ABC GUIDE TO CANINE AILMENTS. 
or four times. To do any good, the whole of the 
dog’s coat must be drenched in oil, and the dog 
washed with good dog soap and warm water 
twelve hours afterwards. 
Hunting recommends, to kill lice and fleas, a 
solution of soft soap in spirits of wine, medicated 
with creosote in the proportion of one ounce to a 
pound of the soap. It is very effectual. You 
pour a portion of it along the spine and down 
the legs and thighs, work it into a lather with 
warm. water, and well work it all over the coat. 
Then wash clean, and give a bucket-bath of soft 
water. 
Liver. 
JAUNDICE, 
Lock-jaw (technical term TYetanus).—We sel- 
dom meet with this, but it is a most terrible com- 
plaint, often called rabies by the ignorant. I 
question the utility of forcing the jaws open. 
Sedatives, such as hydrate of chloral, 2 to 12 
grains, with 5 to 30 grains of bromide of potassium, 
in plenty of water, may be given thrice daily. 
Liquid. nourishment only, beef tea, eggs, milk, and 
Bovril. Send for skilled vet. 
Lumbago.—Pain, stiffness, semi-loss of power in 
hind legs. Stimulating embrocations, ammonia 
and turpentine, application of hot iron over 
flannel. Bandage to be worn. Otherwise treated 
as for rheumatism. 
Mange.—Not a very happy term used to denote 
many kinds of disease of the skin of the dog. 
It is no doubt derived from the French manger, 
to eat. Vets. of the old school and gamekeepers 
use it most. It will be found described in the 
paragraphs on Skin Diseases. 
Medicines.——I have already mentioned this at 
page 591, but I may add here medicine must 
always take a second place to the proper manage- 
ment of cases, as of sickness with regard to (1) 
rest, (2) quiet, (3) light and sunshine, (4) warmth 
or cold, (5) fresh air, (6) the sick bed or bedding, 
(7) appropriate food, and (8) proper drink. It 
should be the aim and object of all medical men, 
whether doctors or veterinary surgeons, to: teach 
those who do not know how to prevent illnesses, 
and this will undoubtedly be the practice in the 
future. 
Though not holding with the doctrine of 
homeopathy and infinitesimal doses, or the 
similia similibus curantur, small doses are cer- 
tainly less dangerous than big ones. 
' Really good dog-doctors are scarce, and it is 
always best if advice is needed to have a regularly 
qualified veterinary surgeon, and if he is worth 
his salt he will explain to the owner of the dog the 
physiology and pathology of the case and his plan 
of treatment, with its why and its wherefore. 
The veterinary surgeon is, however, not always 
at hand, especially in the country or at sea. It is 
therefore obligatory on all who keep a dog to 
know when to physic him, what to give him, 
and where to get it. I have therefore considered 
it my duty to give in my supplementary chapter, 
page 619, a complete description of the Doc’s 
See SLUGGISH LIVER and HEPATITIS ; also 
77 
609 
MEDICINE CUPBOARD, and what it should contain, 
with several hints that will, I trust, be found 
handy. 
Meningitis, or Inflammation of the Brain, 
is a disease we find sometimes among puppies, 
especially if over-fed and excited by too much 
exercise in the sun. It may be caused by worms 
as well as the poison of distemper. 
Symptoms.—Fits, convulsions, whining or 
moaning, great heat of head, and a rise in the 
temperature of several degrees. 
Treatment.—On correct diagnosis this entirely 
depends, so that, although opening medicine and 
salines in the form of nitrate and chlorate of 
potash in the drinking water should be given by 
the owner, he should seek the assistance of a 
skilled vet. as quickly as possible. If one cannot 
be had, keep the animal in a quiet, cool, dark- 
ened apartment, and give only the lightest of 
nourishment, milk, beef-tea, milk and egg mix- 
ture, etc., and put ice to the head for fifteen 
minutes at a time. 
Milk Troubles. Vide LACTATION. 
Mouth, Ailments of—-The mouth of the dog is 
one of the most important portions of his anatomy, 
important to himself and to his owner as well. 
Nature has not given hands to the dog whereby 
he can form weapons of defence, but has pro- 
vided him with splendid teeth in lieu thereof. 
Like the human being, he is furnished during 
his lifetime with two sets of teeth. The first— 
the milk teeth—are all cut within a fortnight after 
the birth of the puppy. They are exceedingly 
beautiful and very fragile. They begin to fall 
out and be replaced in the following order: First 
the front teeth or incisors go (this in from a month 
to seven weeks), and soon after the second, third, 
and fourth molars fall out, and in a few months 
the other molars follow suit; so that in from 
five to six or eight months the milk teeth are 
replaced by the permanent. These latter are 
forty-two in number, twenty-two occupying the 
lower and twenty the upper jaw. The following 
is the correct formula as given by the highest 
authorities :— 
Upper, jaw.—Incisors, 6; Fangs, 1—1; 
Molars, 6—6 = 20 
Lower jaw.—Incisors, 6; Fangs,1—1;( = 47° 
Molars, 7—7 = 22 
In most breeds of dogs the teeth are level, that 
is, the incisors of the two jaws meet when the 
mouth is closed, so that you cannot insert your 
finger-nail behind either row. But some breeds of 
dogs are underhung, and in some the upper jaw 
projects. The four middle incisors are called the 
pincers, the next four at each side of these’ the 
intermediates, and the last four flanking these 
molars. 
The teeth of the young dog, and, indeed, of 
any dog that has been properly cared for and 
correctly fed, are beautifully white and pearly, 
one reason for this being that the crown, or ex- 
