SECTION XXI 



POISONS AND POISONING 



POISONING in the dog may be accidental or 

 intentional. The former may come about by 

 the animal picking up poisoned meat or other food 

 laid down for vermin, or the patient may show 

 symptoms after an overdose of some drug given 

 empirically. Some animals show a great suscepti- 

 bility to the action of some drugs, notably strych- 

 nin, symptoms of poisoning appearing after even 

 moderate medicinal doses. Poisons cause death 



1. By their corrosive or tissue-destroying proper- 

 ties; 



2. By their physiological action; 



3. By a combination of (1) and (2). 

 Poisoning in canine patients, whether intentional 



or accidental, is only too often fatal, the quantity 

 of the drug ingested in nearly every case being 

 large and the patient's condition often not discovered 

 until irreparable damage has been done. The usual 

 portals through which poisons are absorbed are the 

 respiratory and digestive system, with air or food. 

 Occasionally they are absorbed through wounds in 

 the skin. 



Pathology of Poisoning 



Local Effects. — These are the results of the action 

 of the poison on the living cells with which it 

 comes in contact and consist of more or less violent 

 irritation, varying in degree from congestion or in- 

 flammation to mortification, and these local effects 

 react on the whole system, giving rise to fever,, col- 

 lapse, and other serious conditions. 



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