

 stand, we may anticipate good ; and whatever is left of 

 the complaint, we may assure our employers will vanisli 

 as the age increases ; for St. Vitus's Dance is essentially 

 the disease of young dogs. But as recovery progresses, 

 we must be cautious to do nothing to fling the animal 

 back. No walks must be enforced, under the pretence of 

 administering exercise. The animal has enough of that 

 in its ever-jerking limbs ; and however well it may grow 

 to be while the disease lasts, we may rest assured the dog 

 suffering its attack stands in need of repose. 



BOWEL DISEASES. 



Continuous with the stomach are the intestines, which 

 are equally subject to disease, and more exposed to it in 

 an acute form than even the former viscus. The dog 

 will fill its belly with almost anything, but there is little 

 that positively agrees with it. Boiled rice or lean meat, 

 &c., and coarse biscuit, are the best general food ; but 

 without exercise, even those will not support health. 

 The dog requires constant care if it is deprived of liberty : 

 and those who keep these animals as pets, must submit 

 to trouble, for though art may do much, it cannot conquer 

 Nature. 



The intestines of the dog arc peculiar. In the first 

 place, it has no colon, and all the guts are nearly of one 



