298 KENNEL DISEASES. 
Before passing from the local to the internal treatment, a few words as to the 
removal of the hair in eczema. If it is not disturbed and the disease persists, it 
is quite sure to fall out, therefore as a rule it is advisable to closely cut it over 
every eczematous spot, for there is then a probability of the hair remaining 
fixed at the roots; when of course it would be renewed much quicker than if it 
fell out. However, if the spots were small and the disease limited to but a 
few of them, one might be justified in trying to cure without interfering with 
the hair. 
A fact of special interest in this connection is, that often when dogs are 
under treatment for eczema their hair comes out, not only in the sore spots but 
in unaffected places ; or in other words, the loss is quite general, and it persists 
until the entire surface is nearly bare. This is usually attributed to the disease, 
but as a rule, if not invariably, the victims are taking large doses of arsenic, 
and that drug is the cause of the loss beyond the eruptive spots. 
While attacks of eczema can be produced by external causes alone, as scratch- 
ing and biting in consequence of the itching excited by fleas or parasites, in 
much the largest proportion of severe cases the causes are within the body. 
Generally if the eczematous spots are few in number and not large, and 
although present for a week or longer they have not spread much, it is reason- 
ably safe to assume that they are due to external causes; whereas if they are 
quite numerous, located on various parts of the body, and especially the head 
and legs, and the eruption is extending, then the chances are nearly all in favor 
of the causes being internal. But even if the indications are that an eczema is 
due to external causes purely, the victim must be carefully studied, every fault 
in management be corrected, and his health improved as much as possible ; the 
fact being kept in mind that the discomfort caused by the eruption must neces- 
sarily be more or less depressing and weakening, and tend to lower the tone of 
the general system. Therefore, even if a dog seems perfectly well aside from 
the eczema, unusual efforts should be made to keep him so, for the better his 
health the less troublesome will be his disease. 
Were they invariably properly chosen, doubtless a cure could be effected in 
every case by means of external applications alone. But happy selections 
always are too much to expect even from physicians; moreover, by the aid of 
tonics, better management, etc., recovery ought to be far more rapid. There- 
fore internal treatment is advised in all cases in which the health of the patients 
might be improved, as well as in those in which the causes are evidently in- 
ternal. 
The general and internal treatment should be adjusted to individual pecu- 
liarities, and designed to overcome, in so far as possible, all existing faults 
which may be productive of disease or derangement, or which may encourage, 
as it were, such defects to persist if they have been induced by, and are solely 
due to, other causes. For instance, if the victim has been overfed, certain 
