Part 10 (1/2)
The treatment consists in searching for any stump or portion of tooth that may be retained. All such must be extracted, and also all the molars on the diseased side, without any regard to the few which may be left in the jaw. This done, the const.i.tution must be strengthened, and pills, as directed, with the liquor a.r.s.enicalis, should be employed for that purpose.
Iodide of iron One to four grains.
Powdered nux vomica A quarter of a grain to one grain.
Salicine One to four grains.
Extract of gentian Three to twelve grains.
Powdered qua.s.sia As much as may be required.
The above forms one pill, three or four of which should be given daily, with any other medicine which the case may require.
To the part itself a weak solution of the chloride of zinc may be used; but nothing further should be done until the system has been invigorated, and the health, as far as possible, restored. That being accomplished, if the tumor is still perfect, it should be cut down upon and removed. If any part of the bone is diseased, so much should be taken away as will leave a healthy surface.
However, before the dog is brought to the veterinary surgeon for treatment, very often the tumor has lost its integrity, and there is a running sore to be healed. To this probably some ignorant persons have been applying caustics and erodents, which have done much harm, and caused it to increase. In such a case we strengthen the const.i.tution by all possible means, and to the part order fomentations of a decoction of poppy-heads, containing chloride of zinc in minute quant.i.ties. Other anodyne applications may also be employed; the object being to allay any existing irritation, for the chloride is merely added to correct the fetor, which at this period is never absent. After some days we strive to ascertain what action the internal remedies have had upon the cancer; for by this circ.u.mstance the surgeon will decide whether he is justified in hazarding an operation. If the health has improved, but simultaneously the affected part has become worse, then the inference is unfavorable; for the disease is no longer to be regarded as local. The const.i.tution is involved, and an operation would produce no benefit, but hasten the death, while it added to the suffering of the beast. The growth would be reproduced, and its effects would be more violent; consequently nothing further can be done beyond supporting the system, and alleviating any torture the animal may endure. But if the body has improved, and the tumor has remained stationary, or is suspected to be a little better, the knife may be resorted to; although the chance of cure is rather against success.
The age of the animal, and the predisposition to throw out tumors of this nature, are against the result; for too frequently, after the jaw has healed, some distant part is attacked with a disease of a similar character.
WORMING, as it is generally called, is often-practised upon dogs, and both Blaine and Youatt give directions for its performance. I shall not follow their examples. It is a needless, and therefore a cruel operation; and though often requested to do so, I never will worm a dog. Several persons, some high in rank, have been offended by my refusal; but my profession has obligations which may not be infringed for the gratification of individuals. People who talk of a worm in the tongue of a dog, only show their ignorance, and by requesting it should be removed, expose their want of feeling.
Pups, when about half-grown, are sometimes seized with an inclination to destroy all kinds of property. Ladies are often vexed by discovering the havoc which their little favorites have made with articles of millinery; gloves, shawls, and bonnets, are pulled to pieces with a seeming zest for mischief, and the culprit is found wagging its tail for joy among the wreck it has occasioned. Great distress is created by this propensity, and a means to check it is naturally sought for. Mangling the tongue will not have the desired effect. For a few days pain may make the animal disinclined to use its mouth; but when this ceases, the teeth will be employed as ingeniously as before. Some good is accomplished by clipping the temporary fangs: these are very brittle, and easily cut through. The excision causes no pain, but the point being gone, the dog's pleasure is destroyed; and, as these teeth will naturally be soon shed, no injury of any consequence is inflicted. By such a simple measure, more benefit than worming ever produced is secured; for in the last case, almost in every instance, the obnoxious habit entirely ceases.
As to worming being of any, even the slightest, protection, in case rabies should attack the dog, the idea is so preposterous, that I shall not here stay to notice it.
The tongue of the high-bred spaniel is often subject to partial paralysis of one side. When such is the case, the muscles of the healthy side draw the tongue in that direction; and the member hangs out of the mouth, rendering the appearance somewhat unsightly. The organ from exposure becomes dry and hard; and not being properly used to cleanse the nose, this last becomes harsh and encrusted upon such portion of its surface as the disabled tongue cannot reach. The dog is disfigured, but it manages to live, and seems to endure more inconvenience than positive pain. The muscles on the paralysed side do not appear to be entirely deprived of nervous power. I infer this to be the case because they do not waste, and therefore attribute the affection to loss of tone rather than to actual palsy.
The cause is not known. Some dogs are pupped in this condition; others are only affected in this way when age has far advanced. In the latter case the symptom is sudden, and nothing previous has been observed which would denote the probability of the attack; but, arguing from the description of animals which are subject to this affection, and the periods when it mostly is exhibited, we may attribute it to weakness of the const.i.tution.
For the disease nothing of a local nature can be done. I have been induced to try various topical remedies, but not with any satisfactory result; and I am not very hopeful as to future experiments in the same direction.
Const.i.tutional remedies have more power; and by these, if we cannot cure, we may limit the evil. For pups, good nursing--not petting or pampering, but whatever can invigorate--wholesome diet, airy lodging, and sufficient exercise, will do much. For older animals, the same measures, combined with such medicines as correct the digestion and give tone to the system, will be proper. An operation of dividing the muscles of that side on which the tongue protruded was once successful; but on three subsequent occasions it failed, and I have therefore relinquished it; for it is not quite safe, and puts the animal to a great deal of suffering. Dog fanciers sometimes cut off the exposed portion of the tongue, and thereby conceal the defect; but this is a brutal custom, and should not be adopted. The animal so mutilated drinks with difficulty, and the nose ultimately becomes even more unsightly than was the appearance of the hanging tongue.
The tongue is sometimes injured by the teeth, especially during fits. In such cases the wounds generally heal quickly, and require no special attention. Should the sores not mend, the fault is in the system. To that, and not to the part, medicines should be directed, and the matter will be quickly settled.
Salivation should never be produced upon the dog. The largest and strongest of these animals can but ill sustain the const.i.tutional effects of mercury; while to those of a delicate kind it is nearly certain death.
It may be induced by inunction, or rubbing in of ointment, as surely as by calomel internally administered. Chemists mix up various ointments that are called black, blue, red, white, or yellow; and sell these as specifics for skin diseases, which are in the dog all denominated mange. Such things are applied to the entire surface of the body; and as they mostly contain either Turpeth or Ethiop's mineral calomel, or one of the preparations of mercury, no great time is required to produce their fullest effect. The operation of the metal is too frequently mistaken for an aggravation of the disorder; and when the chemist is next visited, he is told to make the stuff stronger, because the other made the dog worse. No warning nature can give will stop the proceeding. Night and day the dog is rubbed with the poison, till its gums are sore, or its teeth fall out; the saliva dribbles from the mouth; the glands enlarge, the dog refusing to eat, and is so weak that it can hardly stand; then, fearing death, a doubt is for the first time entertained, and a veterinary surgeon is requested to look at the animal, and say what it wants.
Chemists are not qualified to administer the drugs they sell to human beings; but they are fairly the murderers of a fourth part of the dogs they physic. They know nothing about these animals, and dispense poison under the name of medicine when they presume to treat them. I have had creatures brought to me in the most terrible condition; and when they have been under domestic treatment--that is, when the chemist has been consulted--I always look to find symptoms of salivation. The signs are not obscure; the gums are either soft, tender, and inflamed, or else very much retracted; the teeth are of a yellow or brownish color, loose and mottled on their surfaces, but not covered with tartar; the breath has a peculiar fetor, and the saliva flows from the lips, while the glands at the jaw are hard; the weakness is excessive, and the appearance dejected. Purgation may be present, and in some instances the whole of the hair has fallen off. One dog, a Scotch terrier, lost every portion of its coat, and was nearly a year before it regained the covering.
Here is a portrait of a Scotch terrier, and the reader will perceive the coat is by the artist truthfully depicted as remarkably long, full, and hairy.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The imagination can, from this likeness of the animal in health, conjure up the resemblance such an object as the poor dog must have presented without its coat. Nor was the loss of the hair the worst part of the business; it never afterwards grew to its proper length. The other symptoms which have been described were present. Fever also existed, though the debility in a great measure concealed it; nor was the issue of the case by any means certain for a week or even longer.
The health may be restored, but the teeth will never regain their whiteness, nor the breath recover its natural odor. A mild acidulated drink, made of sulphuric acid and sweetened water, will be the most proper remedy. It should be made pleasant, and tasted before given to the dog, which will prevent its being administered of too great a potency. Of this as much as can be conveniently got down may be given, from a quarter of a pint to a quart daily; and with it the sulphate of iron, the disulphate of quinine, and vegetable bitters, made into pills, may be joined. If the bowels are costive, injections of the sulphate of magnesia, or small doses of the salt, may be employed, while the food should be nouris.h.i.+ng.
Sulphuric acid and the sulphates, with generous diet, will const.i.tute the treatment; and if the case be not too far advanced, these will ultimately restore the strength.
BRONCHOCELE.
This disease is usually seen in greatest severity in pups. It consists in an enlargement of the thyroid body, which increases so much as to destroy the life. In old dogs it is commonly stationary, or of a fixed size.
Spaniels and terriers, are much exposed to it; and of the last-mentioned breed, probably bull-terriers are, of all animals, the most liable to be attacked.
In pups, the thyroid body greatly and quickly enlarges, so as to cut short the life by when the sixth week is attained. The disease of itself, in old dogs, is rather annoying than fatal; but the manner in which it destroys the animal when very young, is by impeding the circulation and respiration. The enlarged thyroid body presses upon the trachea and jugular veins. The blood which should return from the brain and head is thereby prevented descending, and hindered from reaching the heart in a full current. The vessels enlarge so as to become obvious to the most indifferent observer. The veins not only look swelled, but they feel turgid, and cannot be compressed; the little beast is dull; the breathing is very laborious; the animal sleeps much, and at last dies without a struggle, casting off life as it were but a troubled dream. It never has perfectly enjoyed existence, and its departure is not to be regretted.