294 DOGS : THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



dose. The pile ointment will likewise be beneficial, by 

 facilitating the passage of the faeces, allaying local irrita- 

 bility, and correcting that tendency to piles which is 

 generally attendant upon, if not the original cause of the 

 affection. 



From what has been described, the reader will have 

 seen that the diseases of the dog's rectum are neither 

 few nor insignificant. Fistula in ano is said to be often 

 beheld ; but I have never seen a case in which it assumed 

 in the dog that serious form which characterises it in man. 

 In the canine race I have mostly let it alone, and hither- 

 to I have had no reason _to repent my forbearance. 

 Blaine and Touatt both speak of the affection, and give 

 directions for its treatment by operation. The most 

 active remedy I have found it necessary to resort to has 

 been an astringent or mildly caustic injection ; the solu- 

 tion of the chloride of zinc I prefer to every other, but 

 the sulphates are also not to be despised. Injections, 

 when not designed to be immediately operative, or meant 

 to distend the gut and to act through being ejected, are 

 best given by means of the India-rubber bladder, which 

 allows the fluid to be more gently and silently thrown 

 up. The less noise or force attending the operation the 

 less likely is the animal to be alarmed or excited, and the 

 probability is the enema will be retained. Small quanti- 

 ties are to be administered when the fluid is wished to 

 remain ; and by attracting the attention of the dog at 

 the time, and amusing him after the business is finished, 

 the object in view is considerably favored. The adminis- 



