4 KENNEL DISEASES. 
by boiling or roasting. It is true that by those processes their fibres are always 
more or less hardened; but the connective tissue by which those fibres are held 
together, and which is firm and tough, is softened, so that they are more easily 
separable from each other, and consequently more accessible to the digestive 
fluids. 
In the human stomach cow’s milk is disposed of in about two hours, but in 
that of the dog its digestion occupies a much longer time. Of well-cooked 
starchy foods the dog disposes more quickly than of meat. If, for example, he 
be given a hearty meal of pure and well-boiled starch, in the course of an hour 
it will have been entirely digested and absorbed. The length of time, however, 
commonly required by dogs in health for the conversion and digestion of starchy 
foods generally, as rice and the various meals, is between eight and ten hours. 
Returning to a consideration of a dietary for the sick, experience has taught 
that generally the last food to be refused as the appetite disappears is finely 
minced, raw, lean beef; and it is safe to assume that for the dog no other form 
of nutriment is of higher value, nor digested with greater ease, even if the 
integrity of the stomach is somewhat impaired, unless, perhaps, it be when the 
lining membrane of that organ is very seriously inflamed. While it remains 
down — is not vomited — it can be allowed in any case, whatsoever the existing 
disease; and when it becomes necessary to force food into patients, it may 
rightly be mainly relied upon to nourish them. In such cases, after being 
minced as finely as possible, to favor its being given easily it should be rolled 
into balls of about the size of filberts; and if digestion is weak, as it often is in 
distemper, it will be advisable to dust over each ball a little of the sugar of 
pepsin, one even teaspoonful of which would be ample for a feeding. 
The whites of eggs require but little if any digestion, and are absorbed 
shortly after they enter the stomach. They are therefore indicated where the 
digestive powers are low, and especially if vomiting is frequent. 
Milk is generally considered an ideal food. That from cows, as previously 
stated, is more slowly digested by dogs than by man; and were it solely de- 
pended upon as a means of support, the stomach must be kept constantly over- 
loaded. Yet it is an admirable accessory food, and there can be no valid 
objection to its use in any case. If vomited, it can often be made to remain on 
the stomach by means of lime-water, which may be added to the milk in the 
proportion of one-fourth. 
Marvellous properties are ascribed to beef-tea; yet in the main, as ordinarily 
made, it is a stimulant, not a food, all the nutritive properties being thrown away, 
as valueless. In the section devoted to Distemper, a full description will be 
given of the proper method of so preparing it that it may have an actual food 
value. 
Liquid foods can often be used advantageously, especially in fevers and ab- 
dominal diseases; and it is unfortunate that the number of such that are of real 
