The Dog

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With these leading symptoms there are often others connected that are
common to many diseases; such as dryness and heat of the mouth, a fetid
smell, a staggering gait, roughness of the hair, and particularly of
that of the back; an insatiable thirst, accompanied by the refusal of
all food; loss of flesh, which occasionally proceeds with astonishing
rapidity; a tucked-up flank, with hardness and tenderness of the
anterior part of the belly.

The jaundice which is not accompanied with fever, nor indeed with any
morbid change but the colour of the skin, will require very little
treatment. It will usually disappear in a reasonable time, and M.
Leblanc has not found that any kind of treatment would hasten that
disappearance.

When any new symptom becomes superadded to jaundice, it must be
immediately combated. Fever, injection of the vessels of the
conjunctiva, constipation, diarrhoea, or the discoloration of the urine,
require one bleeding at least, with some mucilaginous drinks. Purgatives
are always injurious at the commencement of the disease.

"I consider," says M. Leblanc, "this fact to be of the utmost
importance. Almost the whole of the dogs that have been brought to me
seriously ill with jaundice, have been purged once or more; and either
kitchen salt, or tobacco, or jalap, or syrup of buckthorn, or emetic
tartar, or some unknown purgative powders, have been administered.

"Bleeding should be resorted to, and repeated if the fever continues,
or the animal coughs, or the respiration be accelerated. When the
pulse is subdued, and the number of pulsations are below the natural
standard--if the excrements are still void of their natural colour--if
the constipation continues, or the animal refuses to feed--an ounce of
manna dissolved in warm water should be given, and the dog often
drenched with linseed tea. If watery diarrhoea should supervene, and
the belly is not hot nor tender, a drachm or more, according to the
size of the dog, of the sulphate of magnesia or soda should be
administered, and this medicine should be repeated if the purging
continues; more especially should this aperient be had recourse to
when the faeces are more or less bloody, there being no fever nor
peculiar tenderness of the belly.

"When the liquid excrement contains much blood, and that blood is of a
deep colour, all medicines given by the mouth should be suspended, and
frequent injections should be thrown up, consisting of thin starch,
with a few drops of laudanum. Too much cold water should not be
allowed in this stage of the disease. Injections, and drinks composed
of starch and opium, are the means most likely to succeed in the black
diarrhoea, which is so frequent and so fatal, and which almost always
precedes the fatal termination of all the diseases connected with
jaundice.

"In simple cases of jaundice the neutral salts have seldom produced
much good effect; but I have obtained considerable success from the
diascordium, in doses of half a drachm to a drachm.

"Great care should be taken with regard to the diet of the dog that
has had jaundice, with bloody or black diarrhoea; for the cases of
relapse are frequent and serious and almost always caused by improper
or too abundant food. A panada of bread, with a little butter, will
constitute the best nourishment when the dog begins to recover his
appetite. From this he may be gradually permitted to return to his
former food. Most especially should the animal not be suffered to take
cold, or to be left in a low or damp situation. This attention to the
food of the convalescent dog may be thought to be pushed a little too
far; but experience has taught me to consider it of the utmost
importance, and it is neither expensive nor troublesome."

THE SPLEEN AND PANCREAS.

The spleen is generally regarded as an appendage to the absorbent
system. Tiedemann and Gmelin consider that its specific function is to
secrete from the blood a fluid which possesses the property of
coagulation, and which is carried to the thoracic duct, and then, being
united with the chyle, converts it into blood, and causes an actual
communication between the arterial and absorbent systems. According,
however, to Dr. Bostock, there is a fatal objection to this, namely,
that animals have been known to live an indefinite length of time after
the removal of the spleen, without any obvious injury to their
functions, which could not have been the case if the spleen had been
essentially necessary for so important a process.

A knowledge of the diseases of the spleen in the dog appears to be less
advanced than in any other animal. In the cases that I have seen, the
earliest indications were frequent vomiting, and the discharge of a
yellow, frothy mucus. The animal appeared uneasy, shivering, the ears
cold, the eyes unnaturally protuberant, the nostrils dilated, the flanks
agitated, the respiration accelerated, and the mucous membranes pale.
The best treatment I know is the administration, twice in the day, of a
ball composed of a grain of calomel and the same quantity of aloes, and
five grains of ginger. The dog frequently cries out, both when he is
moved and when he lies on his bed. In the course of three days the
yellow mucus is generally disappearing, and the expression of pain is
materially diminished.

If the bowels are much constipated after two days have passed, two
scruples of aloes may be given, and a grain of calomel; frequent
injections may also be administered.

We are almost totally ignorant of the functions of the 'pancreas'. It
probably is concerned in assimilating the food, and converting the chyme
of the stomach into chyle.

INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEY

is a serious and dangerous malady. This organ is essentially vascular in
its texture; and although it is small in volume, yet, on account of the
quantity of blood which it contains, and the rapidity with which its
secretions are performed, it is disposed to frequent and dangerous
inflammation. The immediate causes of inflammatory action in this viscus
are blows and contusions in the lumbar region; hard work long continued,
and the imprudent use of stimulating substances employed as
aphrodisiacs; the presence of calculi in the kidney, and the arrest of
the urine in the bladder. The whole of the kidney may be affected with
anaemia or defect of blood, or this may be confined to the cortical
substance, or even to the tubular. The kidneys are occasionally much
larger than usual, without any other change of structure; or simple
hypertrophy may affect but one of them. They are subject to atrophy,
which may be either general or partial; or one of the kidneys may be
completely wanting, and this evidently the consequence of violence or
disease.

Hydatids, though seldom met with in the human kidney, are not
unfrequently found in that of the dog. All these are circumstances that
have not received sufficient attention.

CALCULOUS CONCRETIONS

are of more frequent occurrence than is generally imagined, but they are
not confined to the kidneys; there is scarcely a portion of the frame in
which they have not been found, particularly in the brain, the glandular
substance, and the coats of the intestines.

I cannot say with Mr. Blaine that I have seen not less than 40 or 50
calculi in my museum; but I have seen too many fearful examples of the
complaint. There has been usually great difficulty in the urinary
evacuation; and at length one of the calculi enters the urethra, and so
blocks up the flow of the urine that mortification ensues.

M. Lautour relates a case of renal calculus in a dog. He had
occasionally voided his urine with some difficulty, and had walked
slowly and with evident pain. August 30, 1827, a sudden exacerbation
came on, and the dog was dreadfully agitated. He barked and rolled
himself on the ground almost every minute; be made frequent attempts to
void his urine, which came from him drop by drop. When compelled to
walk, his hind and fore legs seemed to mingle together, and his loins
were bent into a perfect curve; his flanks were drawn in; he could
scarcely be induced to eat; and he evidently suffered much in voiding
his faeces. Mild and demulcent liquids were his only food. Warm baths and
injections were applied almost unceasingly, and in eight days he seemed
to have perfectly gained his health.

In March, in the following year, the symptoms returned with greater
intensity. His hind limbs were dragged after him; he rapidly lost flesh,
and his howlings were fearful and continuous. The same mode of treatment
was adopted without any good effect, and, his cries continuing, he was
destroyed.

The stomach and intestines were healthy. The bladder was enlarged from
the thickness and induration of its parietes; the mucous membrane of it
was covered with ecchymoses; the kidneys were three or four times their
natural size; and the pelvis contained a calculus weighing 126 grains,
composed of 58 grains of uric acid and 58 of ammonia, with 10 grains of
phosphate of lime.

Of the nature and causes of urinary calculi in the bladder we know very
little. We only know that some solid body finds its way or is formed
there, gradually increases in size, and at length partially or entirely
occupies the bladder. Boerhaave has given a singular and undeniable
proof of this. He introduced a small round pebble into the bladder of a
dog. The wound perfectly healed. A few months afterwards the animal was
killed, and there was found a calculus of considerable size, of which
the pebble was the nucleus.

Occasionally the pressure of the bladder on the calculus which it
contains is exceedingly great, so much so, indeed, as to crush the
calculus. A small calculus may sometimes be forcibly extracted, or cut
down upon and removed; but when the calculus is large, a catheter or
bougie must be passed up the penis as far as the curve in the urethra,
and then somewhat firmly held with the left hand, and pressing against
the urethra. A scalpel should be taken, and an incision made into the
urethra. The catheter being now withdrawn, and the finger or a pair of
forceps introduced into the bladder, the calculus may be grasped and
extracted.

There are some instances in which as many as 20 or 30 small calculi have
been taken from the bladder of a dog. Twice I have seen calculi
absolutely crushed in the bladder of a dog; and Mr. Blaine says that he
found no fewer than 40 or 50 in the bladder of a Newfoundland dog. One
of them had passed out into the urethra, and had so blocked up the
passage that the flow of urine was prevented, and the animal died of
mortification.

With much pleasure I refer to the details of Mr. Blaine with regard to
the management of 'vesical calculi'.

"When a small calculus," says he, "obstructs the urethra, and can be
felt, it may be attempted to be forced forward through the urethra to
the point of the penis, whence it may be extracted by a pair of
forceps. If it cannot be so moved, it may be cut down upon and removed
with safety; but when one or more stones are within the bladder, we
must attempt lithotomy, after having fully satisfied ourselves of
their existence there by the introduction of the sound; to do which it
must be remembered that the urethra of the dog in passing the bladder
proceeds nearly in a direct line backwards, and then, making an acute
angle, it passes again forwards to the bladder. It must be therefore
evident, that when it becomes necessary to introduce a catheter,
sound, or bougie, it must first be passed up the penis to the
extremity of this angle; the point of the instrument must then be cut
down upon, and from this opening the instrument may be readily passed
forward into the bladder. The examination made, and a stone detected,
it may, if a very small one, be attempted to be pushed forward by
means of a finger passed up the anus into the urethra; but, as this
could be practicable only where the dog happened to be a large one, it
is most probable that nothing short of the operation of lithotomy
would succeed. To this end, the sound being introduced, pass a very
small gorget, or otherwise a bistoury, along its groove into the
bladder, to effect an opening sufficient to admit of the introduction
of a fine pair of forceps, by which the stone may be laid up and
extracted."
'Blaine's Canine Pathology', p. 180.

INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER

is of frequent occurrence in the dog; it is also occasionally observed
in the horse and the ox. It sometimes appears as an epizootic. It is
generally announced by anxiety, agitation, trembling of the hinder
limbs, frequent attempts to urine, vain efforts to accomplish it, the
evacuation small in quantity, sometimes clear and aqueous, and at other
times mucous, laden with sediment, thick and bloody, escaping by jets,
painfully and with great difficulty, and then suddenly rushing out in
great quantity. To this list of symptoms colic may often be added. The
animal drinks with avidity, but seldom eats much, unless at the
commencement of the complaint. The skin is hard and dry, he looks at his
flanks, and his back and flanks are tender when pressed upon.

During the latter portion of my connexion with Mr. Blaine, this disease
assumed an epidemic character. There was a great drought through almost
every part of the country. The disease was characterised by general
uneasiness; continual shifting of the posture; a tucked-up appearance;
an anxious countenance; a quick and noisy pulse; continued panting; the
urine voided in small quantities, sometimes discharged drop by drop, or
complete stoppage of it. The belly hot, swelled, and tender to the
touch; the dog becoming strangely irritable, and ready to bite even his
master.

'1st May', 1824.--Two dogs had been making ineffectual attempts to void
their urine for nearly two days. The first was a terrier, and the other
a Newfoundland. The terrier was bled, placed in a warm bath, and an
aloetic ball, with calomel, administered. He was bled a second time in
the evening, and a few drops of water were discharged. On the following
day, the urine slowly passed involuntarily from him; but when he
attempted to void any, his efforts were totally ineffectual. Balls
composed of camphor, pulv. uva ursi, tinct. ferri mur., mass purg., and
pulv. lini. et gum. arab., were administered morning, noon, and night.

On the 5th the urine still passed involuntarily. Cold lotions were
employed, and tonic and astringent medicines administered, with castor
oil. He gradually got well, and no trace of the disease remained until
June the 6th, when he again became thin and weak, and discharged much
bloody urine, but apparently without pain. The uva ursi, oak bark, and
powdered gum-arabic were employed.

On the 12th he had become much better, and so continued until the 1st of
July, when he again exhibited the same complaint more violently than
before. He was exceedingly tender on the loins, and screamed when he
was touched. He was bled, returned to his uva ursi and powdered gum, and
recovered. I saw him two years afterwards apparently well.

The Newfoundland dog exhibited a similar complaint, with nearly the same
accompaniments.

'May' 1.--He was disinclined to move; his belly was hard and hot, and he
was supposed to be costive. Gave an aloetic ball with iron.

2d. He has endeavoured, in vain, several times to void his urine. He
walks stiffly with his back bound. Subtract eight ounces of blood; give
another physic-ball, and apply cold affusion to the loins.

3d. He frequently attempts to stale, and passes a little urine at each
time; he still walks and stands with his back bound. Syr. papav. et
rhamni, with tinct. ferr. mur., a large spoonful being given morning and
night.

4th. He again tries, ineffectually, to void his urine. Mist. et pulv.

5th. Unable to void a drop of urine; nose hot; tongue hangs down; pants
considerably; will not eat; the countenance has an anxious character.
Bleed to twelve ounces; apply cold affusion. Medicine as before, with
cold affusion.

6th. Appears to be in very great pain; not a drop of water has passed
from him. Medicine and other treatment as before. In the evening he lay
down quietly. On the next morning he was found dead. All the viscera
were sound except the bladder, which was ruptured; the abdomen contained
two quarts of bloody fluid. The mucous membrane of the bladder appeared
to be in the highest state of inflammation. It was almost black with
extravasated blood. On the neck of the bladder was an enlargement of the
size of a goose's egg, and almost filling the cavity of the pelvis. On
cutting into it, more than two ounces of pus escaped.

On June 29, 1833, a poodle was brought to me. He had not been observed
to pass any urine for two days. He made frequent attempts to void it,
and cried dreadfully. The bladder could be felt distended in the
abdomen. I put him into a warm bath, and took from him a pound of blood.
He seemed to be a little relieved. I did not leave him until after
midnight, but was soon roused by his loud screams, and the dog was also
retching violently. The cries and retching gradually abated, and he
died. The bladder had burst, and the parietes were in a dreadful state
of inflammation.

A dog had laboured under incontinence of urine more than two months. The
water was continually dropping from him. The servant told me that, three
months before, he had been shut into a room two days, and, being a
cleanly animal, would not stale until he was liberated. Soon after that
the incontinence of urine was observed. I gave the usual tonic balls,
with a small portion of opium, night and morning, and ordered cold water
to be frequently dashed on the perinaeum. A month afterwards he was quite
well.

Comparatively speaking, 'profuse staling' is not a common disease,
except when it is the consequence of bad food, or strong diuretics, or
actual inflammation. The cause and the result of the treatment are often
obscure. Bleeding, purging, and counter irritation, would be indicated
to a certain extent, but the lowering system must not be carried too
far. The medicine would probably be catechu, uva ursi, and opium.

At times blood mingles with the urine, with or without coagulation. The
cause and the source of it may or may not be determined. Generally
speaking it is the result of some strain or blow.

A terrier bitch, in January, 1820, had incontinence of urine. No
swelling or injury could be detected. I used with her the simple tonic
balls.

10th January'.--She is now considerably better, and only a few drops
are observed.

2d February'.--The disease which had seemingly been conquered began
again to reappear; the medicine had been neglected. Again have recourse
to it.

4'th March'.--The disease now appears to be quite checked by the cold
lotion and the balls.

A CASE OF RUPTURE OF THE BLADDER

This is a singular account, and stands almost alone.

The patient was a valuable spaniel belonging to that breed known as "The
Duke of Norfolk's," and now possessed in its full perfection by the Earl
of Albemarle. Professor Simonds shall give his own account:

I was informed that almost from a puppy to the time when he was two
years old, the dog had always been delicate in his appearance, and was
observed to void his urine with difficulty; but there were not
sufficient indications of disease for the owner to suppose that medical
attendance was necessary until within a few days of his death, and then,
finding that the act of staling was effected with increased difficulty,
and accompanied with extreme pain; that the dog refused his food, was
feverish; that at length there were frequent or ineffective efforts to
expel the urine, the dog crying out from extremity of pain, and it was
sufficiently evident that great mischief was going on, he was placed
under my care; and even then he was walked a mile and a half to my
infirmary.

My attention was immediately directed to him; the man who brought him
informing me that he seemed much easier since he left home. On
examination, I at once pronounced that he could not recover; in fact,
that he was rapidly sinking; but, from his then state, I could give no
opinion with regard to the precise nature or extent of his disease. He
was placed upon a bed in an appropriate apartment, with directions not
to be disturbed, and in a few hours he died.

The 'post-mortem' appearances were the abdomen containing from four to
five pints of fluid, having much the character of, but more bloody than,
that found in cases of ascites. The peritoneum seemed to be dyed from
its immersion in this fluid, as it showed a general red hue, not
apparently deeper in some parts than in others. There was an absence, to
a great extent, of that beautiful appearance and well-marked course of
the minute blood-vessels which accompany many cases of original
peritonitis. Extending the examination, I found the bladder to be
ruptured, and that the fluid of which I have spoken was to a large
extent composed of urine, mingled with some other secretion from the
peritoneal investure of the abdomen and its viscera, probably produced
from the presence of an irritant, the urine being brought into direct
contact with the membrane. Farther research showed that this rupture of
the bladder was caused in the manner which I have stated. The
'post-mortem' examination displayed a chronic enlargement of the
prostate gland of a considerable size, causing by its pressure a
mechanical obstruction to the passage of the urine. Death in this
instance was not immediately brought about by the abnormal state of the
original organ affected; but the prostate gland, having early in the
life of the animal become diseased, and, being gradually increased in
size, became a cause of still more serious disease, attacking more
important organs.

WORMS.

There are various kinds of worms to which the dog is subject; they have
occasionally been confounded with each other; but they are essentially
different in the situations which they occupy, and the effects which
they produce.

The 'ascarides' are small thread-like worms, generally not more than six
or ten lines in length, of a white colour, the head obtuse, and the tail
terminating in a transparent prolongation. They are principally found in
the rectum. They seem to possess considerable agility; and the itching
which they set up is sometimes absolutely intolerable. To relieve this,
the dog often drags the fundament along the ground.

All the domesticated animals are subject to the annoyance which these
worms occasion. They roll themselves into balls as large as a nut, and
become entangled so much with each other that it is difficult to
separate them. Sometimes they appear in the stomach, and in such large
masses that it is almost impossible to remove them by the act of
vomiting. It has been said that packets of ascarides have been collected
in the stomach containing more than one hundred worms. These collections
are rarely or never got entirely rid of. Enormous doses of medicine may
be given, and the worms may not be seen again for several weeks; but, at
length, they reappear as numerous as ever.

Young dogs are exceedingly subject to them, and are with great
difficulty perfectly freed from their attacks. Another species of worm
is the 'teres'. It would resemble the earth-worm in its appearance, were
it not white instead of a red colour. They are very common among dogs,
especially young dogs, in whom they are often attended by fits.
Occasionally they crawl into the stomach, and there produce a great deal
of irritation.

Another, and the most injurious of the intestinal worms, is the
'taenia', or 'tape-worm'. It is many inches in length, almost flat in
the greater part of its extent, and its two extremities are nearly or
quite equal. Tape-worms associate in groups like the others, but they
are not so numerous; they chiefly frequent the small intestines. They
are sometimes apt to coil themselves, and form a mechanical obstruction
which is fatal to the dog.

The presence of all these worms is readily detected. There is generally
a dry, short cough, a staring coat, a hot and fetid breath, a voracious
appetite, and a peculiar state of the bowels; alternately constipated to
a great degree, or peculiarly loose and griping. In young dogs the
emaciated appearance, stinted growth, fetid breath, and frequent fits,
are indications not to be mistaken.

At other times, however, the dog is filled with worms with scarcely any
indication of their presence. Mr. Blaine very properly remarks that it
docs not follow, because no worms are seen to pass away, that there are
none: neither when they are not seen does it follow even that none pass;
for, if they remain long in the intestines after they are dead, they
become digested like other animal matter.

The means of expelling or destroying worms in the intestines of the dog
are twofold: the first and apparently the most natural mode of
proceeding, is the administration of purgatives, and usually of drastic
ones; but there is much danger connected with this; not merely the faeces
will be expelled, but a greater or less portion of the mucus that lines
the intestinal canal. The consequence of this will be griping and
inflammation to a very dangerous extent. Frequent doses of Epsom salts
have been given; but not always with success, and frequently with
griping. Mercurial medicines have been tried; but they have not always
succeeded, and have often produced salivation. One method of expelling
the worm has been adopted which has rarely failed, without the slightest
mischief--the administration of glass finely powdered. Not a particle of
it penetrates through the mucus that lines the bowels, while it destroys
every intestinal worm. The powdered glass is made into a ball with lard
and ginger.