When a dog has been nearly drowned, before resorting to artificial respiration he should be held upside down for a few moments, to drain the lungs of water, and then placed on his back with head extended, and after drawing the tongue slightly forward between the teeth, so as to keep throat quite clear, apply pressure to the chest (just where it joins the abdomen) with the open hand, in a forward and downward direction, so as to expand the chest—this should be repeated from eighteen to thirty times a minute, according to the size of the dog. After pressure, the hand should be removed quickly, that the walls of the chest may assume their normal position. Whilst this is going on, another person should inject brandy under the skin, and rigorously work the legs so as to try and promote circulation. As soon as possible put hot-water bottles around the dog.
Rheumatic Gout:
Symptoms: There is no doubt that dogs do occasionally suffer from this disease, it affecting generally the knees and hocks, but other joints may be attacked. The dog is very lame, the joint swells and is very tender, and there is a difficulty in bending it. Even after the inflammation has dispersed, the joint remains thickened and stiff for some time, in some cases permanently.
Treatment: Give a brisk purge, and also from two to fifteen grains[1] of salicylate of soda three times a day in water after food. If joint very painful, use following lotion:—
Recipe:
| Tr. Opium, | 4 drachms. |
| Water to | 6 ounces. |
Soak a strip of lint in the lotion, which wind round the joint; cover entirely over with oil-silk and bandage; change every six hours. When the inflammation and pain is less, cut the hair closely off over the joint, and paint with strong tincture of iodine, which repeat once in twenty-four hours. The iodine must not be applied to flexure side of joint.
When the joint remains enlarged and stiff for some time, a course of iodide of potassium, say from a quarter[1] to two grains, may be given three times a day in a little water after food.
Rheumatism:
Symptoms: This disease may affect almost any part of dog, and also dogs of all ages, though old ones are no doubt more liable to it. When it attacks the muscles of the neck, it often assumes a spasmodic form, and the pain is sometimes very acute; the dog is unable to move his head in any direction, the muscles, from contraction, appear swollen, are very tender to the touch, and the dog cries with the pain. The attack generally lasts some hours, then it gradually subsides, and the dog seems all right for a while, when it may come on again. Then, rheumatism often affects the shoulders, and when it does, it is called “Chest Founder”. The parts are painful and stiff, and the dog walks with difficulty, dragging the fore feet along the ground. Bitches, when in low condition after rearing a litter of puppies, often suffer from this form. Then the loins, again, are the frequent seat of this disease, and when it affects this part it is called lumbago. The dog walks with arched back, and very stiffly—and as when the other parts of the body are affected, there is a good deal of pain. As the result of lumbago, a dog often loses the use of the hind legs for a time, and in fact becomes quite paralysed.