2 The Management and Diseases of the Dog. 



Sugar, buttered bread, hot toast,- muffin, preserves, 

 fancy biscuits, tea, sweetmeats, and such like, are items 

 never intended to enter a canine bill of fare. And yet 

 how often is the reply given, when the attendant alleges 

 his patient is suffering from indigestion : " But he has had 

 nothing to disagree with him ; the poor little dear eats 

 most sparingly ; a morsel of buttered toast or muffin, some 

 tea and a lump of sugar, has been doggie's only diet for 

 months." True, and therein lies the key to the mystery. 

 The animal, contrary to Nature's laws, has been educated 

 to mimic human beings : three or four meals a day, ex- 

 clusive of kitchen-scraps, have taken the place of the 

 prescribed one or two, and human delicacies substi- 

 tuted for the proper requirements of a carnivorous 

 stomach. 



Can it be wondered at, if the whole digestive machinery 

 is in consequence put out of gear ; if the once glossy- 

 coated pet of cleanly habits becomes the bloated, waddling, 

 unsightly animal so often seen, with teeth loose, discoloured, 

 and decayed, breath foul, and excrements foetid? And all 

 the result of what? Ignorance and mistaken kindness. 

 Ask the human mother the effect on the child of a con- 

 tinued diet of preserves, pastry, and sweet cakes, and she 

 will tell you it is much the same. 



Is it, then, reasonable to suppose that the stomach of 

 the dog can properly digest and appropriate to the nourish- 

 ment of its body and the maintenance' of health that 

 which mankind, for whom such is more in accordance, can- 

 not take with impunity ? 



A proper systein of feeding is, therefore, one of the 

 great essentials of canine management. 



Time of Feeding. — The food should always be given, if 

 convenient, at a stated time: where only one meal is 

 allowed, at midday; in the case of two, morning and 

 evening. It should not be given immediately before 

 exercise or work, or the process of digestion will be inter- 



