§2 KENNEL DISEASES. 
CHAPTER II. 
PAROTITIS. 
Tue parotid glands are situated one on each side of the neck below the ear. 
Inflammation of them is rare excepting in cases in which they have been injured, 
as by a severe blow or kick; but sometimes they are the seat of an acute inflam- 
mation which presents many of the characteristics of mumps in man, including 
the indications of microbic origin. 
When attacked by inflammation, these glands, which in health can neither be 
seen nor felt, swell rapidly and become very painful. Soon they are much 
enlarged, while other glands of the neck are also generally more or less swollen 
sympathetically, and the shape of the stiffened neck is greatly changed. The 
head would seem to have grown much heavier, for it hangs low, and but rarely 
are attempts made to raise it. There is usually some but not high fever. Only 
little is eaten, evidently because of the difficulty in swallowing, and of solids all 
large pieces of food are rejected. The other salivary glands are usually involved 
in the inflammation, and the secretions increased ; but instead of being thin, as 
in ordinary salivation, the discharge from the mouth is thick and ropy. 
The duration of the disease is commonly about one week, after which, if 
complications do not occur, the swelling begins to subside, and has generally en- 
tirely disappeared before the end of the second week. But in some instances, 
instead of such favorable result, an abscess is formed in the gland, which runs 
the usual course, and finally ruptures if not interfered with. By this complication 
recovery is of course delayed and the suffering intensified, for the adjacent tis- 
sues share in the inflammation. 
It is advisable always to administer a purge early in the attack. 
To keep the patient quiet, in a comfortably heated and well-ventilated room, 
support him with bland liquid foods, and bathe his neck either with warm 
applications or some simple liniment, as soap liniment, is about all that is required 
in uncomplicated cases. 
If an abscess forms it should be opened by an knife when the right time 
comes ; and since all incisions in its locality tend to heal very quickly, it is gen- 
erally advisable to insert a drainage-tube to keep the cut open. 
If abscesses form in any other of the swollen salivary glands they should be 
treated in like manner. 
