334 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM

a time. The dog to be washed after three days. But the compound sulphur ointment itself is a splendid application, and it is not dangerous.

(3) SKIN COMPLAINTS FROM VERMIN.-The treatment is obviousget rid of the cause.

As their diagnosis is so difficult, whenever the dog-owner is in doubt, make certain by treating the dog not only by local applications but constitutionally as well. In addition to good diet, perfect cleanliness of coat, kennel, and all surroundings, and the application of the ointment or oil, let the dog have all the fresh air possible, and exercise, but never over-exciting or too fatiguing. Then a course of arsenic seldom fails to do good.

I do not believe in beginning the exhibition of arsenic too soon. I prefer paying my first attentions to the digestive organs and state of the bowels. The form of exhibition which I have found suit as well as any is the tasteless Liquor arsenicalis. It is easily administered. It ought to be given mixed with the food, as it ought to enter the blood with the chyle from the diet. It ought, day by day, to be gradually, not hurriedly, increased. Symptoms of loathing of food and redness of conjunctiva call for the cessation of its use for two or three days at least, when it is to be recommended at the same size of dose given when left off.

There are two things which assist the arsenic, at least to go well with it ; they are, iron in some form and Virol. The latter will be needed when there is much loss of flesh. A simple pill of sulphate of iron and extract of liquorice may be used. Dose of Liquor arsenicalis from 1 to 6 drops ter die to commence with, gradually increased to 5 to 20 drops.

DAN DRUFF.-A scaly or scurfy condition of the skin, with more or less of irritation. It is really a shedding of the scaly epidermis brought on by injudicious feeding or want of exercise as a primary cause. The dog, in cases of this kind, needs cooling medicines, such as small doses of the nitrate and chlorates of potash, perhaps less food. Bowels to be seen to by giving plenty of green food, with a morsel of sheep's melt or raw liver occasionally. Wash about once in three weeks, a very little borax in the last water, say a drachm to a gallon. Use mild soap. Never use a very hard brush or sharp comb. Tar soap (Wright's) may be tried.

PARASITES-INTERNAL.
Worms.

We have, roughly speaking, two kinds of worms to treat in the dog (1) the round, and (2) the tape.

(1) Round-worms-They are in shape and size not unlike the garden worm, but harder, pale, and pointed.

Symptoms-Sometimes these are alarming, for the worm itself is occasionally seized with the mania for foreign travel, and finds its way into the throat or nostrils, causing the dog to become perfectly furious, and inducing such pain and agony that it may seem charity to end its life. The worms may also crawl into the stomach, and give rise to great irritation, but are usually dislodged therefrom by the violence accompanying the act of vomiting.

AILMENTS AND THEIR TREATMENT 335

Their usual habitat, however, is the small intestines, where they occasion great distress to their host. The appetite is always depraved and voracious. At times there is colic, with sickness and perhaps vomiting, and the bowels are alternately constipated or loose. The coat is harsh and staring, there usually is short, dry cough from reflex irritation of the bronchial mucous membrane, a bad-smelling breath and emaciation or at least considerable poverty of flesh.

The disease is most common in puppies and in young dogs. The appearance of the ascaris in the dog's stools is, of course, the diagnostic symptom.

Treatment-I have cured many cases with santonin and areca-nut powder (betel-nut), dose 10 grains to 2 drachms ; or turpentine, dose from 10 drops to 1 j< drachms, beaten up with yolk of egg.

But areca-nut does better for tape-worm, so we cannot do better than trust to pure santonin. The dose is from 1 grain for a Toy up to 6 grains for a Mastiff. Mix it with a little butter, and stick it well back in the roof of the dog's mouth. He must have fasted previously for twelve hours, and had a dose of castor oil the day before. In four or five hours after he has swallowed the santonin, let him have a dose of either olive oil or decoction of aloes. Dose, 2 drachms to 2 ounces or more. Repeat the treatment in five days. Spratts' cure may be safely depended on for worms.*

The perfect cleanliness of the kennel is of paramount importance.

The animal's general health requires looking after, and he may be brought once more into good condition by proper food and a course of vegetable tonics. If wanted in show condition we have Plasmon to fall back upon, and Burroughs and Wellcome's extract of malt.

There is a round-worm which at times infests the dog's bladder, and may cause occlusion of the urethra ; a whip-worm inhabiting the caecum ; another may occupy a position in the mucous membrane of the stomach ; some infest the blood, and others the eye.

(2) Tape-worms-There are several kinds, but the treatment is the same in all cases. The commonest in the country is the Cucumerine.

This is a tape-worm of about fifteen inches in average length, although I have taken them from Newfoundland pups fully thirty inches long. It is a semi-tansparent entozoon ; each segment is long compared to its breadth, and narrowed at both ends. Each joint has, when detached, an independent sexual existence.

The dog often becomes infested with this parasite from eating sheeps' brains, and dogs thus afflicted and allowed to roam at pleasure over fields and hills where sheep are fed sow the seeds of gid in our flocks to any extent. We know too well the great use of Collie dogs to the shepherd or grazier to advise that dogs should not be employed as assistants, but surely it would be to their owners' advantage to see that they were kept in a state of health and cleanliness.

Treatment-We ought to endeavour to prevent as well as to cure. We should never allow our dogs to eat the entrails of hares or rabbits. Never allow them to be fed on raw sheep's intestines, nor the brains of sheep. Never permit them to lounge around butchers' shops, nor

* Many dog owners swear by the preparation called Ruby, which can be recommended as a cure for worms.-ED.