A Manual of Toy Dogs: How to breed, rear, and feed them

by Mrs. Leslie Williams

Indigestion is by no means uncommon among toy dogs, and frequently leads to the odious habit of eating horrible things in the street, about which dog owners sometimes complain, and with reason. The presence of worms leads up to this habit, too, and where it exists they may be first suspected; and then, if their existence is disproved, indigestion comes in as the likely factor. Its treatment is not difficult, but the owner must make up her mind to persevere, and to feed her dog herself—no servant, no matter how careful, possesses judgment enough to deal with a case of this kind. Absolute regularity in feeding is necessary; the meals must be small, yet very nourishing, and the dog should not be allowed to drink immediately after eating. A digestive tonic containing nux vomica is almost invariably useful, but it is not a medicine which can be prescribed at large, for nux vomica is in itself a dangerous drug, and acts much more freely upon some dogs than upon others, making it most unwise to prescribe "so much" for all dogs alike. With this proviso, I will give a prescription intended for a Yorkshire terrier weighing about 6 lbs., which may be safely tried upon toys between 5 lbs. and 8 lbs. weight, the quantity of this particular ingredient being reduced by one-half for dogs between 4 lbs. and 5 lbs. and by two-thirds for toy puppies, upon whom its administration must be watched with extra vigilance: [Rx] pulv. nucis vom., gr.; pulv. radix gentianæ, 1 gr.; carb. bismuthi, 4 grs.; bicarb, sodii, 1½ grs.; ferri carb. sacch., 3 grs. M. H. D. Exhib. cum cib. bis vel ter die. A pill somewhat similar, but in some respects superior to this, is sold as one of the Kanofelin remedies.

The symptom of too great susceptibility to the action of strychnine (nux vomica) will be, in bold language, twitching and nervousness, and where these are observed to follow a dose it must be diminished or stopped altogether, and in this latter case the powder without the first ingredient may be tried.

Disagreeable Breath and Eructation.—Beta-naphthol, given in pills containing ½ gr. each, is a valuable drug in cases of indigestion where eructation and disagreeable breath are noticeable. For toys under 5 lbs. ¼ gr. pills must be given; one pill in either case to be given about ten minutes after each meal. The effect of the drug is simply to check the fermentation of the food and the consequent formation of foul gases in the stomach. Where this form of indigestion is accompanied by diarrhœa, salol may be given instead of naphthol, in the same doses; but it and naphthol do not suit all dogs alike, though neither can do any harm, and if the patient is sick after a dose, the sign has been given that marks the treatment as unsuitable to his individuality. As in the case of human patients, the dog doctor may have to try several methods of treatment before he hits upon the cure. Pills are often troublesome to give, which fault cannot be found with powdered vegetable charcoal, to which few dogs make any objection when it is sprinkled upon their food and lightly covered with a few tiny bits of something very dainty; but where the owner prefers to give medicine apart from the food, enclosure of powder in a capsule is always practicable. A simple and tasteless powder is included among the Kanofelin Remedies, and may always have a trial, given with the food, in cases of indigestion.

The Bad Doer.—Want of appetite for no particular reason, except general debility of the stomach, is the annoying characteristic of the kennel-man's horror—the "bad doer," who is characterised by thinness and bad coat. Here and there we find a thin little dog that nothing will fatten; hardly ever hungry, and dainty to the distraction of his owner; a dog who will not eat in a strange place or from an unusual plate, and who only grows the thinner and more miserable for what he does eat. He is an unenviable possession, but we must make the best of him, coax him with small and frequent meals, for he will often accept a teaspoonful of raw meat minced, or a tablespoonful of cream, where he would not even look at an ordinary dog's meal, and get him up as well as we can for show with a daily new-laid egg, beaten up in a very little milk, and that useful and valuable dog-owner's aid, cod liver oil and malt. Most dogs will take this with a little tempting meat to help it down. Of course it must not be pushed at first, but given, to begin with, in very small doses, and gradually increased until our usefully typical 6 lb. dog is taking a full teaspoonful twice a day. It is a wonderful hair producer. Cod liver oil alone, without the malt, is of much less use, and cheap preparations of either or both are to be sternly avoided; in the nature of things, such a medicine cannot be cheap, if it is to be thoroughly good. And here, I may remark, that because we are only dealing with a dog is no reason why we should put cheap drugs of any kind into him. His system is just as beautiful and delicate in its balance as that of a human being, though his teeth and his digestion may be stronger—such is not invariably the case by any means—and the administration of impure or adulterated medicine is just as great a cruelty to it as to the human machinery. To give a toy dog crude cod liver oil, imperfectly purified, because it is cheap, is like expecting to do fine carving upon oak with a hatchet, because it is oak and not satin-wood.

Internal Parasites.—In no case has modern progress in knowledge disclosed more fallacies, held formerly as firm beliefs, than where the internal parasites—which for our present purpose, this being only a popular manual, may be classed as tape-worms and round worms—of the dog are concerned. Only a few years ago, if a dog suffered from skin disease in any one of its several forms, "worms" were at once cited as the cause. Now we know—or rather, those among us know, who either have some understanding of canine anatomy and physiology or will take the word of the scientist for it—that worms cause nothing: they are not a cause, but an effect. They are a symptom of anæmia; and as skin trouble almost invariably accompanies any severe degree of anæmia in dogs, skin trouble and worms are usually found together. We cannot, therefore, cure dogs of harbouring worms by giving expellent doses, no matter how glowingly advertised and boomed, of the various irritant drugs which act as vermifuges. We can only by this means temporarily drive out the enemy, which is certain to return, because the conditions prevailing in an anæmic intestine suit it perfectly, and encourage its increase, whereas in the healthy intestine it more or less shares the fate of food on being digested, and is incapable of rapid or sustained increase. The effect of an anæmic or vitiated condition of the blood-supply to the villi, or, in non-scientific language, digesting pores which exist all over the mucoid lining of the intestinal tract, is to prevent their throwing out those strong juices or digestive fluids which they normally produce. Their secretions are altered and weakened, and have no injurious effect on the parasites, which then increase rapidly. When, therefore, it becomes evident, by the appearance of short yellowish-white segments, generally about an inch long, and varying in breadth from a mere line to about a quarter of an inch, dropped about by a dog, that tape-worm exists; or it is seen by his vomiting them up or otherwise, that he has round worms, which somewhat resemble earth-worms, what we have to do is to alter that condition of the general health which allows these pests to exist. In brief, we have to treat the dog for anæmia, which subject has been already discussed. It is, of course, occasionally possible for a healthy, meat-fed dog to become accidentally infected by swallowing tape-worm ova, and in such a case a few of the parasites may be harboured for a considerable time, not increasing, but now and then making their presence manifest. Infection is possible by the swallowing of fleas, which are intermediate hosts of tape-worm, or by eating the insides of rabbits, which usually swarm with these creatures, or, in the opinion of some authorities, by sniffing the ova up through the nasal passages and subsequently swallowing them. As, however, one cannot always be certain that the apparently healthy dog is not a trifle below par, it is always well to treat him with a course of iron, giving the powders or tonic pills advised for anæmia for a month, and at the expiration of that period, when the system is toned up so that the worms' position is almost untenable, and their expulsion will be final, one or two vermifuge doses may be given. All sorts of quack remedies have been praised and boomed as infallible, but many are exceedingly drastic, and some positively dangerous. Areca nut, so frequently advised, is a most violent irritant, actually poisonous in its effects on young puppies, and a very cruel remedy in all cases. Wormseed oil, an American preparation, possibly from one of the inulas, a family of plants known in English gardens, is sometimes an ingredient; also such highly unsuitable, inert, useless, or dangerous substances as sulphate of magnesia, salt, or cowhage, with strong doses of santonine, a drug that should never be given in unknown quantity. A violent purgative action often accompanies these secret remedies, adding to their danger. The intelligent dog owner should know what he is giving, and to some extent understand its action; but in a country where quack, much-advertised medicines are largely given to children, I suppose it will be difficult to prevent their being also administered to dogs. In any case, no worm medicine whatever, of any sort or kind, other than an iron tonic, should be given to young puppies, no known drug possessing a stronger action than iron upon the parasites being safe for toy pups under three months old. After that age it is safe to give very small doses of oil of male-fern and absolutely minute ones of santonine. These are best combined in a capsule, in which form they can be given without distressing the patient, and a perfectly safe capsule after this formula is, among the Kanofelin remedies—which are not secret, but are compounded after recognised formulæ, and equally suitable for dogs or children in the purity of their drugs and safety of their action. If any of the popular advertised remedies are used for adults, experiment should be made at first with much smaller doses than are cited, and safety thus assured, for a microscopic dose will often act quite severely enough for the toy dog owner's purpose, and dogs are as variously sensitive to drug action as we ourselves.

In very young puppies the bringing up by the mouth of round worms is not at all unusual, especially when they are pups born of "kennel" parents, dogs crowded together in numbers, insufficiently fed (although possibly upon an excessive quantity of oatmeal and Indian corn meal), denied meat, and leading a completely unnatural life in every respect. It is rather a shock to an amateur when this occurs, but as a rule little anxiety need be felt, for if the puppy is properly fed upon small dry meals of a very digestible and nourishing nature, say two tablespoonfuls of good underdone rump-steak, or the same quantity of roast mutton, three times a day for a dog the size of a pug, and given a one-grain dose of iron with two of these meals, he will be pretty sure to grow out of his troubles. In any such case great attention must be paid to keeping up the strength of the patient, in order to tide him over the time when by reason of youth and his very tender little stomach, it is impossible to give him any stronger medicine with safety.

Extreme thinness and loss of coat are sometimes attributed to that wonderful power worms, in old-fashioned eyes, possessed. Both of these symptoms are those of an anæmic condition, as is fœtor of the breath. Finally, the treatment of that over-rated bugbear in the way of diseases, "Worms," is easily summarised thus—Meat feeding; an iron tonic; a vermifuge after the tonic course, and not before.

After male-fern capsules it is quite unnecessary to give any aperient. Most inventors of "worm pills" and the like order castor oil to be given after their boluses, a terrible aggravation both to operator and patient.

Aperients.—Some people have an idea that it is desirable to dose dogs periodically, on the quaint old "spring-medicine" principle, extended over all the year. No greater mistake can be made. A dog should never be given drugs of any kind unless really ill, and this it will never be in the direction indicated, if it is properly fed and regularly exercised. A dog's natural and proper food is meat; but the stimulus of distension must be given to the intestine by adding some bulk of innutritious food to the meat. We cannot give quite enough meat to afford this stimulus constantly, because by doing so we should overload the system. In a state of nature dogs ate the fur and skins of their prey, like other carnivora: now we must give them a certain proportion, but only a small one, of biscuits made of wheat (not of oatmeal or Indian corn meal, which are too indigestible) or of brown bread, to provide bulk without nourishment. They may, if any aperient be absolutely necessary, have a meal of boiled liver, a teaspoonful or two of pure olive oil poured over a little meat, or given from a spoon, or some cod liver oil, which may be voluntarily taken, and is equally efficacious. Milk is very laxative, and sometimes, where there is no biliousness, a small saucerful makes a good aperient. Always take a dog for his run at the same time of day, wet or fine, and never lose sight of the fact that a well-behaved clean little house-pet may bring upon itself a dangerous attack of constipation by its good manners if its appeal for a walk is ignored.