CHAPTER XVI.
AILMENTS OF THE DOG.
Dogs as well as people sometimes fall ill. Proper care and sanitary lodgings will reduce the danger, but sickness will occasionally occur, no matter how great the precautions.
Dog owners should therefore acquaint themselves with the commoner forms of ailment to which dogs are subject and thus be in a position to quickly administer such relief as is possible, thereby frequently stopping a sick spell promptly that might otherwise result seriously if not fatally.
The dog is very similar to man in his ailments as well as in his susceptibility to drugs. As a general thing medicine that is good for a human being is good for a dog under similar circumstances. "While no definite rule can be laid down" says an eminent authority, "it may be said that a dose suitable for an adult person is correct for the largest dogs, such as St. Bernards; for dogs from forty to fifty pounds the dose should correspond with that given to a child twelve to fourteen years of age, and so on down."
Few veterinarians make a study of the dog, and they rarely are of any use when called. However, those who have made a special study may be consulted with advantage and saving.
We have not the space here to go into an exhaustive recitation of dog diseases, symptoms, treatment and remedies. If you are at a loss concerning your dog, write to one of the Dog Doctors, whose advertisements appear in sporting magazines, and he can no doubt diagnose the case and forward the medicine you require at a minimum cost. In nearly all cases he will forward you a free booklet describing the prevalent diseases and his remedies applicable to same.
The following from the pen of H. Clay Glover, V. S., will no doubt give many readers some light on one of the common afflictions that prove so troublesome.
INDIGESTION IN DOGS.
Eczema is a frequent symptom, and let me state right here that I find more cases of eczematous eruptions arising from a disordered condition of the digestion than any other cause. Doubtless many who will read this will recognize the fact that at some time some certain dog has had some obstinate skin trouble, all kinds of which are by the layman diagnosed as "mange", and that, after trying various mange cures to which the trouble has not yielded, the blood has been treated with no better results.
To any one who have, or may have in the future, indigestion cases, let me advise the following treatment, viz.: Feed rather sparingly three times a day on raw or scraped beef, this being the most readily accepted and most easily digested of all foods when the digestion is disordered, allowing no other diet, and giving immediately after each meal one of the digestive pills. Add to the drinking water lime water in the proportion of one to thirty.