AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
291 
backwards towards the door. The surly savage returned 
growling to his lair; and, in a state of stupefaction, I found 
myself in the open air. A bugle was playing, and the 
light infantry company of my own regiment was entering 
the Village, with loud shouts and hurras . — London Sport- 
ing Magazine. 
DISEASES OF DOGS. 
Wild animals, reclaimed from a state of nature and do- 
mesticated, are susceptible of great change and variety in 
form, colour, and character; and owing, no doubt, to being 
thus compelled to assume in some degree, an artificial mode 
of life, they are rendered more liable to disorders. Animals 
in a state of nature are little subject to disease: and though 
the wild Dog subsists on flesh and carrion, it is more than 
probable he is never troubled with what is distinguished by 
the appellation of the distemper , or any of that long cata- 
logue of disorders, to which the Dog is rendered obnoxious 
after having become the companion of man. However, 
thus much may be truly observed, that if a Dog be properly 
fed and exercised, has plenty of good clean water, and his 
bed kept clean, he will not in general be much troubled 
with disease; and this rule will be found to obtain more 
particularly if he be kept in the country.' 
The Distemper . — The distemper frequently attacks a 
Dog before he has attained his first year. As a preliminary 
observation, it may be remarked, that the same membrane 
which lines the nostrils extends down the windpipe into 
the lungs; and the distemper, in the first instance, may be 
regarded as an inflammation of this membrane; which, if 
not removed, extends down to the lungs, where suppuration 
will soon be produced; when the animal’s eye will become 
dull, accompanied by a mucus discharge, a cough, and loss 
of appetite. As the disease advances, it presents various 
appearances, but is frequently attended with twitchings 
about the head, while the animal becomes excessively weak 
in the loins and hinder extremities; indeed he appears 
completely emaciated, and smells intolerably. At length, 
the twitchings assume the appearance of convulsive fits, 
accompanied with giddiness, which cause the Dog to turn 
round: he has a constant disposition to dung, with obstinate 
costiveness or incessant purging. 
On the first appearance of the symptoms which I have 
described, I should recommend the Dog to be bled* very 
* Bleeding . — In speaking on this subject, I am not supposing that the 
sportsman is a member of the medical profession in any of its branches, 
but sufficiently skilled in anatomy to know a vein from an artery, which is 
freely, and his body to be opened with a little castor oil or 
syrup of buckthorn: this will generally remove the disease 
altogether, if applied the moment the first symptoms ap- 
pear. If, however, this treatment should not have the 
desired effect, and a cough ensues, accompanied with a 
discharge at the nose, give him from two grains to eight 
of tartar emetic (according to the age and size of the Dog,) 
every other day. When the nervous symptoms ensue, 
which I have already described, external stimulants (such 
as sal-ammoniac and oil, equal parts,) should be rubbed 
along the course of the spinal marrow, and tonics given 
internally, such as bark, &c. 
Of the various remedies, the following was given with 
success to a Dog, so afflicted as to be scarcely able to 
stand: — 
Turbeth’s mineral, six grains, 
mixed with sulphur, and divided into three doses, one given 
every other morning. Let a few days elapse, and repeat 
the course. 
Another: 
Calomel, one grain and a half, 
Rhubarb, five grains. 
given every other day for a week. 
Another: 
Antimonial powder, sixteen grains, 
Powdered fox-glove, one grain, 
made into four bolusses with conserve of roses, and one 
given at night, and another the next morning, for two days. 
all the knowledge requisite for performing the operation of bleeding a Dog. 
A vein* may be distinguished from an artery by its having no pulsation ; 
if an artery of any consequence shall be divided, the blood will flow in irre- 
gular gushes, it will be difficult to stop, and may cause the death of the 
Dog. However, there is little danger of such an unpleasant circumstance 
happening, and an ordinary degree of attention is quite sufficient to obviate 
it. The most convenient and the best place to bleed a Dog, is to open a 
vein, (the jugular vein,) longitudinally, in the side of the neck, round which 
a cord should be first tied ; and if the sportsman is not expert at handling a 
lancet, he may purchase a fleam at any of the shops where surgical instru- 
ments are sold, which, by means of springs, is so contrived, that the great- 
est bungler need be under no apprehension. Those who sell this instru- 
ment will describe the method of using it, which indeed is so obvious at first 
view, as to render elucidation superfluous in this place. 
If, after the vein is opened, the animal should not bleed freely, pressure a 
little below the orifice will cause the blood to flow. When sufficient blood 
has been taken, (eight ounces, if a strong Dog,) the bleeding will generally 
subside ; should this hot be the case, a little fur from a hat will stop it, or 
the lips of the orifice may be drawn together with a needle and thread. 
The vein should be opened longitudinally, as I have already observed ; as, 
if opened in a transverse direction, it may be difficult to stop the bleeding, 
owing to the circumstance of the incision opening every time the Dog holds 
down or stretches out his head. 
Caustic or hot iron will stop bleeding, even when an artery is divided ; or , 
it may be sewn up. 
* An artery brings the blood from the heart ; a vein carries back the blood to the heart 
