318 
JAUNDICE IN THE DOG. 
animal. But if the patient’s appetite should not be sufficiently 
restored to enable it to relish either of those kinds of food, 
oleum ricini will answer as an aperient. The alterative me- 
dicine is omitted during the operation of the purgative, but is 
usually administered again the next morning, and continued for 
three days, as before, until the animal’s skin, and other parts of 
the body, begin to approach their natural colour, which indicates 
the convalescent state of the animal. Blue pill is decidedly 
preferable to calomel as a medicinal agent in hepatic affections 
of the dog, because it is retained in the stomach without ex- 
citing any apparent nausea; at the same time that its salutary 
effects upon the liver, from their being well marked, stamp it as 
an efficient remedy. But in treating a case of hepatitis, it may 
be necessary to have recourse to counter-irritants, to blisters, 
setons, the warm bath, &c. 
During the continuance of an attack of yellows, dogs lose 
their flesh fast, and, if the attack should have been a severe 
one, the emaciation which ensues renders the animal a pitiable 
object before his desire for food returns. At first, the appetite 
is squeamish, and requires coaxing with nice slop food ; such 
as good mutton broth with a small quantity of soaked wheaten 
bread in it, or good milk porridge, thickened with oatmeal and 
flavoured with salt; and by means of making the porridge more 
nutritious an egg may be beaten up and boiled in it. Animal 
food must be cautiously given, and that should be of a light and 
nutritious quality, such as sheep's paunches well washed and 
slightly boiled, and then sliced and given in the broth, 
which ought to be also thickened with oatmeal and flavoured 
with salt. This suits the digestive organs of the dog, and 
perhaps answers the restorative purpose better than the con- 
tinued use of tonic or other kinds of medicine. When the 
patient is sufficiently restored, short walks daily in the field will 
strengthen the system, and at the same time afford the animal 
an opportunity of eating the dog-grass, which is usually sought 
during the convalescent state, or so long as any functional dis- 
turbance of the digestive system remains. As the dog improves 
in health he will require more animal food and stronger exercise, 
in order to restore his strength and condition. 
The epidemic form of yellows is, perhaps, little more than an 
attack of bilious fever, and is usually carried off by a dose or 
two of blue pill, and sulphate of magnesia to empty the bowels, 
which may be taken in any kind of liquid food that the dog is 
fond of. The sick dogs should be taken from the kennel during 
the continuance of the disease, and be kept on such light and 
digestible food as will suit an attack of functional disturbance of 
the digestive system. 
Melton Mowbray, May 14th, 1851. 
