HEMORRHAGIC GASTRO-ENTERITIS OF THE DOG.
Definition. Causes: Spring, toxins, irritants, inflammation. Symptoms: Vomiting, diarrhœa, pendent head, arched back, retracted belly, black, bloody glairy frothing fæces, circulation excited, mucosæ red, yellow, or brown, death in two or three days. Diagnosis. Lesions: Stomach and intestines empty, mucosa of a dark blood red, thickened, liver and kidneys congested. Treatment: Little successful, intestinal disinfection, elimination, laxatives, wet compresses, enemata, heart stimulants, ergot, iron chloride.
Definition. A special form of septic enteritis, occurring as an epizootic and not transmissible by ingestion.
Causes. These are not well known. Occurring in a few dogs at one time in the same place, and time (by preference in spring) and then disappearing for months, and not being appreciably communicable by contagion or ingestion, it has the aspect of being caused by poisons, probably of the nature of toxins taken in with the food or water. Preëxisting inflammation has been alleged as a predisposing cause, the attack having followed superpurgation, or the administration of a handful of salt. Guinard found that the intravenous injection of tuberculin, mallein and other products of microbian growth produced lesions analogous to those of this disease.
Symptoms. The attack is usually sudden. The dog is seized with vomiting and diarrhœa and stands with head depressed, back arched and belly tucked up. The vomit is at first of alimentary matters, then of glairy mucus, or black and bloodstained material. The fæces are black, bloody, glairy, frothy, and abundant, fouling the tail and the hips. The abdomen is at first tense and extremely tender. The pulse is accelerated, the heart beats tumultuous, the breathing slow and temperature elevated. Redness of the visible mucosæ, often tinged more or less deeply with yellow, implies hepatic disorder or destruction of blood globules. Death may occur in two or three days.
The abruptness and violence of the attack, the violent vomiting and purging and the staining of the discharges with blood are to a large extent diagnostic.
Lesions. These are most noticeable in the stomach and intestines which are empty and of a dark blood red. The mucosa is thickened, gorged with blood, and showing deeper shades here and there where extravasation has occurred. The liver and kidneys are also deeply congested.
Treatment has been almost constantly a failure. Cadeac recommends disinfection of the intestinal canal, with salol, cresyl or dinaphthol, but in the absence of contagious germs this seems the less called for. The indications would seem to point to elimination of the chemical poisons, the soothing of the irritation and the tiding the animal over the period of weakness. Agents that will at once eliminate the poisons and sustain the heart’s action appear to be called for, hence digitalis 2 grs. or tincture of strophanthus 10 drops are particularly indicated. Laxatives are rather hopeless considering the congestion and paralysis of the bowels, and yet if they can be made to operate on any comparatively healthy part of the intestine they will serve a good purpose in eliminating the poisonous contents, in securing secretion and elimination of poison from the blood, and in depleting from the overcharged portal system. Glauber salts by mouth and anus, or jalap, or castor oil may be resorted to. In the absence of these a free use of watery enemata and the ingestion of water by the mouth may be resorted to. A damp compress around abdomen and loins will be at once soothing and stimulating to the secretions of both kidneys and bowels.
To counteract congestion and extravasation Cadeac advocates ergotine 2 grs. subcutem, or iron perchloride, 2 ozs., to 1 quart of water to be given in doses of two or three tablespoonfuls every two hours. It might also be used in enema.