If the trouble has gone on a good while, and there is much brown discharge, it will be necessary to use a lotion. First of all use the ointment, as described, and clear away as much of the softened discharge as possible by this means, being, of course, exceedingly gentle in your manipulation, for these, at best, are very tender parts. Then take the following lotion: Warm water, ½ pt.; Goulard's extract of lead, 1 tablespoonful; powdered boracic acid, ½ dr. The boracic powder to be added to the water first, and the Goulard after, and the whole on no account to be used otherwise than nicely warm, or it will cause pain. The bottle can, of course, be filled at once, and a little of the contents warmed for use as needed. Lay the patient down on the sound side, with the bad ear uppermost, and get someone to hold him firmly. Then gently pour about half to one teaspoonful of the warm lotion into the ear, and work it about from outside. Keep him lying still for three or five minutes, then let him go, and fly! For he will shake the superfluous lotion all over you if you are not cautious. A great deal of remonstrant ploughing about generally follows, but the application does not really cause any pain, and will soon cure if persevered with—twice a day for a week or so. Such frightful and almost, if not quite, incurable cases as one sometimes meets with in sporting dogs, where the ears have become thoroughly diseased from, in the first place, getting wet and dirty, and being subsequently neglected, are, I rejoice to say, unknown among well-cared-for toys.
People are sometimes alarmed because their puppies' ears do not stand erect when they should, or are pointing in all directions but the right when they should drop. This is a common thing enough during teething, and will generally come quite right later on. If it does not, no active remedy—by operation—is permissible if the dog is to be shown, but a good deal can be done by oiling the ears and manipulating them constantly in the desired direction by massage, while, in the case of youngish puppies, two or three thicknesses of horses' leg bandage plaster, cut to fit the inside and point of the ear, will either, if stuck in by warming it, help the ear to drop or to stand up, as is desired. This is a legitimate "fake," I may remark. But, of course, the process must not be used with any idea of deception, though it is allowable to aid Nature in the way she should go.
The Eyes.—The eye of the dog is an even more delicate structure than the ear, and only skilled surgical aid should approach it in any but the simplest ailments. Of these are the simple catarrhal ophthalmia, the symptoms of which are redness of the lining membrane of the lids, and a greenish discharge, turning brown and dry later, which comes from cold and weakness of constitution. The victim of this must be kept in an even temperature, be not allowed to lie by the fire, or look into it, or to go out of doors in wind, hot sunshine, or cold, and be well fed with good nourishing meat and light, digestible food. The discharge should be wiped away from the eyes at morning and evening with a bit of sponge dipped in a warm boracic lotion which any chemist will supply of the proper strength; and immediately afterwards a little bit of yellow oxide of mercury ointment, about as large as a small split pea, should be gently introduced under the lid of the affected eye with a camel's hair brush. Do not, on any account, accept "golden ointment," if the chemist happens to offer you this old-fashioned remedy (I believe) for styes! It is made of the red oxide of mercury, and is a very great deal stronger than the yellow oxide of mercury ointment, which, by the way, should be made in the strength of 2 grs. to the ounce. This latter ointment may also be used where, after distemper, a bluish film lingers in the eye. Amaurosis is not uncommon in the dog. The eyes look perfectly right, but the dog is blind. This may be an hereditary condition, but sometimes comes in as a result of weakness pure and simple. Iron tonics, cod liver oil, nux vomica, etc., may be given, and sometimes prove effectual. Good living is essential. These cases are occasionally cured rather suddenly, but as a rule are incurable.
Simple cold in the eyes—or more often, only in one—is a very ordinary ailment, but distressing both to sufferer and owner. The affected eye waters more or less profusely, and is kept partly closed. Within, there is the same appearance as in catarrhal ophthalmia, but in a less degree, and there may be fever and constitutional disturbance, in which case the patient must be treated for a coryza, or "common cold." A boracic and poppy-head lotion is the quickest cure for cold in the eyes, and is also useful in the ophthalmic condition. It soothes the pain greatly, and is best applied by means of a small all-indiarubber ball syringe. On no account must a syringe with a bone or glass or vulcanite point be used: the indiarubber nozzle is soft, and from it one or two drops can easily be inserted between the eyelids. The amount of resistance the patient makes will be proportionate to the severity of the inflammation, and as this lessens he will endure the operation with serenity. To make the lotion at home, buy a poppy-head, price about a halfpenny, from any chemist, and boil it for an hour or longer in half a pint of water, adding to this as it evaporates. When the water is sherry-coloured, dissolve 10 grs. of boracic acid powder in each fluid ounce, allow to cool, and use as frequently as convenient—once every hour, while the congestion of the lining membrane of the eyelids is active.
Sore Feet.—Eczema, or little boils between the toes and round the dew-claw on the front legs, is a trouble which besets some dogs. Constitutional treatment, as laid down for eczema, is needful, and as the dog will invariably worry the sores incessantly by licking, they should be dusted with zinc or ichthyol powder, and then bandaged or socked. If a dog is constantly licking its dew-claw, look at it to make sure it is not growing in. In this case it needs to be cut rather short, preferably by a veterinary surgeon, and the sore dressed. Dew-claws on the hind legs should always be removed by a veterinary surgeon in puppy-hood.
Colds and Coughs.—Colds, or coryza, beset dogs as they do humans, but in lesser degree. A chest cold needs a flannel cross-over, sometimes a hot linseed poultice (in treating dogs it is much better to use, if possible, some dry poultice which will not leave the dog sopping after it is removed), or a mustard-leaf. Rubbing with white vaseline oil and ten drops of turpentine to each ounce, if vigorously done, is as good for colds as for rheumatism. Everyone knows what a cold is, and the toy dog's cold should be treated like one's own. The clinical thermometer should be used, and if the temperature exceeds 100°, a pill of 5 grs. of nitrate of potash should be given every four hours until it is normal again, or, if it cannot be got down thus, give ½ gr. of sulphate of quinine and 1 gr. of phenacetin, using the tabloids, and dividing them as desired. The strength must be well kept up. Coughs—the dog's hollow, deep-drawn brand—are a sore trial to the hearer. They sound terrible, but are seldom of much moment. If from cold, put a little vaseline or glycerine on the nose three or four times a day. It will be licked off, and give relief, while some dogs will eat glycerine lozenges if not flavoured with lemon. Vaseline, again, is an excellent thing for bronchial wheezing, such as pugs are especially subject to, and will always be taken if put on the nose. Cream also is soothing, and where is the dog that does not like it?
Chest Diseases.—The worst-sounding coughs are often the least important, and may pass off in a few days without treatment, but a bronchial rattling in the throat calls for care. Bronchitis in toy dogs must be treated exactly as in children, and, needless to say, the dog must not go out until the acute stage is passed. Most clean dogs will go to a box of earth in a cellar. A bronchitis kettle must be kept going in the room, and the patient will need an invalidish diet and much petting and amusement to carry him through the dull hours of discomfort. Dogs have congestion of the lungs, pleurisy, pneumonia, just as people do, and need the same careful nursing. Medicine in such cases is usually unnecessary, because it worries the patient and can do little good. A mild fever mixture may be prescribed by the vet, who should always be called in the moment the breathing goes wrong. Dulness, lassitude, shivering, and a high temperature—the clinical thermometer is of all things needed here—with troubled breathing, are symptoms of the highest importance, and skilled aid should be immediately called to them. The amateur cannot diagnose these lung and chest troubles.
Stomach Coughs.—Very dreadful coughs are sometimes heard proceeding entirely from the stomach. For these a little course of indigestion treatment often does wonders. Or, again, coughing may be caused by a fish-bone or something similar in the throat, though this is the rarest of all causes in the dog, owing to his possessing a most tremendous gullet, quite out of proportion to his size.
Shivering.—Shivering is a bad trick some dogs acquire, and others have by nature. It generally, if unaccompanied by a high temperature, means nothing whatever, unless it be nerves. But, short of the Weir Mitchell treatment, I imagine nothing benefits these latter more than a mild scolding, with admonitions "not to be so silly."
Hysteria.—There are, most certainly, hysterical dogs, and their temperament is that of the habitual shiverer, though very thin-skinned toys sometimes really shiver from cold. A hysterical dog will bark itself quite out of breath at the least disturbance, and shriek exactly like its prototype human. Nature cannot be changed, but a tonic sometimes does good. Excitability and nervousness are characteristic of some breeds. Poms are, perhaps, the most excitable of small dogs, and pugs certainly the least so.