Part 12

6. To keep the body warm, but the air he breathes fresh and cool. Fresh air never kills, but foul air often does.

The best kind of bed for a small dog being nursed in a room is a basket with a cushion in, which should be covered over with a white cloth or towel to be changed daily. For a kennel or loose box a bench should be supplied, raised a few inches from the ground, and long and wide enough for the dog to lie out full length. Straw makes a good bedding, and should be changed often.

In nursing surgical cases, cleanliness is even more important than in medical cases, and the patient should be kept under similar conditions. It is important to take the temperature twice a day at least, for a rise of temperature is the first symptom of suppuration in a wound, and shows that it is not healing in a normal manner; or if healing, by suppuration it points to pus being pent up somewhere, and the surgeon’s attention is required.

Clean bandages and dressing should be put on every time a wound is dressed, and the bandages taken off should be washed in some disinfectant like Pearson’s fluid, dried and ironed, ready for use again. The old dressing which has been in contact with the wound should be burnt.

Bitches in the nest with puppies require, for the first week at least, as careful nursing as an invalid, and the temperature for the first week regularly taken. It is always a little above normal during the first few days, about 102·4 degs. F. (taken in the bowel); but if it rises over 103 degs. F., the case is not taking a normal course, and an examination should be made. Possibly there may be a dead puppy or one of the fœtal envelopes left behind, which, of course, must be immediately removed, and the womb syringed out with a solution of permanganate of potash, one grain to the ounce of warm water; from two ounces to a pint[1] of the solution should be used at a time, and the injection repeated in a few hours. A saturated solution of boracic acid or clinesol, one grain to the ounce, may be used instead of the potash. In bad cases, when the temperature is over 104 degs. F., a solution of perchloride of mercury, one in three thousand, is the best remedy; but about a couple of minutes after giving an injection of this drug, the womb must be thoroughly washed out with warm water.

=Obesity (Too Fat)=:

_Symptoms_: This is a common complaint of elderly pet dogs, especially pugs; but it is not, as generally supposed, always the result of overfeeding and want of exercise, for lots of dogs will put on flesh in spite of careful dieting, and then I generally put it down in these cases to a contented mind.

_Treatment_: In treating these cases, medicines are not advisable except occasionally giving a free purge. If any good is to be done it must be by dieting; and whatever food is given should be dry. Raw, or nearly raw, meat is the best food, for nearly all fat dogs put on this diet lose weight considerably, and at the same time improve in health by becoming brighter and livelier, and more ready to take exercise; but the meat must be given sparingly, say for a small dog like a pomeranian, one ounce and a half twice a day; and for a dog the size of a fox terrier, three ounces twice a day. The worst of this food is, it never seems to satisfy; in fact, a dog fed on raw meat always seems hungry. Raw meat does not answer in every case, for the dog sometimes gets fatter instead of thinner, as required. Then a diet of dry biscuit should be tried. For small dogs, Spratts’ pet-dog biscuits should be given—whole, if they will be taken that way, otherwise they must be broken up in small pieces, and no other food at all given; and the more exercise the better.

=Œrchitis (Inflammation of the Testicle)=:

_Symptoms_: In young dogs it occurs as the result of injury; in old ones it arises from constitutional causes. The testicles become swollen and very painful, the scrotum is red and shiny. The dog walks and sits down with difficulty.

_Treatment_: Give a purge, as from two to ten grains[1] of jalapin. Foment the parts often with hot poppy-head tea, made by boiling a couple of crushed poppy-heads in a quart of water for ten minutes; then strain. Sometimes the application of an ice-bag gives more relief than the hot application.

=Œstrum=, or the period of menstruation of the bitch, generally appears for the first time when the bitch is about eight or nine months old. With some foreign breeds, as in chows particularly, it often occurs for the first time sooner, even when the bitch is five or six months old. Occasionally, with very small bitches, the first heat may not appear until she is a year old. Once the period has commenced, it generally occurs regularly twice a year, but in a few exceptional cases every three or four months. The heat generally lasts from three to four weeks—that is, right from the commencement until the end.

The condition is recognised by the external parts—vulva—swelling, and a slight mucus discharge, which continues for about a week; then the discharge is pinkish, and after a few days blood-coloured. This latter condition continues for about eight or nine days, to be followed by a mucus discharge again, until the heat has ceased, when the parts have assumed their normal size.

=Ophthalmia=:

_Symptoms_: Generally both eyes are affected, the membrane (conjunctival) is intensely inflamed, and there is a good deal of purulent discharge. There is intolerance to light, and as a consequence, the lids are kept partly, if not quite, closed.

_Treatment_: Keep the dog for a time in a darkish room, and bathe the eyes three or four times a day with the following lotion:—

_Recipe_:

Laudanum, 1 drachm. Sulphate of Zinc, 10 grains. Rose Water to 6 ounces.

Anoint the edges of the lids at night-time with vaseline to prevent their sticking together.

A good purge is beneficial.

Care must be taken to prevent the dog rubbing the eyes, or he may severely injure them; and bandages should be placed round the ankles covering the dew-claws.

=Otorrhœa=:

_See_ CANKER OF EAR.

=Ozœna=:

_Symptoms_: There is a chronic purulent or mattery discharge from the nostrils which often has a very offensive odour.

_Treatment_: Syringe the nose thoroughly every day with from ten to thirty drops[1] of tincture of hydrastis, mixed with one[1] to four tablespoonfuls of tepid water. Give cod-liver oil, also iron and quinine tonic pills.

=Palpitation=:

_Symptoms_: Increased action of the heart; if bad, it beats with a thumping action, shaking the whole body, the dog is restless and pants, and may in some cases faint.

_Treatment_: Put the dog on a raw meat diet for a time, and avoid violent exertion, but the dog may have regular walking exercise. Give aperient medicine and a course of the following mixture:—

_Recipe_:

Tincture of Digitalis, 90 minims. Bromide Potassium, 120 grains. Water to 6 ounces.

From one teaspoonful[1] to a tablespoonful to be given three times a day one hour after food.

=Paralysis=:

_Symptoms_: Not uncommon after distemper, and may follow fits; injury to the back and rheumatics are frequently the cause. More often seen in dachshunds than other dogs. The whole body may be affected, including all four legs, but the back part of the body, including the two hind legs, is the favourite seat of the disease. The dog is unable to stand, but drags the back legs after him when he moves. The bowels are constipated, and the dog is unable to pass water, though later it may dribble away. The dog may not be ill in himself, and will generally take his food. When the seat of the mischief is in the brain, all four limbs are useless, and the dog lies on his side in a miserable, helpless condition, often even being unable to raise his head from the ground.

_Treatment_: The condition of the bowels and bladder must first be attended to. Aperient medicine should be given, and if it does not act in a few hours, an enema of warm soapy water (from two tablespoonfuls[1] to half a pint) administered, and repeated in a couple of hours if it does not operate. The urine must be drawn off with a catheter if relief cannot be obtained by pressure over the seat of the bladder. This, as a rule, is sufficient, and should be repeated two or three times a day, until the dog is able to relieve himself. If a catheter has to be used, twice a day should do, but care must be taken to keep the instrument very clean. It is a good plan to keep it lying in a saturated solution of boracic acid when not in use.

When the paralysis is the result of an injury, do not give any medicine at first, except a purgative, but keep the patient quiet and allow time for the injured parts to heal. If there seems much pain—and there is sometimes when there has been an injury—give two or three times a day from three[1] to fifteen drops of liquor morphia in a little water. Do not let the dog lie always on one side, but change him over about every six hours. If in about a week there are no signs of movement, or return of strength in the legs, give the following pills:—

_Recipe_:

Powdered Nux Vomica, 1 to 6 grains.[1] Reduced Iron, 6 to 30 grains. Ergotine, 6 to 24 grains. Common Mass. sufficient.

Mix.

Divide into 12 pills—one to be given twice a day after food. Later, if the paralysis continues, the following pills may be tried, and the former discontinued:—

_Recipe_:

Anhydrous Phosphate of Iron, 3 to 12 grains.[1] Sulphate Quinine, 2 to 12 grains. Strychnine, ⅟₁₆th to ⅕th grain. Arsenic, ⅟₁₂th to ¼th grain. Common Mass. sufficient.

Mix.

Divide into 12 pills. One to be given two or three times a day after food. The dog should be galvanised twice a day for about half an hour each time. A continuous current battery is best, and a blister should be applied to the loins, from the two last ribs to the points of the hips, and from two to four inches wide.[1]

When all four legs are affected, the result of some injured or diseased condition of the brain, the treatment should be the same as previously mentioned, except a blister should be applied to each side of the neck, along the course of the spine, instead of over the loins. The best blister to use is the liquor epipasticus; the hair, of course, should first be cut off close, or shaved, and the skin thoroughly washed and dried, and the blister should be gently rubbed into the skin with a piece of flannel for about three minutes. If it does not act well, rub a little red mercurial blister ointment into the parts the next day for a minute. Care must be taken that the dog does not lick the blisters, as they are poisonous. Two days later, the parts may be carefully washed and boracic ointment applied. Benefit is also derived in these cases by having the muscles of the limbs massaged.

When paralysis is the result of rheumatism—and in these cases it is generally the back limbs and loins affected—the attack commences with pain and stiffness across the loins. Give first, after a purge, for a week or so, suitable medicine for rheumatism, and then later, if the patient does not improve, treat as for ordinary paralysis. Cases of paralysis are often tedious, and keep about a long time, but in the end, unless the spine has been seriously injured by some accident, they generally recover.

=Paraphymosis=:

_Symptoms_: Dogs, particularly some of the small ones, sometimes get the penis protruded out of the sheaf, and if the orifice is at all small it contracts on the protruding part, and it cannot be relieved without assistance. The part becomes swollen and very painful, and if it is not noticed soon after happening, the point of the penis becomes much inflamed and congested.

_Treatment_: A little oil should be poured on the red protruding part, and the sheath should be taken hold of and pulled forcibly over it.

In some cases it is necessary to apply ice to the protruding part, when it is very much swollen, before it can be returned.

=Parturient Eclampsia=:

_Symptoms_: This occurs in nervous and excitable bitches two or three weeks after pupping. The bitch is unable to stand, or does so with great difficulty. She generally lies on her side, with legs outstretched and head drawn back, panting violently and frothing at the mouth. The attack, though very distressing, generally lasts some hours, leaving the bitch much prostrated; it is seldom attended with fatal results.

_Treatment_: As soon as the bitch is able to swallow, give from five[1] to fifteen grains each of bromide of potassium and hydrated chloral in water. The dose may be repeated in two or three hours if necessary.

Once a bitch has had an attack of this complaint she generally has another in the course of a few days, but it may be prevented by giving some bromide of potassium regularly for a time—as from three[1] to ten grains three times a day with the food or in a little water.

_Diet_: Fish, tripe, and milk food may be generously given, but avoid red meat.

=Pediculi (Lice)=:

_Symptoms_: Small, bluish-grey insects generally found with the head stuck in the skin—standing on their heads, as it were. They may be seen on all parts of the dog, but the favourite places seem to be the nose, ears, and underneath the chest. The lice lay their eggs or nits on the hair, to which they stick by a very adhesive material and are difficult to remove.

These insects cause intolerable irritation, and as a consequence, the dog is always scratching, and loses condition.

_Treatment_: Bathing in Pearson’s disinfectant fluid, diluted eighty times with water—that is, four tablespoonfuls to a gallon—is a good remedy, but it is necessary to continue the treatment for some time so as to destroy the young lice as they escape from the eggs. Another effectual remedy is bathing the dog in kerosene one part, separated milk six parts, well mixed together. But neither of these remedies destroy the nits. To do so it is necessary to mix either the Pearson’s fluid or the kerosene with oil in the proportions previously mentioned, and thoroughly rub it all over the dog and leave it on him for some days; in fact, it is advisable to repeat the dressing again four days later, and not wash him for a week.

To get rid of the lice entirely the kennels, also collars, leads, brushes, in fact everything belonging to the dog, should be thoroughly disinfected by fumigation and washed in a strong solution of Pearson’s fluid.

When a sick dog, as one suffering from distemper, is infested with lice, washing, of course, is out of the question at such a time. The only thing to do, then, is to use some effectual insecticide powder.

=Penis, Growths on=:

_Symptoms_: Dogs, especially those used for stud, and particularly bulldogs, are liable to growths on the penis. They are red in colour, and look not unlike a raspberry. The dog suffering in this way often has drops of blood at the orifice of the prepuce. These growths are contagious, and a dog suffering from them should on no account be used for stud purposes. The growths may not only be on the point of the penis, but may be situated far back.

_Treatment_: The growths should be removed by being scraped off, and the roots cauterised sparingly with a saturated solution of chromic acid, which should be applied on a thin stick. The caustic should be repeated in a week. It may be necessary to repeat it several times.

=Pericarditis (Inflammation of the Heart’s Sac)=:

_Symptoms_: It is difficult to detect it in the dog. There is some pain on the left side of the chest, the pulse is quiet and small, the temperature is two or three degrees above normal, the breathing is short and quick, and there is a dry cough. If the heart be examined with a stethoscope, a friction sound is heard with each movement of the heart. When fluid collects in the sac, as it often does, the usual heart sounds are almost inaudible.

_Treatment_: Apply hot linseed-meal poultices to left side of chest, keep the bowels freely opened with purgative medicine. If temperature is very high, give the following mixture:—

_Recipe_:

Salicine, 2 drachms. Tr. Digitalis, 1½ drachms. Simple Syrup, 1 ounce. Water to 6 ounces.

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

When fluid collects, give from half[1] to two grains of iodide of potassium in water three times a day.

=Peritonitis=:

_Symptoms_: Generally the result of some injury, but may be the result of a chill. The abdomen is hard and very painful to the touch. The breathing is quick, and the dog often utters a grunt with each breath. The pulse is very quick, and the temperature rises to 105 degs. F. or over, and the patient vomits frequently, especially after taking food or even water, and quickly collapses, death often taking place within twenty-four hours of the commencement of the illness.

_Treatment_: Apply flannels wrung out in hot poppy-head tea, made by boiling for ten minutes a couple of crushed poppy-heads in a quart of water. Give from five to twenty drops[1] of laudanum every four hours in water; if the dog cannot retain it, inject under the skin from the twentieth to the eighth of a grain[1] of acetate of morphia, in a few drops of water, which may be repeated in six hours.

Give Vichy water and milk in equal parts to drink, and a little Brand’s essence occasionally.

=Perostitis (Inflammation of Membrane covering Bone)=:

_Symptoms_: Generally result of injury. Parts are very painful and swollen, the skin covering the inflamed spot discoloured, very often purple. An abscess may form. In these cases there is a good deal of constitutional disturbance, the temperature is high, perhaps 104 or 105 degs. F., the pulse quick, and the dog refuses food. Blood poison may result.

_Treatment_: Keep patient absolutely quiet, and give a good purge. Apply following lotion constantly on lint:—

_Recipe_:

Goulard’s Extract of Lead, 1 drachm. Laudanum, 2 drachms. Water to 6 ounces.

Or an ice-bag may be applied.

If an abscess forms, it must be freely opened, and afterwards apply hot linseed-meal poultices, dusted over with powdered charcoal.

=Perspiration=:

_Symptoms_: A dog does not perspire from the skin when in health, but he occasionally does when suffering from some skin diseases; and puppies in the nest, when ill and not thriving, will become quite wet from perspiration. It is always a bad sign, and shows the dog or puppy is in a very bad state of health.

_Treatment_: In the case of puppies, give the mother a dose of castor oil, and dust the youngsters all over two or three times a day with finely-powdered boracic acid one part, kaolin eight parts, mixed together. In the case of adult dogs, give daily a sulphur bath, made by dissolving one ounce of sulphurated potash in four gallons of tepid water; after well drying, dust the inside of the thighs, abdomen, armpits, etc., with the powder recommended for puppies. For medicine give a course of arsenic, as from one[1] to eight drops of Fowler’s solution in water after food.

=Phimosis=:

_Symptoms_: The opening of the sheaf or prepuce is so small that the male organ cannot pass through.

_Treatment_: Nothing but a surgical operation is of any use, which consists in enlarging the opening, and sewing the skin to the mucus membrane.

=Phthisis=:

_Symptoms_: Chronic hacking cough; the temperature is always a degree or two above normal; loss of condition; the muscles of the neck, body, and limbs become wasted. If the expectorations are examined by the microscope, the tubercle bacilli will be found.

_Treatment_: Generally incurable; but making the dog live out of doors, and giving plenty of cod-liver oil, with a generous diet of raw meat, sometimes does good.

It is a mistake to keep a dog suffering from consumption amongst people, as the danger of infection is too great a risk.

=Piles (External)=:

_Symptoms_: Dogs do not suffer from internal piles, but old dogs occasionally have a form of external piles; then the anus becomes red, inflamed, and swollen; small red pimples form about the part, inducing a good deal of irritation, and causing the dog to drag the hind parts along the ground.

_Treatment_: Dab the parts often with the following lotion:—

_Recipe_:

Goulard’s Extract of Lead, 1 drachm. Tincture of Opium, 1 ” Water to 6 ounces.

Mix.

Or the following ointment may be tried:—

Goulard’s Extract of Lead, 1 drachm. Finely-powdered Boracic Acid, 1 scruple. Cream, 1 ounce.

Mix.

Apply night and morning.

Some cooling medicine, as the following, does good:—

Cream of Tartar, 1 ounce. Bicarbonate of Potash, 1 ” Milk of Sulphur, 1 ” Powdered Sulphate of Magnesia, 1 ”

From sufficient to cover a threepenny-piece to a teaspoonful[1] twice a day with food.

=Poisons=:

_Strychnine_:

_Symptoms_: It all depends how the agent has been administered how quickly it acts. If in a liquid form, the symptoms may commence in ten minutes, or quicker; but if it has been given in a piece of meat, it may be an hour or so before any signs appear. Then the animal becomes restless; the limbs are stiff, and the dog walks with difficulty, and with the hind legs stretched apart. Occasionally there is a violent twitching or jerk of all the muscles of the body, as if the dog had a galvanic shock, and then he suddenly falls to the ground, often in a forward direction, and in acute tetanic spasm. The limbs are extended, and as stiff as pieces of iron, the fore ones in a slightly forward direction, and the hind legs in a backward direction. The head is drawn back, and the back arched and the tail extended and stiff; the eyes protrude, the mouth firmly closed, and the pulse extremely quick. Respiration during the spasm, which lasts about half a minute or so, entirely ceases. At the end of the attack the dog gives a few heavy sighs, and then commences to pant hard. The least movement or touch, or even a noise, will cause a return of the convulsions, which continue at frequent intervals, unless the dog is relieved by some suitable antidote, or until death occurs, which generally takes place during a paroxysm. In some cases, though the acute symptoms may have been checked by treatment, the dog afterwards dies from the effect of the exhaustion.