Should this course not relieve, an injection of warm soap and water should be given, and repeated, if necessary, until the result is accomplished.
Worms
The entire animal kingdom is subject to numerous parasites or entozoa. These have their abode either upon the surface, or along the intestinal tract, or within the cavities, or even in the more solid substances or muscles of the body. They are found in all animals and fish—those in apparent health as well as those that are sick—and part they play in the economy of nature is confessedly obscure. It is generally conceded that it is only in peculiar or morbid conditions, or under a course of diet and regimen unfavorable to health, that they multiply or increase to such an extent as to become of themselves a source of irritation and disease. It is under these conditions that INTESTINAL WORMS become the subject of medical treatment.
No animal is so subject or so frequently tormented by worms as the dog. This is doubtless owing to his highly artificial life and the great variety of food given him. Intestinal worms are of four varieties; the first is the Ascarides or round worm, white or light yellow in color and common in puppies. The second is the Oxyaris Vermicularis, known as the pin or thread worm and inhabiting the lower bowel. The third is the Tenia or tape worm. The fourth is the Uncinaria Trigonocephalus or hook worm.
Symptoms.—All worm symptoms are questionable, except finding them in the discharges. Their existence may be inferred if the dog has a short coat, bound bowels or purging, turns of griping, wasting or fits.
Treatment.—For the first two classes of worms there are two systems of treatment. The first is to give a Vermifuge; this kills the worms and expels them from the system, however, it has done nothing to relieve the morbid conditions that allowed the worms to accumulate in the first place and they will return and have to be expelled etc. The other system is to remove the morbid conditions which allowed the worms to accumulate and the system will then expel the worms of its own accord. This is naturally a slower process than the first but its effects are much more lasting. D. D. belongs to the latter class of remedies.
Give D. D., two to five drops, according to size of dog, two or three times per day. Its continuance will not fail to eradicate them from the system.
The Tape Worm consists of a head not larger than a pin’s head, in which there are four sucking cups and their armature; a neck, which is an inch or more in length, very slender and without joints; and the body, consisting of a long row of flat, ribbon like segments, each of which in rectangular in shape and increasing in size towards the caudal extremity. These segments have each the male and female organ, and at the caudal extremity the ripe eggs; there may be several hundred of these segments, each half or three-quarters of an inch in length, and the entire animal measure several yards. From time to time, the lower segments or joints as they are termed, ripen, and are pushed off, and appear in the evacuations.
The Hook Worm or Uncinaria Trigonocephalus is a small thread like worm, from one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch long, white, with a black line down the body, the head has a bell shaped mouth provided with six hook like teeth; by means of these hooks the worm buries its head in the lining of the intestine from which it sucks blood. These worms are quite prevalent in the Southern States also in Southern Europe and Asia. They are found more frequently in packs of hunting dogs than in individual house dogs.
Symptoms.—The disease develops gradually with weakness and wasting followed by colic and alternating constipation and diarrhea. A discharge of bloody mucus from the nose and swelling of the limbs is characteristic of the disease. Death follows at a considerable interval.