CHAPTER IV. 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH. 



INDIGESTION, GASTRITIS, 



VOMITING, INVERSION, 



WORMS, CALCULI IN THE STOMACH, 



HUSK, FOREIGN BODIES. 



INDIGESTION. 



The stomach of the dog is not so Hable to disease as might 

 be expected, considering the source from which at times he 

 derives his sustenance (see " Feeding"), the morbid appe- 

 tite that prompts him to devour strange and unnatural 

 substances, the long fasts he frequently endures, 

 and the " get what you can " rule of diet. Nevertheless he 

 is subject, and some dogs more than others, to the diseases 

 mentioned in this chapter, one of the most frequent of 

 which is dyspepsia or indigestion, the causes operating in 

 its production being much the same as in ourselves. Long 

 fasts, innutritious and indigestible food, disease of the 

 digestive organs, imperfect mastication, deficiency in the 

 biliary, gastric, or salivary secretions, want of exercise, and 

 suspension in the alvine evacuations. 



Symptoms. — Flatulency, acrid eructations, constipation or 

 diarrhoea, fulness of the abdomen, spasmodic pains, de- 

 pression, loss of appetite, dry furred tongue, thirst, often 

 increased salivary secretion, vomiting, and occasionally 

 cough. (See " Husk.") 



Treatment. — The system of feeding generally requires 

 our first attention where the complaint is due to over-feed- 

 ing, which is frequently the case with toy-dogs. Starvation 

 for a day, followed by a spare diet, and an aperient 

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