Symptoms: A small roundish or oval tumour of smooth surface situated just under the skin, and one that moves freely about, it being unattached. It is a simple growth and quite painless.
Treatment: The only thing to be done in these cases is removal by operation, which is quite a simple matter, for when the skin covering the wen is cut through the little tumour is easily squeezed out. The wound should be afterwards sewed up, some carbolic gauze applied, which should be kept in its place with a bandage or jacket.
Wind in the Stomach:
Symptoms: Dogs, especially big ones, occasionally suffer from a very bad form of “wind or gas in the stomach”, which is a very serious illness, often terminating fatally in a few hours, due to rupture of the stomach, the result of over-distension. The gas is formed by a germ generally present in all dogs’ stomachs and bowels, and called “Bacillus Communis Colli”, and sometimes without any apparent reason or cause they take on an active form with the result as above mentioned. The attack usually comes on shortly after eating. The dog becomes restless and breathes quickly, the abdomen is full and tense, the dog has an anxious look, the eyes are congested, and the pulse very quick and small. The distension continues to increase, the abdomen often assuming an enormous size and hard as a drum, and the pain is acute. Unless relief is quickly obtained the dog suddenly collapses, the stomach having ruptured and the contents escaped into the abdominal cavity. Acute peritonitis sets in, and the dog dies in a few hours as much from shock as the disease.
Treatment: It is generally unsatisfactory, as the symptoms are so acute that there is little time to do anything before the dog becomes collapsed; however, now and then benefit is derived by giving a strong dose of antiseptic medicine, as cyllin, from two to six[1] minims, which can be obtained in gelatine capsules; the dose may be repeated in a couple of hours. If cyllin cannot be obtained give from two to fifteen[1] grains of Naphthol Beta in a cachet; this also may be repeated in a couple of hours. Failing this medicine, then give from five to forty[1] drops of Pearson’s Antiseptic Fluid in a gelatine capsule or cachet, and this too may be repeated in a couple of hours if necessary.
Sometimes benefit is derived by washing the stomach out with a solution of the fluid just mentioned diluted two hundred times with tepid water, using from one ounce to half a pint of the solution.[1] This must be done with a stomach pump. When everything else fails, it is advisable to submit the dog to an operation, which consists of opening the abdomen, and then puncturing the stomach to allow the gas to escape, but care must be taken not to let any of the contents of the stomach escape into the abdominal cavity. The wound made in the stomach must be afterwards carefully closed by Lembert’s sutures.
Womb (Inflammation of):
See [Uterus (Inflammation of)].
Worms in the Heart (Filaria Immitis):
Symptoms: A common disease in China and not uncommon in Japan, but I believe there has never been a case in England when the dog has been born here, though some few dogs that have been imported from the countries named show symptoms of suffering from these parasites soon after arriving in this country by frequently suffering from convulsions, weakness in the back legs, and in some cases paralysis. A dog’s heart is often irregular in action, but in these cases it is particularly so, and after some great exertion the dog dies suddenly, the result of the worm interfering with the action of the heart.