Rickets:
Symptoms: A disease affecting puppies; if it does not commence before six months of age, it is not likely to occur. In some puppies it commences before they have left the nest, but, as a rule, it does not show itself before the puppy is two months old. The joints, especially the knees and hocks, become enlarged and irregular in shape; the pasterns weak, the puppy walks on the backs of his legs; the arms are bowed, the stifles enlarged and standing out, whilst the hocks turn inwards, giving a “cow-hock” appearance. The bones of the face may be swollen, and there may be a curvature of the spine.
The puppy, when suffering from rickets, is always dwarfed in growth, very thin and miserable-looking, with pot belly, and always more or less in pain. The cause of rickets is improper feeding, want of sufficient fresh air, light, and liberty; also worms.
Treatment: Puppies suffering from this disease, when much below their normal size and weight, and badly crippled, should be destroyed. When it is decided to treat a case, give worm medicine, also some chemical food, from ten drops[1] to a teaspoonful twice a day after eating, either in water or mixed with cod-liver oil. Bathe the limbs with sea water, or a solution of sea salt twice a day; but if very weak, bandage with strips of adhesive plaster, applied so that it does not interfere with the bending of the joints. The puppy should live out of doors, in a big gravelled yard if possible, and where there are people about to attract attention and to encourage movement. Give plenty of raw meat on a bone, if possible—the act of gnawing it off much improves the digestion; also give Spratt’s malt and cod-liver oil biscuits, dry, as well as soaked in good soup. The puppy may have milk to drink instead of water. No treatment is of any use without fresh air, sunshine, and liberty.
Ringworm:
Symptoms: Almost bare and nearly circular patches of skin, which is rough and scaly, and sometimes there are a few small red pimples on the places and a few short stumps of broken hair. The disease is very contagious to other animals, and also to people. Rats and mice are very subject to ringworm, and frequently infect dogs.
Treatment: Dress all the spots daily with sulphurated calcium lotion, applied with a brush. After a week, dress the spots daily with borate of glycerine.
Rupture:
Symptoms: A swelling in the groin, navel, scrotum perineum, etc.; and it may occur at any part of the abdomen, the result of an injury, when it is called ventral hernia. The swelling may be round or elongated; it is generally broader at its free extremity than at its point of connection with the abdominal surface. It becomes enlarged when the dog strains, or when constipated, and it also has a tendency to increase in size as the dog gets older.