Part 10

The milk can be peptonised with Fairchild’s peptonised powders, which can be bought at any chemist’s shop.

Brand’s meat essences are excellent foods in cases of stomach disorders. Benger’s peptonised beef jelly is a very easily digested preparation, and very useful in cases of severe vomiting.

Raw meat beef-tea, made by soaking for a couple of hours half a pound of scraped lean raw beef in half a pint of cold water, then stood in front of a fire to get warm, then straining and squeezing through a coarse tea-cloth. Or the juice may be pressed from raw meat with one of Dr. Klein’s meat-squeezing machines. This is very nourishing and easily digested, and dogs are fond of it, and often will take it voluntarily when refusing other foods.

An excellent combined food for dogs very ill, especially with distemper, when the patient is very weak, or during convalescence, is made as follows:—

To a breakfast cup of milk, thickened with Benger’s food, add the white of an egg, a full teaspoonful of invalid bovril, and a dessertspoonful of brandy; of this give from one[1] to six tablespoonfuls every two or three hours alternately, with some beef-tea or meat extract.

Messrs. Spratts’ Patent have recently introduced a new food for invalids. It is a granulated meal, and they call it Invalid Food. It is a most excellent preparation, and every dog I have offered it to has eaten it with avidity. I have found it a very useful diet for distemper patients mixed with milk; and I have given it to puppies just weaned, and they have thriven well on it. Though this new food is called Invalid Food, it is an excellent preparation either mixed with milk or soup for small dogs; if meat is required it can easily be added, as it contains none, but I am told that it contains a special meal, and that little or no meat is necessary.

The same preparation is put up in the form of biscuits which are crisp without being hard, and small dogs eat them with pleasure. No doubt all dogs are better for having something hard to gnaw once a day. It preserves the teeth, hardens the gums, and assists digestion.

Animal Kreochyle is an excellent extract of meat for use in cases of great weakness, the result of distemper or from any other disease. It is also an excellent remedy in stomach disorders accompanied by sickness. Dogs, as a rule, take Kreochyle very readily, and it is easily digested and assimilated.

=Irritation of Skin=:

_Symptoms_: Constantly scratching, biting, and licking the skin, which when examined, there is often nothing to be seen. The condition occurs in hot weather, especially during the shedding of the old coat.

_Treatment_: Give a sulphur bath made by dissolving one ounce sulphurated potash in a pail of tepid water; repeat every two or three days. If this does not give relief, bathe the dog in a warm solution of borax, one tablespoonful to a gallon of water. Give saline aperient medicine, as Dinneford’s fluid magnesia, to small dogs, and Epsom salts to large ones. A meat diet is often beneficial in these cases, but sometimes it increases the irritation; then, of course, it must be avoided, and other food with green vegetables substituted.

=Itch=:

_See_ MANGE.

=Jaundice=:

_Symptoms_: Generally the result of congestion of the liver, caused by chill; may be due to impaction of the duct with a bile stone, or worms; or the opening of the duct into the bowel may be stopped by thickening of the bowel membrane. The attack generally commences with sickness, dullness, loss of appetite; and the membranes of the mouth and eyes turn yellow, and so does the skin. There is generally obstinate constipation, and what is passed from bowel is usually grey or slate colour. The urine is scanty and high-coloured.

Jaundice is also a symptom of organic disease of the liver.

_Treatment_: When the result of congestion caused by a chill, I have found, after many years’ experience, that the homœopathic preparations of Nux Vomica 3 × and Merc. Sol. 3 × act well in these cases. Of the trituration give from two[1] to ten grains of each every three or four hours. If the bowels do not operate on the second day, give an enema of from two tablespoonfuls to half a pint[1] of warm soapy water; repeat daily if necessary. Hot linseed-meal poultices may be applied to abdomen.

_Diet_: Mutton broth (in which some green vegetables have been cooked), with toast or stale bread; milk and Vichy water in equal parts to drink; later boiled fish or tripe. When the condition is the result of obliteration of the duct, there is nothing to be done; relief may occur spontaneously, or an operation may be performed, but it is not recommended. When jaundice is due to organic disease of the liver, it cannot be cured, but the Nux Vomica and Merc. Sol. treatment will sometimes give temporary relief. The application of iodine vasogen over the enlarged liver in these latter cases is often useful in relieving tension of the organ.

=Kennels, How to Disinfect=:

After dogs have been suffering from any contagious disease, like distemper or mange, in a kennel, it is necessary to thoroughly disinfect them, and it is best done in the following manner:—

In a strong tin dish from half to a pound of sulphur, according to the size of the kennel, should be placed. A few drops of methylated spirits should be poured on top of the sulphur, and a light applied, the methylated spirits being added to make the sulphur ignite more easily. The kennel should then be made as air-tight as possible by having strips of paper pasted over all the crevices and around the window-frames, so that the sulphur fumes cannot escape. The kennel should be kept sealed up for forty-eight hours, after which the windows and doors may be thrown open so as to thoroughly ventilate the place, and the following day the whole of the inside kennel should be thoroughly washed with a strong solution of Pearson’s fluid, 1 in 40. The walls and ceilings when dry should be afterwards well lime-washed or sulphur-washed—that is, finely powdered sulphur mixed with water and size, the same way as whitewash is prepared. A day or two later, when everything is thoroughly dry, the kennel will be quite fit to receive dogs, or even puppies, without any fear of infection.

=Kidneys (Inflammation of, Acute)=:

_Symptoms_: The attack generally comes on suddenly; may arise from severe chill, but generally the result of stone in the kidneys. There is great pain over the loins; the dog walks with difficulty and arched back; the temperature rises 3 or 4 degs. above normal; the pulse is quick and full; the urine is high-coloured and scanty—sometimes it is the colour of blood, and mixed with mucus and pus; the limbs may swell from dropsy, and the dog is very thirsty and often frequently sick.

_Treatment_: Give saline purgative medicine, as Epsom salts, from twenty grains to one ounce[1] in warm milk; repeat the next or following day. Also give every four hours from five to thirty grains[1] of hyposulphite of soda in a little water. As to food, it should consist principally of milk mixed with equal parts of Vichy water, and a little boiled fish. If sickness very severe, give from half to two drops[1] of diluted hydrocyanic acid in a teaspoonful of water every two, three, or four hours, and ice to lick. After the acute stages have passed, give tonics, as the ammoniated citrate of iron, from one to five grains,[1] three times a day, in from one teaspoonful[1] to a tablespoonful of water.

=Kidneys (Inflammation of, Chronic)=:

_Symptoms_: May be the sequel of an acute attack or a less severe chill, and sometimes it is caused by gravel. There is tenderness over the loins; the urine may be tinged with blood, or after passing water, which may look quite clear and normal, the dog continues to strain, and a few drops of blood escape and some mucus.

_Treatment_: A milk diet is important in these cases; it may be given with rice, tapioca, Force, or bread. Red meat must be avoided, but tripe and fish may be allowed. Vichy water mixed with equal parts of plain water should be given to drink; and a course of hyposulphite of soda, as recommended in acute inflammation, should be given, but only two or three times a day. If gravel or a stone is suspected, a course of boro-citrate of magnesia with bicarbonate of potash is advised. The dose of the former is five[1] to thirty grains, and of the latter from two[1] to fifteen grains mixed with the food twice a day, and be continued for some time.

=Lactation (Defective)=:

_Symptoms_: A small supply or total suppression of the mammary secretion.

_Treatment_: Give a raw meat diet, and stimulate the glands by massage; also encourage the bitch to drink plenty of fine oatmeal gruel.

=Lactation (Excessive)=:

_Symptoms_: Excessive secretion of milk. The glands are swollen, hard, and painful, and the milk often dribbles away. It may occur before the puppies are born, or just after; and it often happens to a maiden bitch to have a large secretion of milk, which shows itself about seven or eight weeks after heat, and which lasts five or six weeks. A maiden bitch in this condition is very restless and wretched. She appears to be always looking for puppies. She will walk about with her tail down, crying, and occasionally scratches and rakes at her bed, and twists round and round as if making a nest.

_Treatment_: In the first instance, rub the glands with warm salad oil to soften them, and draw some milk off night and morning. In the second case, simply draw some of the milk off, and avoid if possible putting anything on the glands, in case you should injure the puppies or put them off their feed. In the case of bitches having milk who have not been pregnant, purgative medicine—castor oil is the best—should be given once or twice a week, and the glands rubbed with camphorated spirits, or dabbed with a lotion made with two tablespoonfuls of gin and half a pint of water. When the milk collects in large quantities as to cause discomfort, it must be drawn off; but this should be avoided if possible, as it has a tendency to stimulate secretion. Give the food dry; biscuits are the best.

It is most important to thoroughly attend to maiden bitches when in this condition, otherwise the milk curdles and becomes hard, and this is the commencement of mammary tumours.

=Larynx (Inflammation of)=:

_Symptoms_: A dry, husky cough, the dog after coughing retches as if about to vomit. If neglected, may go on to bronchitis. It is very contagious.

_Treatment_: An emetic gives immediate relief, give from one quarter[1] to a grain of tartar emetic shaken dry on the tongue, also give the following mixture:—

_Recipe_:

Liquor Hydrochlorate of Morphia, 2 drachms. Syrup of Squills, ½ ounce. Syrup of Tolu, ½ ounce. Syrup of Lemons, ½ ounce. Water to 3 ounces.

_Doses_: From half a teaspoonful to a dessertspoonful[1] two, three, or four times a day, according to the severity of the cough.

Also give purgative medicine. Holding the head over hot water, in which a little Friar’s balsam has been mixed, gives relief, and so do the fumes of burning cresoline.

The dog should be kept dry and warm; in fact, in one temperature for a few days.

=Lead Poisoning=:

_Symptoms_: Blue line on gums, vomiting, loss of appetite, great thirst, generally constipation, but there may be diarrhœa. Colicky pains, and in some cases convulsions, followed by paralysis of the hind legs.

_Treatment_: Give Epsom salts, from ten grains[1] to one ounce in some sweetened milk. Also a course of iodide of potassium, from half to four grains in from one teaspoonful[1] to a tablespoonful of water. For the treatment of the paralysis, see Paralysis.

=Leucorrhœa=:

_Symptoms_: A pale, yellowish discharge from vulva. May occur before heat, but more often afterwards, and frequently seen after pupping.

_Treatment_: Syringe with a weak tepid solution of Condy’s fluid, about half a teaspoonful to half a pint of water. If the discharge is persistent, syringe with one drachm of powdered burnt alum in half a pint tepid water night and morning.

Give tonics, as from half[1] to three grains of sulphate of iron (made into a pill), two or three times a day.

=Lice=:

_See_ INSECT.

=Liniment=:

The following is a soothing liniment for recent cases of sprains and injuries to joints, etc.:—

_Recipe: The Liniment_:

Tincture Hydrocyamus, 4 drachms. Methylated Chloroform, 4 drachms. Spirits of Camphor, 1 ounce. Soap Liniment, 2 ounces.

Mix.

Apply with friction night and morning.

A stimulating liniment for bronchitis, sore throat, pneumonia, etc.:—

_Recipe_: _The Liniment_:

Strong Solution of Ammonia (Liq. Ammon. Fort.), 3 drachms. Soap Liniment to 4 ounces.

Mix.

Apply with friction night and morning.

_A Liniment for Chronic Sprains, Enlarged Joints, and Glands_:

Colourless Tincture Iodine, 2 ounces. Soap Liniment, 2 ounces.

Mix.

Apply with friction once a day.

=Lips (Cracked)=:

_Symptoms_: The lips along the edges become dry, thick, and crack as the result of eczema.

_Treatment_: Paint once or twice a day with sulphurated calcium lotion; when cracks healed, anoint with boracic ointment. Give cooling medicine, as bicarbonate of potash and sulphate of magnesia, from two to ten grains of each,[1] twice a day with food.

=Lips (Sore)=:

_Symptoms_: Unhealthy-looking ulcers assuming the form of cancer or lupus occasionally form on the lips.

_Treatment_: Clean frequently with a saturated solution of boracic acid, and paint the ulcer with a twenty-five per cent. solution of chromic acid twice a week.

=Liver (Sluggish)=:

_Symptoms_: Indifferent appetite and loss of condition, the coat staring; bowels constipated, and the motions white or slate colour. Dog vomits in the morning. Tongue white and coated, and the breath foul. Eyes congested.

_Treatment_: Give from one to six grains[1] of grey powder, which repeat in a few days; also give a course of the following:—

_Recipe_:

Bicarbonate of Soda, 2 drachms. Tincture Rhubarb, 4 ” Tincture Nux Vomica, 1 drachm. Water to 6 ounces.

From one teaspoonful to a tablespoonful[1] three times a day.

_Diet_: Spratt’s biscuits soaked in soup, with green vegetables added.

=Lock-jaw=:

_Symptoms_: A rare disease, but occurs occasionally, the result of injury to the head or severe hurt to the eye, and may result from sunstroke. It is seldom that the whole body as well as the jaw is affected in the dog as in other animals and people, and, as a rule, it assumes a chronic form. Though the dog is unable to open his mouth, he is generally able to suck in fluid food, as milk with eggs and strong beef-tea. The muscles of the head become much wasted.

_Treatment_: At first give sedatives, as from two to ten grains[1] each of hydrated chloral and bromide of potassium in water three or four times a day. After a time, means must be taken by aid of levers to gently force the jaws apart. It must be done very gradually by increasing the extent of the opening a little more each day. The treatment requires to be continued some time to obtain permanent beneficial results; but directly the dog is able to open his mouth a little, encourage the gnawing of bones.

=Lumbago=:

_Symptoms_: A form of rheumatism affecting the loins. The dog shows signs of much pain when walking or upon pressure to the parts. Dogs affected with lumbago often lose all power for a time in the hind legs; in fact, it is the cause of many cases of paraplegia.

_Treatment_: _See_ RHEUMATISM.

=Lungs (Inflammation of)=:

_Symptoms_: Not a common ailment of dogs, except in cases of distemper or influenza, but it may result from cold. The attack generally commences with rigors or shivering; the temperature rises to 103 or 104, in some cases even higher; pulse is increased in frequency, full and hard. The breathing is quick, and at each expiration the dog may give a suppressed grunt. The chest is tender on pressure. If the ear is put to the chest, crepitation will be detected; and as the disease advances, the parts of the lungs affected become quite dull, and there are no sounds to be heard except the air passing in and out of the large tubes. At the commencement of the attack, the dog may have a husky cough, but it generally stops after a day or so, to commence again later. The dog is generally off his food, and the eyes are congested.

_Treatment_: Place the dog in a jacket lined with thermogen wool, or apply hot linseed-meal poultices right round chest. If no better on second day, apply a blister to front of chest; the liquor epipasticus is as good as anything. The hair must first be cut off closely over the part, and the blister rubbed into the skin for five minutes. If the skin is not blistered the next day, rub a little red blister ointment into the place. Care must be taken that the dog is not allowed to lick the blisters, as they are poisonous. For medicine give from one[1] to ten grains of phenacetin every six hours to reduce the temperature, but it must not be continued for long; brandy may also be given in small quantities often. If the dog becomes very weak and the pulse feeble, give every four or six hours from two[1] to ten drops of Tincture Digitalis, with from one[1] to five drops of Tincture Nux Vomica, in water. In bad cases the inhalation of oxygen relieves the distressing breathing. It is important to keep the bowels open; in fact, it is generally a good plan to give a purge at first. The diet must be light, and consist of milk, beef-tea, meat extracts, and such like food.

=Lupus=:

_See_ LIPS (SORE).

=Maggots=:

Dogs with a long coat kept in a dirty state sometimes become infested with maggots, especially in those parts near the tail.

_Treatment_: Wash daily for a week with Pearsons fluid diluted eighty times with warm water. Afterwards dry and comb out all mats. In very bad cases it is best to cut the hair off short.

=Mange (Sarcoptic or Common)=:

_Symptoms_: This disease, which is very contagious from one dog to another, and readily caught by people, is due to a small insect. The complaint once contracted soon spreads more or less all over the body, but the most favourite spots for it to attack is the skin around the eyes, the outside of the ears, the elbows, and the outside of the hind legs, as well as the skin covering the abdomen, and underneath parts of the chest. Small red spots like flea-bites appear where the insect burrows into the epidermis, and the acrid matter which they excrete sets up intolerant irritation, causing the dog to constantly scratch, breaking the coat, which is now very brittle, and leaving bare patches, besides injuring the skin and creating sores which dry and scab. If there is any doubt about the case, the skin should be scraped where bad with a knife, and the scrapings examined under a microscope, and if the disease is mange the parasite will be found.

_Treatment_: The disease is easily cured, and the specific remedy is powdered sulphur, one part mixed with eight parts of vegetable oil, which should be thoroughly well rubbed all over the dog every four days for three times; three or four days after the last dressing, the dog may be washed.

It is important to thoroughly disinfect the kennels by fumigation, and well washing the walls and floors with a strong solution of Pearson’s fluid; also all the collars, leads, combs, and brushes used for the dog, should be disinfected by baking or soaking in a solution of Pearson’s fluid.

=Mange (Follicular)=:

A skin disease confined principally to puppies, though adult dogs do occasionally contract it. It is not contagious to people.

_Symptoms_: It is a slowly progressive disease, and may commence with a single circular bare patch, about the size of a shilling, on the face or side of nose. The disease is, of course, not confined to the head, as the first sign may appear on some part of the body or one of the legs. The patch is generally of a dirty grey colour, and upon which will be found a number of reddish pimples or elevations of the skin, somewhat larger than those seen in ordinary mange; some contain a blood-coloured fluid, others ordinary pus, or matter tinged with blood, which is easily evacuated by squeezing. This fluid contains the parasite, which looks, when examined under the microscope, like a small silk-worm.

As time goes on, the original patch increases in size and others form, the pimples break, one running into another, and unhealthy-looking sores result. When these wounds heal, the skin has a dry, corrugated appearance, and little excrescences of skin are formed, and the hair does not always grow again.

The skin in follicular mange generally turns a dark greyish-blue or black colour, and the disease is called by some people “black mange”.

_Treatment_: It is a most unsatisfactory disease to treat, for often after months of hard work the dog is no better, but on the contrary is much worse, the disease having progressed in spite of everything. If the patient is not a valuable dog, and the attack a bad one, it is much better to destroy him at once; however, when it is decided to give the dog a chance, treatment should commence by having the dog, if a long-coated one, clipped all over, so that the sores may be got at, and then dress him all over with the following:—

_Recipe_:

Black Sulphur, 2 ounces. Kerosene, 4 ounces. Olive Oil, 4 ounces. Cocoa-nut Oil, 4 ounces. Castor Oil, 4 ounces. Wright’s Solution of Coal Tar, 1 ounce.

Well mix.

With this, dress the dog all over once a week, but before each dressing have him thoroughly washed, using Cook’s 3% mercurial soap, and carefully dry before applying the dressing. To the spots apply Naphthol Beta ointment daily. If this does not heal them, then dab on the sores twice a day peroxide of hydrogen (20 volumes). For a change, the sores may be dressed with the following:—

_Recipe_:

Oil of Cade, } Equal parts mixed together. Methylated Spirits, } Green Soft Soap, }

In treating follicular mange a change of dressing to the sores is necessary. During the treatment an occasional course of arsenic often does good; give from one[1] to five drops of liquor arsenicalis in water after food; gradually increase the dose to from two[1] to ten drops. Continue the medicine for about three weeks at a time, and after a week’s interval give it again as before.

=Marasmus=:

_Symptoms_: Loss of condition, colour, flesh, and strength.

_Treatment_: A raw meat diet with tonics, or the following pills:—

_Recipe_:

Reduced Iron, 12 to 48 grains.[1] Arsenic, ⅟₁₂th to ¼th ” Extract Gentian, 6 to 20 ”

Mix.

Divide into 12 pills. One twice a day after food.

Cod-liver oil is also advised after food, from half a teaspoonful[1] to a tablespoonful twice a day.

=Mastitis (Inflammation of Breast)=:

_Symptoms_: This complaint is not uncommon in bitches when nursing puppies. One or more of the milk-glands may be affected. The breast is swollen, red, and very tender. The bitch is off her feed, and there is often a good deal of fever. An abscess generally forms, which should be lanced as soon as it becomes soft and points.

_Treatment_: Hot water fomentations are the best, as it is difficult to apply poultices when a bitch is nursing puppies. If the temperature is very high, from two[1] to ten grains of salicylate of soda may be given three or four times a day.