Your Dog and Your Cat 



tinal tract of the offending material. Castor oil, 

 citrate of magnesia, or epsom salts may be used in 

 liberal doses. Food and water should be stopped 

 for twenty-four hours. After purging, the dog can 

 be given bismuth subnitrate in five or ten grain 

 doses, every one to four hours, depending on the 

 severity of the attack. Food when given should 

 consist of small quantities of meat, with perhaps a 

 puppy or dog biscuit at frequent intervals. Water, 

 if given, should be boiled and allowed only in very 

 small quantities at a time, but frequently. It is 

 better to use barley water, oatmeal gruel, or eggs 

 with milk, because of their mucilaginous nature 

 which helps to protect the mucous membranes, 



Constipation. — ^We speak of the bowels as being 

 costive when the stool becomes hard and dry^ Im- 

 paction results from the retention of hard dry 

 stools. If a hard mass of fecal matter, a bone, 

 peach pit, or other foreign body becomes lodged 

 in the intestines we speak of it as an obstruction. 

 The term constipation covers all three conditions. 



Cause. — Constipation results from the ingestion 

 of large quantities of food, which are hard to digest, 

 bones, foreign bodies, lack of exercise, and fevers. 

 In old dogs, the digestive organs become weakened 

 and the fecal mass is moved on very slowly. 



Potatoes, rice, corn, and bread are hard to digest, 

 and being bulky form a large mass which on ac- 

 cumulating paralyzes the bowels. Bones are a 

 very frequent cause of constipation. When they 



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