150 THE DISEASES 0E THE DOG. 



disease in its earliest and uncomplicated stages and it not 

 unfrequently is the manifestation of some systemic disorder. 

 Thus it is found in leukaemia, a disease not infrequent in 

 the dog, and in malarious fevers. 



Excision of the Spleen is an operation which is not un- 

 frequently performed for physiological inquiries, and 

 carnivora are capable of resisting the constitutional effects 

 of removal of this large organ, probably by compensatory 

 increase of other hsematogenic organs, also they are very 

 tolerant of the operation for its ablation. This non- 

 essentiality of the spleen accounts for its being capable 

 of undergoing extensive, disease changes without material 

 interference with the animal's health. Medicinal treat- 

 ment is not likely to be . effectual, although the influence 

 of iodine and tonic doses continued for a long time may 

 be tried, and the bowels kept open by aloes and calomel. 

 As the organ increases in size (and it sometimes attains 

 enormous proportions) it much encroaches on the space 

 in the belly occupied by the bowels, and causes disturb- 

 ance of them. 



Hemorrhagic Tumours of the spleen are often found in 

 the dog ; generally they are of some standing as denoted 

 by the conditions of successive clots. Adams, of Oossoor, 

 relates* an instance in which the organ was of enormous 

 size (2 1^ in. long and 9 inches broad; weight 6 lbs.) 

 and quite a jelly-like mass lying along the whole floor of 

 the belly. The patient was an Australian deerhound and 

 died from rupture of the organ, where it lay against the 

 pelvis. The rupture Mr. Adams considered due to very 

 slight exertion, the disease of the spleen to cachexia in- 

 duced by the change of climate from Australia to India. 

 In my experience, these cases are always found in large 

 dogs ; they generally involve only part of the spleen ; they 

 usually prove fatal by rupture. They seem non-malig- 

 nant in nature. I find three mentioned in my notebook ; 

 one was a true hEemorrhagic tumour in a mastiff bitch in 

 a state of chronic anaemia, another in a retriever dog, also 

 anaemic ; in each case the spleen was detectable as en- 



* 'Veterinary Journal,' xx, p. 250, 



