CHAPTER IV. 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH. 



INDIGESTION, GASTRITIS, 



VOMITING, INVERSION, 



WORMS, CALCULI IN THE STOMACH, 



HUSK, FOREIGN BODIES. 



INDIGESTION. 



The stomach of the dog is not so liable to disease as might 

 be expected, considering the source from which at times he 

 derives his sustenance (see "Feeding"), the morbid appetite 

 that prompts him to devour strange and unnatural substances, 

 the long fasts he frequently endures, and the " get what you 

 can " rule of diet. Nevertheless he is subject, and some dogs 

 more than others, to the diseases mentioned in this chapter, 

 one of the most frequent of which is dyspepsia or indigestion, 

 the causes operating in its production being much the same as 

 in ourselves. Long fasts, innutritious and indigestible food, 

 disease of the digestive organs, imperfect mastication, defi- 

 ciency in the biliary, gastric, or salivary secretions, want of 

 exercise, and suspension in the alvine evacuations. 



Symptoms. — Flatulency, acrid eructations, constipation or 

 diarrhoea, fulness of the abdomen, spasmodic pains, depres-, 

 sion, loss of appetite, dry furred tongue, thirst, often increased 



(S8) 



