48 KENNEL DISEASES. 
while three hours in all others should be the rule. Each feeding, also, should be 
divided, and in from teaspoonful to tablespoonful doses, otherwise the breathing 
must be rendered much more difficult by the administration. 
In severe cases there is quite sure to come a time when stimulants will be 
required. This may be reached early, but generally not before the third or 
fourth day. Great prostration is one evidence that it is at hand. So, too, is a 
purplish hue of the lips and tongue. But when there is doubt as to the ne- 
cessity of stimulants, they should be given. 
Unless the signs are very threatening, small doses at first should be the rule. 
Whiskey or brandy is right if the quality is the best; and a teaspoonful in each 
feeding will be sufficient to commence with, even where the patient is of large 
size. But when the system is struggling under disease it soon becomes accus- 
tomed to agents of this sort, and greater quantities must be given each day than 
on previous days to have uniform effect. Therefore, in the absence of very ur- 
gent signs, it is always well to increase the dose every twenty-four hours by about 
one-half the commencing dose. But if at any time prostration is rapid or suffo- 
cation seems imminent, the stimulants must be pushed; and if the occasion is 
the fourth or fifth day, there is scarcely any danger of over-stimulation. For a 
large dog, one or even two tablespoonfuls of brandy or whiskey every two hours 
in milk can be none too much then. 
Where there is prostration, alcoholic stimulants are the best; but when circu- 
lation is threatened, as indicated by purplish lips, or there are signs of suffoca- 
tion, to combine them with the aromatic spirit of ammonia is advisable. The 
correct dose of that is one-half a teaspoonful ; and it should be administered in 
the whiskey or brandy, the quantity of which at each dose will not be affected 
by the ammonia, but be the same as when given alone. 
A word further as to the use of drugs. Opium in some form has been rec- 
ommended by nearly all writers on canine diseases, and some advise the use of 
nervines, as bromide of potassium. The latter is of no value whatsoever in 
pneumonia. As for the former, in some cases, were it administered with exceed- 
ing care and judgment, it would probably do some good, yet as a rule, patients 
are far better without it. It is generally given by caretakers on their own re- 
sponsibility, under the conviction that the sufferer should be “ eased,” and made 
to sleep at times. The theory is good, but the practice is attended with danger, 
and far better that the patient retain all his sensibilities than be benumbed by 
opiates. Therefore, let him fight for breath as long as he is hard driven for it. 
As for the cough, the more there is of it the better; consequently it would be 
folly to attempt to stop it. 
The quarters of the patient should be well ventilated always. Pressed for 
air, he should have that which is pure; and since his chest is well protected by 
the jacket, a window can be opened frequently if not continuously. An even 
temperature is also necessary, and about 60° F. desirable. 
