RHEUMATISM. 269 
bowels, kidneys, skin, and lungs. Take for example a dog that is too fat, kept 
much on the chain, yet still generously fed. Exercise, that grand eliminator of 
waste, being denied him, his system in time becomes more or less choked up 
with effete and poisonous matters. Now let him be exposed to cold, damp, air 
draughts, or the like, and he will likely suffer from rheumatism in consequence. 
In other words, he is then in a condition which urgently invites the occurrence 
of that affection. Whereas had his system been kept well freed from those 
retained matters he might have escaped the painful attacks. 
Heredity doubtless plays a part in this disease, and all else being equal, a 
dog whose sire or dam has suffered from rheumatism would be more liable to 
be similarly affected than one of healthy parentage. 
Rheumatism is met with in all ages, but the form common to dogs has a de- 
cided preference for old subjects; whereas the acute and subacute forms usually 
attack puppies. 
The breed seems to exert but slight influence, the disease being encountered 
among the large and the small, the long-haired and short-haired, but sporting 
classes furnish rather more than their proportion of victims; possibly because 
they are often run too hard and are but indifferently cared for afterward. Condi- 
tions of ill-health, particularly digestive disturbances and general debility, seem 
to exert a slight but still decisive effect, and favor the occurrence of rheumatism, 
The disease may attack any part, but it has a preference for the shoulders — 
in which situation it becomes the so-called kennel-lameness or chest-founder — 
and the loins, where movement is sometimes so painful that power seems to 
have been completely lost in the hind legs. The trouble is then easily believed 
to be paralysis. Less often rheumatism affects only a single joint, as the knee 
or stifle. Again, it may be limited to one or to a small number of muscles. 
Rheumatism is doubtless often mistaken for sprain, from which in some 
cases it is quite difficult to distinguish it. A joint that has been attacked is not 
as a rule swollen to any considerable extent; nor is there any marked change in 
the appearance of the muscles involved; therefore oftentimes the true nature of 
an attack can only be determined by waiting and watching. 
Rheumatism often, but not always, exhibits a tendency to shift about, and if 
in a doubtful case a foreleg is lame to-day and a hind leg to-morrow, the real 
nature of the trouble must be quite evident. 
When the shoulders are affected the dog moves very stiffly and with short, 
mincing gait, he being unable to advance his forefeet as usual and take steps of 
ordinary length; and if they are pulled forward, as they would go in walking 
naturally, he cries out in great pain. His disinclination to move is very marked, 
he evidently shrinking from doing so through fear of adding to his suffering ; 
and although he may come when called, it is with great reluctance. 
Torticollis is rheumatism of the neck. The muscles, some or all, on one side 
of the same, and at times the throat, are implicated. The head is generally 
ed 
