170 CANINE DISTEMPER 
also help to relieve the symptom, and concluding that by 
these various means we have brought the patient into a 
condition which enables it to swallow and retain liquid 
foods, the question of the selection.of these foods may be 
resumed. 
Of the proprietary foods there is an extensive choice, 
and of them all probably Virol has the most value, con- 
taining as it does bone marrow and malt extract. Brand’s 
essence of beef is also very excellent, and as a food for 
dogs, should be warmed until liquefied, then given 
with a spoon. Benger’s, Allenbury’s, and many patent 
proteid foods—such as those containing phosphates—are 
beneficial and reliable, and some splendid results have 
accrued in nervous cases from the use of Sanatogen. 
Rectal Feeding.—It may happen, of course, that in some 
cases the administration of food by the mouth becomes 
impossible or undesirable, owing to excessive weakness, 
sore throat or mouth, poor digestion, or vomiting, when 
recourse must be had to rectal feeding. 
This may be accomplished in two ways, viz. : 
(1) Clysters; (2) Suppositories. 
Giving a Clyster—In giving a clyster the rectum should 
be first washed free of foetid mucus or feces by the injec- 
tion of warm saline solution (1 teaspoonful to the pint) 
with an apparatus constructed as follows: A length of 
rubber tubing—about 2 or 3 feet—with a lumen of 
} inch, is attached at one end to a rubber (human) rectal 
tube by a glass connection ; at the other end a glass funnel 
isinserted. The rectal tube is anointed with vaseline, the 
solution is poured into the funnel until it runs out at the 
lower end, when the tube can then be carefully inserted 
as high as possible into the rectum. It is wise to hold 
the funnel at only a slightly higher level than the rectal 
tube until the latter is introduced, and the object of allow- 
ing the water to run before insertion is to exclude all air. 
