20 KENNEL DISEASES. 
teeth are bad, the inference may be that the dog is not of very sound constitu- 
tion and high health, although the trouble may be, as intimated, due entirely to 
neglect. Sordes are a filthy and foul accumulation about the teeth. They are 
but rarely seen excepting in severe and long-continued inflammatory attacks. 
The tongue indexes not only the state of the digestive organs, but, to some 
extent at least, the condition of the whole system. In health it is moist and 
clean, and its covering of pink color. A pasty, white coating is seen in indiges- 
tion. In stomach or intestinal disorders of long continuance, but not of aggra- 
vated form, the tongue loses a little of its bright red color, and exhibits a whitish 
or light-brownish coating. In cases of anemia, or poverty of the blood, the 
tongue becomes pale. When the stomach is much inflamed, also in cases of 
poisoning by arsenic or other irritant, the tongue is of brighter red than natural. 
It is also dry, and may appear a little swollen. A dark brown and almost black 
tongue is seen in very desperate cases of distemper, and sometimes in other 
attacks characterized by high and long-persistent fever, also near the end from 
prostration. In acute affections much or all of the surface of the tongue is 
covered by the coating, while in chronic cases it is generally seen in spots. 
Cleaning up of the tongue and disappearance of the coat in disease is very gen- 
erally a favorable sign; although in some instances in which the course of the 
malady is a very long one, the tongue clears up, and then the coating forms 
again. In rabies the tongue becomes swollen, dry, hard, and purplish. When 
cracked and bleeding, the outlook is very discouraging indeed. While a clean, 
moist tongue of good color is generally an evidence of good health, there are. 
exceptions to this rule, and occasionally in dogs in poor condition the tongue 
may show up well. 
Swallowing is usually interfered with by slivers of bone in the throat, al- 
though it may be difficult in consequence of inflammation therein, or quite im- 
possible because of paralysis. In cases of poisoning by irritants, the lining 
membrane is of deeper red than normal, and it appears somewhat swollen. In 
diphtheria the false membrane may sometimes be seen in the throat, appearing 
like pieces of dirty white kid. 
The symptoms presented by the skin are often very instructive, and any con- 
siderable deviation from health can generally be easily detected. It is hot and 
dry in inflammatory affections. When dogs are out of condition and poor in 
health, even if not victims of any real disease, instead of being soft, smooth, and 
elastic, their skin becomes dry, hard, and no longer yielding; nor does it slip 
over the tissues beneath, but instead they are what is commonly termed hide- 
bound. The color of the skin may be changed considerably in disease. Thus 
it is paler than normal when the blood is poor or scanty. In jaundice and 
severe bilious troubles it is yellowish. In pneumonia of desperate type and 
when suffocation is threatened, it is dingy and purplish or blackish. 
The coat is never good while the health is poor, and often it exhibits the 
