18 KENNEL DISEASES. 
method be repeated day after day, or possibly more than once daily. When the 
right point in the course of his disease has been reached he will eat ; nor will he 
ever require the assistance of bitters or tonics. As for loss of appetite in old 
chronic cases, there would never be any occasion for drugging on that account 
could every case be properly understood, the causes determined and removed, 
and the general management be right thereafter. For a capricious appetite or 
complete loss of appetite there is a cause; and it may be worms, trouble with 
the digestive organs, bad air, or any one of many possible faults in manage- 
ment. Now, while that cause exists, to give vegetable bitters, as gentian, 
cinchona, etc., — nux vomica, or anything of the sort, is the height of absurdity, 
and like merely closing the blinds when the furniture in a room is on fire. No 
great discernment is necessary to recognize the fact that the cause must first be 
removed. ‘That done, as a rule, the appetite will promptly return without the 
assistance of stimulants or medicines. 
Before proceeding further it is well to urge that when a dog seems to be 
ailing his owner or caretaker should study him leisurely, for confusion is quite 
liable to result from hurried efforts to discover the nature of the attack. He 
should take him to a room where they are not likely to be disturbed, and there 
sit down and watch him carefully while he moves about at will. And if he isa 
close observer, rarely will it be long before he detects some peculiar movement 
which suggests the character of the trouble, or about where it is located. 
In determining the existence of a particular disease, aside from the facts to 
be acquired by a study of the pulse, respiration, and temperature, there are other 
signs of considerable diagnostic importance to be noted. In the attitude of a dog 
there are often valuable indications. Thus, if suffering from colic, he will lie on 
his abdomen, pressure affording him slight relief. But the pain will not permit 
him to remain long in one position, therefore he soon gets up, takes but a few 
steps, and is down again. If a lung be affected, in lying down the sufferer usually 
chooses the diseased side ; while in desperate cases of lung trouble, he steadily 
maintains a sitting position, being unable to breathe when recumbent. 
The expression may be of some assistance. If only slightly changed from 
that habitually worn, the import is favorable, and the conclusion may be that the 
attack, if recent, is not very severe, at least as yet. In cases that have persisted 
long, however, the expression is not as a rule changed as much as in others of 
acute character. In very painful affections, evidence of the suffering experienced 
is seen in the expression. Rage is plainly depicted at times in rabies. Victims 
of great debility have a piteous and despondent look. When the mouth is drawn 
at the corners, the cheeks shrunken, the lips pale, and the eyes glassy, the end 
must be near; and the significance of these symptoms cannot be mistaken 
when the surface is cold and clammy to the touch, the respiration labored and 
gasping, and the pulse thin and thready. Indeed, to the close and intelligent 
observer, the expression of the dog in disease means much, and is often of very 
great assistance in reaching a diagnosis. 
