192 THE MANAGEMENT AND DISEASES OF THE DOG. 



ground, so as to obtain a slight relief, and then with an in- 

 stinctive feeling he flaps his- ears and shakes his head rapidly 

 and repeatedly, so as to keep up the pleasurable relief he thus 

 obtains. Should the symptoms be not so severe as those 

 which I have now mentioned, the animal may still be sus- 

 pected, at a glance, to be laboring under acute disease of the 

 ear, by his running about with little intermission, his mouth 

 open, and tongue protruded, and panting, and with a stupid 

 sensibility shaking his head, and pointing the affectfed ear to 

 the ground. These symptoms, however, are most commonly 

 allowed to pass unheeded, and in a few days a partial relief is 

 obtained to the animal by the sudden and profuse discharge 

 of a quantity of foetid pus. From this time the general and 

 constitutional symptoms disappear, and those indicative of 

 the local affection are alone predominant. The local dis- 

 charge of pus, or pus and blood, becomes daily more and 

 more fcetid, in consequence of the extension of the disease to 

 the body tissue of the meatus, and the poor animal is thrust 

 aside as an object of loathing and disgust. 



" Should the dog, in the earlier stage of the disease, be 

 muzzled and cast, and an inspection of the meatus be had 

 recourse to, then there will either be found a phlegmonous 

 abscess of the cellulo-fibrous structure of the meatus, circurq- 

 scribed dermo-periostitis of the inner part of the tube, with 

 caries of the osseous portion, or internal muco-tympanitis, 

 with perforation of the membrana tympani, and evacuation of 

 the matter along the external canal. 



" In that form of the disease to which I specially refer — 

 where a polypoid excrescence follows and accompanies the 

 ulceration or caries — if a period of three weeks or a month be 

 allowed to elapse between the first exhibition of the discharge 

 and the examination of the meatus, it may be found that the 

 vegetation has attained a considerable size, and the discharge 

 has become more and more profuse and bloody. The extent 

 of bloody discharge, and its fcetidity, will much depend on the 

 nature of the tumor, and the original tissue of the meatus 



