SIMPLE REMEDIES. 
from one teaspoonful to one ounce. Exer- 
cise (moderate) and a non-stimulating diet 
will soon make matters straight. 
HEADACHE.—Dogs frequently suffer from 
headache. The symptoms are dulness, 
quietness, slight injection of the eye, and 
heat on the top of the head. Bathe the 
head for a quarter of an hour at the time 
with cold water. Give in the morning a 
dose of Epsom salts, with a little spirits 
of nitre. Give sulphur, a small dose, half 
a drachm to three drachms, every second 
night; reduce the diet, and let the dog 
have abundance of fresh air. 
SIMPLE CaTARRH succumbs readily to a 
dose of mindererus spirit at night, or to a 
dose of Dover’s powder. Foment the fore- 
head and nose frequently with hot water. 
Give Epsom salts, with a little spirits of 
nitre, in the morning, adding thereto from 
one to six grains of quinine. Light diet. 
SIMPLE CONSTIPATION is relieved by the 
bucket bath every morning, or a quarter of 
an hour’s swim before breakfast. A piece 
of raw liver is a good aperient. Opening 
the bowels is not curing constipation. 
The cause must be sought for and removed. 
Plenty of exercise and a non-binding diet 
will do much good. 
SimMPLE SKIN DISEASES usually yield to 
application of the home-made lotion, com- 
posed of one part of paraffin, two parts of 
salad oil, mixed with sufficient powdered 
sulphur to form a cream. 
Pain.—Pain is inseparable from animal 
life, but much can be done to relieve it. 
No one except a professional man ought to 
handle such powerful narcotics as opium 
and its preparations, but there are other 
means which anyone can apply. The 
warm bath (not hot) is an excellent remedy 
for little dogs. Then we have hot fomenta- 
tions. These are used thus: Have two 
pieces of flannel, each large enough to well 
cover the part. The flannel must be three 
or four ply. Wring each piece, time about, 
out of water as hot as the hand will bear 
it, and apply to the seat of pain; keep on 
fomenting for half an hour atatime. This 
is best suited for short-haired dogs. For 
long-haired there is nothing better than 
the bag of hot sand, or ironing with a 
heated iron, if there is no skin tenderness. 
Chloral hydrate is seldom to be given to 
589 
produce sleep, or allay internal pain, with- 
out the orders of a skilled veterinary sur- 
geon; but in cases of rheumatism, or great 
pain from injury, such as broken bones, 
etc., a little may be given. The dose is 
from five grains to twenty or thirty. 
The hydropathic belt often does much 
good. It is used thus: A bandage is to 
be wrung out of cold water and wound 
several times round the animal’s body— 
the hair being previously wetted—and then 
covered with a dry bandage, or oiled silk 
may be placed over the wet bandage. It 
must, however, be kept wet. This, worn 
for a day or two, is found useful in cases 
of chronic or sub-acute bowel disorder, 
whether diarrhoea or constipation. 
Two grains of powdered alum to an 
ounce of water is a nice little wash for sore 
eyes. Drop a little in night and morning. 
Cold green tea infusion is another. 
Tincture of arnica half an ounce, one 
ounce of brandy, and a tumblerful of cold 
water make a soothing wash for sprains or 
bruises from blows. 
When the skin is not off, turpentine acts 
like a charm to a burn. 
Quinine and Virol are capital restoratives 
when a dog is thin and out of sorts. 
Examples might be multiplied, but 
enough has been said to prove that simple 
remedies are not always to be despised. 
So valuable an animal as the dog de- 
serves all the care and attention we can give 
him when ill. It is not possible to cure 
every case, but in the very worst cases 
there is one thing that can always be done 
—we can alleviate suffering. 
It is well to conclude this chapter with a 
warning to over-anxious owners of dogs. 
These are generally very tender and affec- 
tionate masters or mistresses, but make ex- 
ceedingly bad nurses. The practice I wish 
to mention, and at the same time to con- 
demn, is that of recklessly dosing a sick 
dog with nutriment when he has no inclina- 
tion but probably a loathing for food. It 
is impossible for anything forced into the 
stomach at such a time to do the slightest 
good, because it remains undigested; but it 
will do much harm by acting like a foreign 
body in the stomach, and at such a time, 
if nature makes an attempt to assimilate 
such nourishment, it will be added to the 
