م

DISEASES OF PARTURITION.

whelping time; and if she should, nevertheless, devour them, another dose should follow, so as to carry off the effects of so heating a meal.

155. If a foster-mother is determined upon, all that is necessary is to muzzle her until the strange whelps have sucked her, and lain for some time with her own; she will then fail to distinguish between them, and her own offspring may be removed with safety, leaving the foster-whelps to her care, which she will exercise just as fully towards them as if they were really hers.

156. If the bitch has been "put by," as it
is called, and is not in whelp at the end of
fat and indolent, with her teats full of milk.
nine weeks from her "heat," she will be
At this time it is better to take a little
blood from her, and to give her a smart
purge once or twice, together with vege-
table food; after which she will generally
recover her health and spirits, and become
This ought to be
much as usual at the expiration of another
month or five weeks.
dogs.
fully considered in the case of all sporting

CHAP. VI.

ACCIDENTS AND OPERATIONS.

in the outside of the skin, on one side of
the wound, and bring it out on the inside;
then pass it from the inside towards the out
of the opposite part of the corresponding flap
on the other side, and tie the ends so as to
close the wound. Repeat this as often as
necessary, and cover all up with the ban-

SECT. 1-CUTS, TEARS, AND BITES. 157. SOLUTIONS OF CONTINUITY, as these accidents are designated in the dignified nomenclature of human surgery, are easily treated in the dog, because his skin is very readily healed, though not so speedily or in the same manner as that of man. In man adage as already directed. After four or five clean cut, if properly treated, heals as if by magic; and in three days large surfaces of many inches in extent will often be firmly bealed by a kind of glue thrown out from the cut surfaces, which afterwards becomes organized. In the dog and horse, however, no such glue is thrown out, and the oozing is always of a watery nature; so that apposition must always be maintained by stitches, and even they are only of use in preventing extreme displacement while they remain inserted. In slight cuts, tears, and bites, therefore, it is better to leave them alone to the healing powers of the dog's tongue; but in those cases where a large flap is torn down, as in the legs for instance, a stitch or two should always be inserted, over which a bandage should be fixed, and the dog kept muzzled until union takes place. Without the last precaution stitches and bandages are of no use, since the dog will always manage to remove them, and will tear out any stitches which may be inserted, however carefully they may be tied. The first thing to be done is to wash the parts, if dirty, and then with a common needle and thread to put in several stitches, according to the extent of the wound; but only fixing it so as to keep it nearly in position, for an exact adaptation is of no use whatever. In putting in the stitches, the following is the plan to be adopted: take the needle and thread and insert it

days the threads may be cut and removed,
because they are no longer serviceable, and
only serve to irritate the skin; and from
this time the whole dependence must be
In some parts-as, for
placed upon the bandage in keeping the
parts together.
instance, the flank, a bandage can scarcely
be applied; but even there it is wonderful
how nature fills up an apparently irreme-
diable gap. I have often seen a flap torn
down by a spike, which has hung down
from the flank for 5 or 6 inches, but at the
end of a mouth scarcely any scar can be
seen. The owner therefore need never
despair as long as the skin only is the seat
of the accident; but when the abdominal
muscles also are torn the bowels are apt to
protrude, and the parts, if left to them-
Here a circular stitch must be
selves, will never regain their original con-
dition.
practised, so as to pucker up the parts like
the mouth of an old-fashioned purse, and if
the walls are thick enough the plan may be
practised with success; but in the thin ten-
dinous expansions covering the middle of
the belly there is great difficulty in carrying
out this plan of rectifying the injury.
The mode by which nature heals all the
wounds of the dog is by granulation, in
which small red bladders are thrown out
by both surfaces, which, after they are in
contact for some hours or days, coalesco
and form a bond of union; but if they are

allowed to rub against each other this union cannot take place, and the growth is confined to the angle of the wound only. Hence the use and necessity of a bandage, which keeps the two surfaces in close contact, and hastens the cure in a remarkable manner; effecting in ten days what would often require ten weeks if left to the dog's tongue alone. When the granulations rise above the level of the surrounding skin, a piece of bluestone may be rubbed over them daily; and if the whole sore is too red, and the granulations large and smooth, a little friar's balsam ma, be brushed over it; or, what is far better, a solution of nitrate of silver, of the strength of from 3 to 8 grains to an ounce of distilled water.

SECT. 2.-FRACTURES,

158. FRACTURES may easily be treated in the dog by any person possessed of ordinary mechanical ingenuity. The bones most commonly fractured are those of the extremities; but almost all throughout the body are at times subject to this accident.

159. FRACTURES OF THE RIBS are very common from the kick of a horse, or from the thick boot of a man, who sometimes in his rage, at the attack of a dog, administers a blow with his iron-shod toe which is sufficient to destroy life, or, at all events, to break one or more ribs. When from any cause they are fractured, the best plan is to apply a horse-girth round the whole chest. by buckling it smoothly twice round, or, it the size of the dog will not admit of this, the girth may be adapted to one circle only. This may be buckled so tightly as to prevent the dog using his ribs in breathing, and to confine him to the use of his diaphragm for that purpose, by which means the ribs are kept quite still, and nature in about three weeks unites the broken ends. For a broken shoulder-blade, or true arm, there is little to be done, nor in the case of a fractured pelvis or upper thigh-bone can much good be effected by interference. Nature will In all cases work a cure so far as to enable a new joint to be formed; but the animal is rendered useless for sporting purposes, and can only be kept for his or her breed.

160. IN FRACTURES OF THE LIMBS gutta percha splints, as here represented in a woodcut, for which I am indebted again to Mr. Mayhew's book on the Dog, will be found to be most serviceable. But if they are not easily procurable, then strips of deal will supply their place, and may be encircled with tapes to keep them in position. The first thing to be done is to adapt the splints to the leg, so that the parts shall be kept in a tolerably correct position while the inflammation is being subdued; for if the fracture has been the result of much

GUTTA PERCHA SPLINTS

violence, the consequent swelling wil
generally forbid the immediate and final
putting-up, or "setting," as it is called, of
the broken bones. For this purpose narro
strips of deal answer better than guits
percha, and three or four of them may be
put on extending from joint to joint, and
not nearly encircling the limb, but allowing
space between for the application of cool-
ing remedies. Warm water fomentations
answer for this purpose, and succeed better
than cold lotions, and may be repeated five
or six times a-day, or even oftener, so as to
keep the skin and hair constantly wet the
first two or three days; and in the intervals
the lotion of arnica, as given at page 64
may be applied with a sponge. If the leg
swells much the tapes may be loosened, but
all the time the dog must be kept constantly
muzzled, or he will soon get rid of tapes
splints, and all. In a few days the swelling
subsides, and the arnica lotion being sti
applied, the splints may be gradually tight
ened. At the end of from five to seven
days the leg may be permanently "set,"
as follows:-Take a sheet of stout gutta
percha of about the thickness of a penny
piece for large dogs, and of a halfpenny for
small ones; measure the circumference of
the sound leg with a piece of string at the
largest and at the smallest parts, and cut off
a piece of gutta percha as long as the
broken part of the leg, measured from the
joint above to the joint below the fracture,
and of the width of the circumference of
the leg, as indicated by the string. If the
two pieces of string vary much, the gutts
percha must be varied accordingly, so that
it will nearly meet after surrounding the

are seldom put out, because these joints are so securely guarded, that the bones of which they are composed are more inclined to break than to leave their sockets. In both the hind and fore-legs the toes are often put out; and, besides this accident, the tendons are apt to give way, causing the accident which is called "the letting down of the toes." The TREATMENT of all dislocations consists in putting the displaced bone back again into its socket as speedily as possible, for if allowed to remain long out of its proper situation it contracts fresh adhesions, and can scarcely be drawn away from them by any practicable force. The dislocated knee is reduced simply by pulling steadily the two bones away from one another; an assistant seizing the arm, and the operator making extension by laying hold of the foot and pastern. After it is reduced, a piece of list should be crossed in the form of the figure of 8 behind the joint, so as to prevent it from being straightened, and thus again displaced and this position must be maintained for some time, in order that the torn ligaments may have time to unite. In the dislocated

limb. When cut to these proportions it is to be soaked in water some degrees below the boiling point, at which this material is rendered too soft for our present purpose. It is then moulded round the sound leg, as shown in the annexed woodcuts, the right hand one of which is intended for a fracture in which no wound of the skin occurs, whilst that on the left is purposely only partly surrounded; so that a compound fracture, as it is called, or one in which the skin, &c., as well as the bone are broken, may be readily dressed daily. Holes are punched in each side of the gutta percha, so that tapes may be inserted by which the edges are brought together, and the whole rendered quite secure. It is a very good mode of managing these accidents, as the gutta percha may be moulded to either the lower thigh or arm, or to the metatarsal or metacarpal bones. It should be kept on for at least six weeks or two months, during the whole of which time a muzzle should be worn; but after the first three weeks it is better to allow the dog to take a little exercise, as he will not put his leg to the ground if it gives him pain; and air as well as exercise are necessary to effect the pro-hip, unless very recently done, chloroform cess of union in its full perfection.

SECT. 3-DISLOCATIONS.

161. DISLOCATIONS consist in a displacement of the end of a bone from its connexion with the one above it; and they may occur at the hip, stifle, shoulder-joint, or knee, as well as at the joints of the toes. The hock is seldom dislocated without fracture, but such an accident has been known to occur, and great trouble would be experienced in its reduction, on account of the shape and nature of the joint. Dislocation of the stifleJoint is not very common, it being very strongly guarded by ligaments, and broad also in the surfaces of the bones of which it is composed. The hip-joint is very often the seat of dislocation, and is one of the most intractable of all to manage. The socket projects in a prominent manner from the body of the pelvis, and when the head of the thigh-bone is thrown out of its cup it sinks at once deeply by the side of it, and can scarcely be drawn out of its bed by any force which can be applied. In the anterior extremity, the knee is the chief seat of this kind of accident, and it is dislocated quite as frequently as the hip, but its reduction is ten times as easy, because both bones can easily be grasped, and extension being made, they are speedily brought into a proper relative position. But though they are readily reduced, they are as easily thrown out again; and, therefore, great care is required to prevent this unhappy result. The elbow and point of the shoulder

should be used, because the muscles of that joint are very powerful, and it will require great force to overcome their action without its assistance. The dog is first placed on a table, with a firm cushion under it; chloroform is then administered, by placing a sponge dipped in it in the end of a muzzle, such as is drawn at page 186. The holes at the side should be stopped, by pasting strong paper over them, so as to make a complete cone, one end of which is adapted to the jaws, and the other is closed by the sponge; so that the dog, when it is put on, can only breathe through the sponge. After a short time he snores, and breathes heavily, and then the sponge may be withdrawn for a time, and the attempt made to lift the bone into its socket. I have, however, lately failed, even with the aid of this agent, in reducing a hip dislocated only for about ten days; and I am not aware of any case of more than a few hours' duration where a hip has been replaced. Nevertheless, in a valu able dog, such as that in which I made the attempt, which was a highly-prized puppy, presented to me, and of a very scarce breed, the attempt is worth making, especially as it occasions no pain.

SECT. 4-OPERATIONS.

162. IN OPERATING ON THE DOG, either a regular muzzle should be put on, or ordinary tape or cord should be applied to the muzzle, as indicated in the annexed engraving, binding it firmly round the jaws two or three times, and carrying it back to encircle

PART V.

DISEASES OF THE DOG AND HORSE.

BOOK IV. THE DISEASES OF THE HORSE, AND THEIR TREATMENT.

CHAP. L
FEVERS.

SECT. 1-GENERAL REMARKS.

he will be liable to colie from the colon and rectum being full of impacted fæces. If there is not time for this, castor oil must be given at once, and its action assisted after a few hours by a full clyster of warm water or gruel. When the bowels are freely moved, the following fever powder may be given two or three times a-day, until the horse stales freely and his urine is of a proper

be discontinued:

Powdered nitre, 1 ounce.
Camphor, and

Tartarized antimony, of each 2 dr.

164. THE FEVERS to which the horse is subject are of a very peculiar kind, and quite distinct in their nature and treatment from those of the human species or of the dog. For this reason the successful practi-colour, when the medicine may gradually tioner in one department is often wholly at sea in the other; and this is not only the case with fevers, but in all the other diseases of the horse. In man as well as in the dog there is a great variety of febrile diseases, but in the animal we are now considering they are generally reduced into two first, simple fever; and secondly, symptomatic fever, or that attending upon inflammations or upon wounds, or other local injuries. But besides these I shall include catarrhal fever and malignant epidemic or typhus.

SECT. 2.-SIMPLE FEVER.

165. SIMPLE FEVER, OR COMMON CATARRH, is almost always the result of cold, and is ushered in by shivering, followed by loss of appetite and spirits, with quickened pulse, unequal distribution of heat, so that often one leg is hot and the other three are cold, or vice versa; dry and hot tongue, costiveness, and scanty urine of a high colour, and passed with difficulty. The breathing is generally somewhat quicker than natural, with more or less cough, but unless the lungs are inflamed there is seldom much acceleration. The disease generally runs a short course if uncomplicated with any of the inflammations hereafter to be described, in which case it runs into symptomatic fever. The TREATMENT consists in reducing the system in proportion to the amount of increased action going on. Many slight attacks may be removed without bleeding, but if the pulse is high, and all the other symptoms are in an aggravated form, two or three quarts of blood should be taken away, in order to guard against the occurrence of inflammation, which is to be carefully watched for. A smart purge, in the shape of the aloetic ball No. 8, is almost always required; but the horse should, if possible, be mashed on the night before, or

Mix. The water must be given in a warm state, and the corn wholly abstracted, giving bran mashes in lieu, but in small quantities only. The clothing should be warmer than usual, and if the legs are cold they should be bandaged with flannel. Plenty of litter is to be allowed, and the box kept as cool as possible unless the weather is very cold, when it may be maintained at a temperature of about 55 degrees of Fahrenheit. In a few days, unless some complication occurs, the fever subsides, and the horse may be walked out for a short time, and may afterwards gradually resume his usual food and exercise.

SECT. 3-CATARRHAL FEVER, INFLUENZA

OR DISTEMPER

166. This, like simple fever, usually com mences with a shivering fit, succeeded, however, by higher symptoms of fever than in that species. The eyes are red and sleepy-looking, the membrane lining the nose is pale red, and generally there is some discharge from it. This at first is watery, but it soon becomes thick, and after a time it has the consistence almost of an oyster, which it resembles as it gushes forth during the drinking of the horse, or other action requiring forcible expirationa Very often the pharynx is sore, and the horse swallows with difficulty, even water appearing to give great pain as it goes down. The cough is generally very loud and frequent, and even occasionally painful to the horse, who expresses his sufferings by impatiently stamping with his fore-feet. Weakness rapidly gains ground upon the horse, and very soon he can scarcely stand;