STOMATITIS. 75 
cases the number of ulcers is small, — only two or three, — but generally there: 
are fifteen or twenty, or even more. Catarrhal stomatitis is associated with this 
form, and appears in patches which encompass the ulcers; or the lining of the 
whole mouth may be inflamed. 
The ulcers are reluctant to heal, and rarely do so within a week; while 
generally they resist treatment for two or three weeks. They are evidently 
quite painful, and in consequence the victims must be persuaded to take 
food. The tongue is furred; the digestive organs as a rule are more or less 
disordered; constipation commonly alternates with diarrhcea; there is often 
slight fevers in severe cases ; dribbling of saliva is constant ; and the breath very 
offensive. 
Puppies much oftener suffer from aphthous stomatitis than mature dogs ; and 
it exhibits a very decided preference for those that are but indifferently cared 
for, and are therefore ill nourished and weakly. 
Of the causation nothing positive is known. The trouble is generally ac- 
cepted to be due directly to mechanical or chemical irritation, or possibly to 
poisons developed by germs ; while malnutrition, teething, disorders of the organs 
concerned in digestion, poor blood, and impairment of the health generally, 
are numbered among the predisposing causes. 
The blandest foods, liquid or soft, are indicated, and of them the poorly nour- 
ished should be persuaded to eat as heartily as possible. To promote healing of 
the ulcers, it is advisable to first very lightly touch them with stick nitrate of sil- 
ver. Afterward the treatment may be the same as that advised for catarrhal 
stomatitis. In most cases medicines to correct digestive or other derangements 
will be required. 
Ulcerative or fetid stomatitis is a much more serious affection than either of 
the forms of stomatitis just described. It is characterized by a specific ulcera- 
tive inflammation of the gums and mucous membrane of the mouth, which tends 
to extend widely and deeply, and is attended with a very offensive odor of the 
breath. 
The disease starts, as a rule, at the edge of the gums opposite the lower in- 
cisor teeth, and gradually spreads backward. The gums are swollen, deeply red, 
painful to the touch, and bleed easily. In the course of two or three days the 
inflamed parts change in color and become dark purplish and greenish ; there is 
constant oozing of blood from them, and abscesses form. These break and 
leave deep and ragged ulcers surrounding the necks of the teeth. This inflam- 
mation, which is gangrenous, persisting, the teeth loosen and may fall out; while 
in protracted cases the covering of the jaw-bone is likely to become inflamed, 
and necrosis or death of portions of the bone occur. There is profuse salivation, 
the discharge of mucus being offensive, while the breath is very foul. The 
tongue is heavily coated, but only in exceptional cases is it swollen ; while the 
neighboring tissues are commonly involved by the inflammation. Hemorrhages 
