to DISEABEa 07 DOOS. 



I always adopt the plan of reserving bones imtil after the dogs hare 

 fed, for if given with the other food they are at once picked out, and 

 the smaller ones are, when the dog is hungry, apt to be swallowed 

 unmasticated, and produce choking. 



Frequently by manipulating the throat outside with the fingers 

 the obstruction can be worked down the gullet ; or if it can be felt 

 in the upper part of the throat, it may be removed by the throat 

 forceps, which most veterinary surgeons keep by them. Woodroffe 

 Hill recommends, when the substance is too low for extraction, and 

 manipulating with the fingers externally fails, to endeavour gently 

 to force it down with a piece of bent whalebone, having a piece of 

 sponge tied to the end of it, and dipped in oH In using this extra 

 care must be taken that the sponge is so firmly attached to the 

 whalebone that it cannot slip off, for if swallowed it might effectually 

 block up one of the smaller intestines ; therefore cut nicks in the 

 whalebone, into which tie the piece of sponge. To prevent the pieca 

 of sponge becoming lodged in the ossophagus a piece of thread should 

 be inserted through it, and held in the hand as well as the whalebone, 

 so that should it slip from the point of the whalebone, it may be 

 recovered by pulling the string. I give these instructions as they 

 may be useful ; but relief by hand is usually the only possible aid, 

 and in most cases the dog would be dead before the instrument 

 could be got ready. . Fortunately cases of choking are very rare. 

 As soreness, if not actually laceration, is almost sure to be caused, 

 the dog should for some days afterwards be restricted to soft food. 



CHOBEA. — This most distressing complaint arises from some 

 derangement of the nervous system, and generally exists as a 

 sequence of distemper, when it is known among kennel men as " the 

 twitch." A disease in many respects resembling and often mis- 

 taken for Chorea, or St. Vitus's Dance may, however, arise from 

 other causes producing a disturbing effect on the nervous system, 

 such as a severe injury or blow on the head, the irritation caused by 

 worms, or long continued impaired digestion. This is not true 

 chorea, which can only follow distemper. 



The symptom indicating chorea is a peculiar Involuntary con- 

 vulsive twitching of the muscles. These spasmodic movements or 

 jerkings may be either partial or general, but usually partial. One 

 or both hind legs are affected ; or the twitching may extend to the 

 muscles of the fore legs, neck, and shoulders, in which case the head 

 is bobbed up and down in a silly, helpless manner. Sometimes the 

 eyelids and muscles of the face are affected ; but whatever part of 

 the body is attacked, the peculiar twitching or jerking is always un- 

 mistakable. When the hindquarters are the seat of the disease, the 



