328 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM

On the next day begin with a mixture such as the following : Solution of acetate of ammonia, 30 drops to 120 ; sweet spirits of nitre, 15 drops to 60 ; salicylate of soda, 2 grains to 10. Thrice daily in a little camphor water.

If the cough be very troublesome and the fever does not run very high, the following may be substituted for this on the second or third day : Syrup of squills, 10 drops to 60 ; tincture of henbane, 10 drops to 60 ; sweet spirits of nitre, 10 drops to 60, in camphor water.

A few drops of dilute hydrochloric acid should be added to the dog's drink, and two teaspoonfuls (to a quart of water) of the chlorate of potash. This makes an excellent fever drink, especially if the dog can be got to take decoction of barley-barley-water-instead of plain cold water, best made of Keen and Robinson's patent barley.

If there be persistent sickness and vomiting, the medicine must be stopped for a time. Small boluses of ice frequently administered will do much good, and doses of dilute prussic acid, from one to four drops in a little water, will generally arrest the vomiting.

If constipation be present, we must use no rough remedies to get rid of it. A little raw meat cut into small pieces-minced, in factor a small portion of raw liver, may be given if there be little fever ; if there be fever, we are to trust for a time to injections of plain soapand-water. Diarrhoea, although often a troublesome symptom, is, it must be remembered, a salutary one. Unless, therefore, it becomes excessive, do not interfere ; if it does, give the simple chalk mixture three times a day, but no longer than is needful.

The discharge from the mouth and nose is to be wiped away with a soft rag-or, better still, some tow, which is afterwards to be burnedwetted with a weak solution of carbolic. The forehead, eyes, and nose may be fomented two or three times a day with moderately hot water with great advantage.

It is not judicious to wet a long-haired dog much, but a short-haired one may have the chest and throat well fomented several times a day, and well rubbed dry afterwards. Heat applied to the chests of long-haired dogs by means of a flat iron will also effect good.

The following is an excellent tonic : Sulphate of quinine, } to 3 grains ; powdered rhubarb, 2 to 10 grains ; extract of taraxacum, 3 to 20 grains ; make a bolus. Thrice daily.

During convalescence good food, Virol, Spratts' invalid food and invalid biscuit, moderate exercise, fresh air, and protection from cold. These, with an occasional mild dose of castor oil or rhubarb, are to be our sheet-anchors. I find no better tonic than the tablets of Phosferine. One quarter of a tablet thrice daily, rolled in tissue paper, for a Toy dog, up to two tablets for a dog of Mastiff size.

BRONCHITIS.

Dogs that have been exposed to wet, or that have been put to lie in a damp or draughty kennel with insufficient food, are not less liable than their masters to catch a severe cold, which, if not promptly attended to, may extend downward to the lining membranes of bronchi or lungs. In such cases there is always symptoms more or less of fever, with fits of shivering and thirst, accompanied with dullness, a tired appear

AILMENTS AND THEIR TREATMENT 329

ante and loss of appetite. The breath is short, inspirations painful, and there is a rattling of mucus in chest or throat. The most prominent symptom, perhaps, is the frequent cough. It is at first dry, ringing, and evidently painful ; in a few days, however, or sooner, it softens, and there is a discharge of frothy mucus with it, and, in the latter stages, of pus and ropy mucus.

Treatment-Keep the patient in a comfortable, well-ventilated apartment, with free access in and out if the weather be dry. Let the bowels be freely acted upon to begin with, but no weakening discharge from the bowels must be kept up. After the bowels have been moved we should commence the exhibition of small doses of tartar emetic with squills and opium thrice a day. If the cough is very troublesome, give this mixture : Tincture of squills, 5 drops to 30 ; paregoric, 10 drops to 60 ; tartar emetic, one-sixteenth of a grain to 1 grain ; syrup and water a sufficiency. Thrice daily.

We may give a full dose of opium every night. In mild cases carbonate of ammonia may be tried ; it often does good, the dose being from two grains to ten in camphor water, or even plain water.

The chronic form of bronchitis will always yield, if the dog is young, to careful feeding, moderate exercise, and the exhibition of cod-liver oil with a mild iron tonic. The exercise, however, must be moderate, and the dog kept from the water. A few drops to a teaspoonful of paregoric, given at night, will do good, and the bowels should be kept regular, and a simple laxative pill given now and then.

DIARRHIEA,

or looseness of the bowels, or purging, is a very common disease among dogs of all ages and breeds. It is, nevertheless, more common among puppies about three or four months old, and among dogs who have reached the age of from seven to ten years. It is often symptomatic of other ailments.

Causes-Very numerous. In weakly dogs exposure alone will produce it. The weather, too, has no doubt much to do with the production of diarrhoea. In most kennels it is more common in the months of July and August, although it often comes on in the very dead of winter. Puppies, if overfed, will often be seized with this troublesome complaint. A healthy puppy hardly ever knows when it has had enough, and it will, moreover, stuff itself with all sorts of garbage ; acidity of the stomach follows, with vomiting of the ingesta, and diarrhoea succeeds, brought on by the acrid condition of the chyme, which finds its way into the duodenum. This stuff would in itself act as a purgative, but it does more, it abnormally excites the secretions of the whole alimentary canal, and a sort of sub-acute mucous inflammation is set up. The liver, too, becomes mixed up with the mischief, throws out a superabundance of bile, and thus aids in keeping up the diarrhoea.

Among other causes, we find the eating of indigestible food, drinking foul or tainted water, too much green food, raw paunches, foul kennels, and damp, draughty kennels.

Symptoms-The purging is, of course, the principal symptom, and the stools are either quite liquid or semi-fluid, bilious-looking, dirty-brown