Common Diseases of Dogs 



castor oil, fasting the dog for twenty-four hours, 

 and if the S3ntnptoms abate, put him on meager 

 rations for a week. This diet should be principally 

 meat. If the dog exhibits fever, vomits persistently, 

 or has a bad diarrhea, he should immediately be 

 placed under the doctor's care. 



Intoxication. — ^Intoxication is a poisoning of the 

 system by the toxic by-products of digestion. These 

 are usually eliminated in the feces, but when the 

 bowels Bfecome sluggish or the process of digestion 

 incomplete, the toxins accumulate in abnormal 

 amounts and are absorbed into the system. This 

 condition is very common and accounts for more 

 deaths than any other form of poisoning. 



Symptoms. — Nervous twitching varying from 

 slight movements of a set of muscles to violent 

 spasms of the whole body musculature. The dog 

 usually lies on his side and goes through the move- 

 ments of running. Frothing at the mouth is present 

 in most cases. The convulsions usually occur with- 

 out warning and last from one to fifteen minutes. 

 The dog may have one convulsion in twenty-four 

 hours or he may have them as often as every fif- 

 teen minutes, but he could not stand more than 

 fifteen or twenty of them. After the convulsions 

 the dog is very weak and will sleep for hours. 

 Sometimes they go into a convulsion which lasts 

 until death. 



Treatment. — ^The doctor should be summoned 

 immediately. Until ^ he arrives the dog must be 



