362 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



for the digestion of ligaments, tendons, and often cartilages and bones, 

 and such, substances will often remain in the stomach for days at a time. 

 The digestibility of certain kinds of animal food appears to be altered 

 according as the substances are cooked or raw ; gelatinous tissues, such 

 as tendons, are more readily digested when cooked, evidently due to the 

 conversion of the collagenous bodies into gelatin. Albuminous tissues, 

 on the other hand, especiallj' the glandular structures, such as liver, 

 kidney, etc., lose in digestibility when cooked, unless the cooking is very 

 prolonged, when a stage of peptonization may be inaugurated. Muscular 

 tissue seems to be equally digestible when raw as when cooked. Feed- 

 ing on raw meat is the natural normal diet of the pure canrivora, and 

 even carnivorous animals in a state of domestication appear to digest 

 raw meat more regularly and with less diarrhoea than when fed on cooked 

 meat, which is often followed by a fetid diarrhoea; thus, a little raw meat 

 given to dogs will keep their skin supple, the hair soft, and their general 

 condition will be improved. 



Prom what has been said, it is, then, clear that ordinary house refuse is all 

 that dogs require for food. When a number of dogs are kept, this will not, as a 

 rule, be sufficient ; so, then, it is necessary to give some further idea as to the 

 best and most economical plans of feeding a kennel of dogs. For ordinary feed- 

 ing in town, as recommended by Dinks and Mayhew, beef-heads, sheep-heads, feet, 

 and offal should be cleaned, chopped up, boiled in water, filling up the kettle as 

 the water boils away, until all the meat separates in shreds. To this may be 

 added a little salt and any cheap vegetable, such as cabbage, parsnips, potatoes, 

 or turnips. Put this soup aside, and then boil old Indian meal till it is quite stiff; 

 let it also get cold. When required, take as much meal as may be required, and 

 enough broth to liquefy it. 



In the country, during the summer, skimmed milk, sour milk, buttermilk, or 

 whey may be used in place of the broth. In the winter the soup should be alter- 

 nated with meal — never use new Indian meal, it scours. Although Indian meal 

 has not as much sugar or albumen as oats, it does tolerably well ; but when a great • 

 amount of work is expected of the dogs, as in a month's shooting excursion, oat- 

 meal should always be used, as a less bulk is more nourishing than Indiau meal, 

 and old meal cannot always be obtained, or meat to make soup. Oatmeal-porridge 

 and milk are capital under such circumstances. 



In a house there are always bones, potato-peelings, and pot-liquor : by clean- 

 ing all the potatoes, and throwing all into the dog-pot, the dogs are greatly 

 benefited. Rutabagas are good boiled in soup. Boiled meat alone seems to 

 destroy the scent of dogs ; so, also, greasy substances. 



Alimentary substances introduced into the stomach are changed in 

 the way already indicated. All albuminous bodies are converted into 

 peptone. Starch may be slightly converted into sugar through the action 

 of the salivary ferment, or, after passing into the intestine, through the 

 action of the pancreatic ferment. Herbaceous matters are not digested 

 by dogs, even though often taken in great quantities, and they are either 

 again vomited, pass in the faeces, or may cause intestinal obstruction. 

 When raw vegetable substances are swallowed by carnivorous animals it 

 is only the salts of vegetable acids which are extracted, while the skele- 

 tons, containing starch and albuminous matters, remain behind. It is 



