108 KENNEL DISEASES. 
speedily exhausted when the intestinal discharges are profuse. As for nervous 
diarrhcea, that is commonly encountered in dogs that are subject to convulsions; 
in consequence of which the intestinal trouble is usually more obstinate. 
The treatment of diarrhea also largely depends upon the cause which pro- 
duces it. When attributable to undigested food, the discharges should not be 
stopped at once by medicines, for, the bowels dammed up as it were, the sim- 
ple diarrhcea might be converted into a serious trouble. Again, these food 
particles are none too speedily expelled by the natural process, and their slow 
passage over the highly sensitive lining of the intestines tends to make it more 
irritable, if not inflame it. Consequently, in all cases where the diarrhoea has 
but recently occurred, say within forty-eight hours, the first indication is to 
empty the bowels by the means of acathartic. And of agents capable of pro- 
ducing the desired result one of the safest and most effectual in this class of 
cases is castor-oil, the dose of which for dogs of largest size should not be less 
than two tablespoonfuls. But for the reason that non-professionals cannot be 
acutely discriminating in disease, and an attack of enteritis, dysentery, or other 
severe trouble might, possibly, be mistaken for simple diarrhoea, it is always 
advisable against such error to combine laudanum with the oil; and about half 
a teaspoonful is the right dose if the patient is of large breed. 
These stirred into three or four times as much milk, should be poured down 
his throat. The diet should then be restricted to milk and lime-water; and in 
the absence of a small enclosure, rest ought to be enjoined by means of a chain. 
In the course of ten or twelve hours the oil will have completed its work, and, 
ordinarily, soon thereafter the discharges should considerably decline in fre- 
quency. As long as they are doing so and the dog seems strong and otherwise 
well, to continue the dietetic restriction is all that is necessary. If, however, 
they persist, are frequent and watery, and there is straining, it will be well to 
obtain powders of Dover’s powder, each of which ought to contain ten grains, 
assuming that the patient is of medium or large size, while five grains would be 
tight for breeds of the size of fox-terriers, and two grains for the smallest toys. 
The contents of the powders may be enveloped in thin slices of raw beef; 
and a dose should be administered every two or four hours, according to the 
severity of the diarrhea. 
Before going further it is well to say that while undigested food is likely to be 
expelled within forty-eight hours where there is brisk diarrhoea, such might not 
be the case ; moreover, a dose of castor-oil and laudanum can do no harm if it 
fails to do good ; therefore, if the caretaker is in doubt as to whether or not a 
cathartic is required, he should always pass to the safe side and give them. 
Simple irritative and nervous diarrhceas will yield to these measures of treat- 
ment if the food is properly chosen; and, indeed, as already stated, merely a 
judicious restriction of the diet is all that is necessary in much the largest pro- 
portion of such attacks in mature dogs. Were the treatment dietetic solely and 
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