46 DISEASES OF DOGS. 



often resorted to by keepers and those having the care of sporting field 

 dogs — and the lodgment of water in the ear cavity. In the latter 

 case, pouring in a little pure oU of sweet almonds may give relief ; 

 and in the other cases the treatment recommended for internal 

 canker may be beneficially followed with, in addition, the application 

 of a blister behind the ears. Whilst the dog is under treatment, 

 cooling aperient medicine should be given, and a light diet, with gi-een 

 vegetables, adopted. Dogs bom deaf seem to have their other senses 

 q^uickened ; they are generally remarkably sharp at interpreting 

 signs given by the master, and anyone rearing a deaf dog should 

 adopt a system of signs and keep to them. 



DEBILITY AITD WASTING.— It sometimes happens that 

 a dog is observed to gradually become weak, and to waste in flesh 

 without any apparent cause. In such cases give a dose of the 

 Podophyllin Pills every second or third night tiU three doses have 

 been administered ; 10 to 60 drops of Easton's Syrup, in water, twice 

 or three times a day, after food, will also be productive of good. 

 Add to the diet some raw lean meat three times a day, Avith a dose of 

 pepsin porei sprinkled over each portion, and carefully look for any 

 symptoms of divergence from health which may indicate the cause of 

 the trouble. 



DESTRTTCTION OF DOGS.— It is often necessary to 



destroy dogs that have become so crippled or injured as to make 

 cure very doubtful ; and in most litters of puppies there are some 

 so puny or so wanting in the characteristics of the breed that they 

 ought not to be reared. In the latter case it is most humane to 

 destroy such as are not wanted as soon after they are bom as 

 possible ; but even when a misalliance has taken place, one at least 

 of the puppies should be left with the dam, unless one or more foster 

 pups of pure blood can be substituted. For destroying young puppies 

 there is no more convenient or less painful method than drowning ; 

 while for matiire dogs a teaspoonful of Scheele's prussic acid will 

 cause instantaneous death. In giving it, the mouth of the dog 

 should be held open and upwards, and the acid poured well back on 

 the tongue. The very greatest care is however necessary in dealing 

 with a drug of such potency ; and it would be highly dangerous to 

 life if any of it were spilled over a cut or wound. At the Dogs' 

 Home, Batteraea Park, London, where large numbers of dogs have 

 to be destroyed, a lethal chamber, the suggestion of Dr. Kichardson, 

 is used. In this chamber a number of " dogs are placed, and 

 death is soon produced, unconsciousness to pain being immediate. 



