ON THE DISOEDEES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPAEATUS. 145 



but, with Mayhew, we must urge that " the food must not 

 suddenly be reduced to starvation point. . . . The 

 structures have been so much changed that medicine 

 cannot be expected to restore them. The pet may be 

 saved to its indulgent mistress, and again perhaps 

 exhibit all the charms for which it was ever prized ; but 

 the sporting dog will never be made capable of doing 

 work, and certainly it is not to be selected to breed from 

 after it has sustained an attack of hepatitis." 



Degbnebations op the Livee in carnivora generally 

 assume the fatty form, the organ being enlarged and 

 softened. Sometimes the enlargement is extreme and 

 detectable with the greatest facility, and the liver is prac- 

 tically a mass of fat, the result of both true fatty de- 

 generation and of infiltration. Magendie, the illustrious 

 physiologist, fed a dog on fresh butter for sixty- eight 

 days; it became remarkably fat, but died ultimately of 

 inanition. Throughout the course of the experiment the 

 animal smelt strongly of butyric acid, and its hair was 

 greasy. The liver was very fatty, " and, on analysis, it 

 was found to contain a very large quantity of stearine, 

 but little or no oleine ; it had acted as a kind of filter for 

 the butter" (Budd). Other dogs fed wholly on fat be- 

 came very fat but anaemic. We see similar experiments 

 involuntarily performed by dog-owners around us on 

 every side daily ; pampered, highly-fed pets become slug- 

 gish in their movements, enormously fat, anaemic, irre- 

 gular in the bowels, and big in the belly. They may 

 succumb to coexistent fatty degeneration of the heart, or 

 suddenly lose flesh and show all the signs of chronic 

 hepatitis. A gradual alteration of the diet and increase 

 of the amount of exercise taken may be tried when fatty 

 liver is diagnosed. A small amount of fresh liver should 

 be given occasionally in the food. Medicinally, benefit 

 may result from small doses of chlorate of potash given 

 daily for a long time. Cirrhosis, amyloid change, and 

 other degenerations of the liver are not often seen in 

 dogs. Rupture of the liver has been recorded only as a 

 result of injury. 



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