488 GENERAL THERAPEUTIC MEASURES 



cooked lean meat. Feeding in hemoglobinuria or "black water" of horses 

 must be restricted to the use of gruels, green fodder and a little hay in 

 the early stages of the disorder. Food is usually withheld 12 hours before 

 surgical operations, and this, in addition to the administration of a 

 cathartic, will prevent injury in casting the larger animals, which might 

 follow were the digestive tract overfull. It will also lessen the danger of 

 intestinal fermentation and absorption of toxins from the bowels, which 

 may occur after operation, owing to an enfeebled digestive action. If 

 dogs are starved before surgical operation, vomiting is prevented during 

 or after etherization. Water alone may be restricted to advantage in 

 obesity, cardiac disease with edema, or in the treatment of chronic exuda- 

 tions, as in hydrothorax. Water may be allowed in these conditions 

 only once daily, or even every other day; and this treatment may be 

 combined with the use of saline cathartics in strong animals. The specific 

 gravity and density of the blood and the tendency to absorption from 

 the tissues and cavities are increased. By the same process the quantity 

 of blood is diminished and the load put upon the heart is lessened, both 

 of which may prove beneficial in cardiac diseases. 



A full, or restorative diet should be especially rich in protein. Gen- 

 erous feeding is distinctly in order in the treatment of general debility, 

 malnutrition, anemia, weakness of the digestive organs, convalescence 

 from acute diseases and in animals particularly sensitive to c"ld, or in 

 those which sweat easily. A full diet is also useful in overworked animals 

 and in those subject to losses from increased secretion, excretion, or 

 exudation, as in chronic suppuration, diarrhea, albuminuria, ascites and 

 edema. A restorative diet for herbivora includes grain, as corn, bran, 

 oats and cottonseed meal; hay and grass with occasionally beef meal, 

 milk and eggs. For omnivora, corn, potatoes, blood, beef meal, milk 

 and soups. For camivora, meat extracts, cream, milk, eggs, broths and 

 meat juice. In most wasting diseases, fat, protein and water are the 

 food elements especially needful. An abundance of water stimulates the 

 appetite, secretions, excretions, tissue changes and vital processes gen- 

 erally. Salt should be given freely as an aid to digestion in increasing 

 the formation of hydrochloric acid, and indirectly that of pepsin. Alco- 

 hol, being a nutritive and capable of easy absorption, assimilation and 

 decomposition in the body,' forms a most valuable adjunct to a restora- 

 tive diet. A deficiency of lime in the food is occasionally the cause of 

 rickets in the young, and fragilitas ossium in the old, but more frequently 

 these diseases are due to defective digestion, assimilation, or excessive 

 lactation. Bone meal may be fed to advantage in such affections. It 

 contains both lime and phosphoric acid and should be given in small 

 quantities (1 tablespoonful to large animals; 1 teaspoonful to small 

 patients) on the food in connection with the administration of hydro- 

 chloric acid and bitters. 



In fever a restricted diet is often necessary in the more acute stages, 

 with loss of appetite, diminished secretions, and movements of the stom- 

 ach, but as soon as convalescence sets in the increased tissue waste pro- 

 duces an excessive demand for food and the digestive organs may become 

 overtaxed. The initial dietetic treatment of fevers consists in the use of 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



