Your Dog and Your Cat 



General Diseases 



Kickets. — Rickets is a very important and ex- 

 tremely common disease affecting puppies. It is 

 generally considered as a disease of the bones, but 

 as a matter of fact, the nutrition of the whole body 

 is affected. When the puppy is bom, the bones are 

 soft, and as he grows, they should normally become 

 hardened by the lime salts which are deposited in 

 them. In rickets this process does not take place 

 as rapidly as it should, if at all. The muscles are 

 weak and flabby, but may be padded with fat. 

 Digestion does not properly function and the gen- 

 eral condition of the animal is affected. 



The cause of rickets may be either a lack of 

 salts in the food or an excessive excretion of them. 

 The disease may be inherited from its parents, or 

 it may be a result of poor breeding, or of inbreed- 

 ing. As yet the real cause has not been determined, 

 but in nearly all cases the food has consisted mainly 

 of milk, bread, vegetables, and soup. Since dogs 

 affected with rickets almost invariably harbor 

 worms there may be some connection between the 

 two conditions. Collies, Shepherd Dogs, Airedales, 

 English Bulldogs, and Pekingese are the breeds most 

 commonly affected. 



Symptoms. — ^The disease does not become notice- 

 able until the pup is at least four weeks old, when 

 it may be observed that he is not able to support 

 his body on his legs. As a rule he is very fat and 



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