The Dog Part 16

Solution of nitrate of silver One drachm.

Distilled water One pint.

Any of the above may be employed, from a tablespoonful to a common wine-gla.s.s full being used for a dose. The pile ointment will likewise be beneficial, by facilitating the pa.s.sage of the faeces, allaying local irritability, and correcting that tendency to piles which is generally attendant upon, if not the original cause of the affection.

From what has been described, the reader will have seen that the diseases of the dog's r.e.c.t.u.m are neither few nor insignificant. Fistula in ano is said to be often beheld; but I have never seen a case in which it a.s.sumed in the dog that serious form which characterises it in man. In the canine race I have mostly let it alone, and hitherto I have had no reason to repent my forbearance. Blaine and Youatt both speak of the affection, and give directions for its treatment by operation. The most active remedy I have found it necessary to resort to has been an astringent or mildly caustic injection; the solution of the chloride of zinc I prefer to every other, but the sulphates are also not to be despised. Injections, when not designed to be immediately operative, or meant to distend the gut and to act through being ejected, are best given by means of the India-rubber bladder, which allows the fluid to be more gently and silently thrown up.

The less noise or force attending the operation the less likely is the animal to be alarmed or excited, and the probability is the enema will be retained. Small quant.i.ties are to be administered when the fluid is wished to remain; and by attracting the attention of the dog at the time, and amusing him after the business is finished, the object in view is considerably favored. The administration of an injection is in the first instance almost certain to alarm the animal, who can neither understand nor pa.s.sively sanction the strange liberty the operation implies. A little soothing, however, will restore his confidence, and he who has gained the trust of a dog, may subsequently do as he pleases with the body of the generous and confiding beast.

NERVOUS DISEASES.--FITS IN THE DOG.

Youatt speaks of fits as particularly fatal to the dog, saying they "kill more than all the other diseases put together." The experience of this esteemed authority is in direct variance with my own--save from distemper.

When the fits occur in that disease they are mostly fatal, being the wind-up of all the many evils which the malady in its most intense and malignant form can acc.u.mulate on one doomed life--I have not otherwise found them especially troublesome.

Fainting fits require little attention; if the dog be left quiet, it will in due time often recover without medicine.

Puerperal, or rather pupping fits, are treated of in their fitting place, and, if properly administered to, are by no means dangerous.

Fits _par excellence_ are witnessed when a dog is taking a long walk with its master; the animal at first lingers behind, or gets a long distance before the proprietor, who notices the fact, but contents himself with whistling and walking forward. The dog does not obey the mandate; it is standing still as if stupefied; suddenly it emits a strange, loud, guttural sound, and then falls upon its side, continuing to cry, but more feebly and more naturally; its faeces and urine may be discharged involuntarily; it will bite any one who, during the existence of the attack, incautiously attempts to lay hold of it; its limbs, at first stretched rigidly out, are ultimately, with returning volition, put into violent motion; the eye is protruded and foam covers the mouth. When the convulsion has subsided, the dog raises its head and stares about; after which it would, if left alone, start at its utmost pace, and run heaven only knows where. Should idle men and foolish boys behold a dog wildly run onward after having come out of a fit, and raise the cry of "mad dog," the fate of the poor animal is then sealed, as fear is devoid of discrimination or pity. Half the dogs killed as rabid are those in this condition, scampering under the impulse of returning sensation.

The first thing any person is to do when out with a dog which has a fit is to secure the animal, and to prevent its running away when the fit has pa.s.sed. The second thing is stubbornly to close his ears to the crowd who are certain to surround him. No matter what advice may be given, he is to do nothing but get the animal home as quickly as possible. He is neither to lance the mouth, slit the ear, nor cut a piece of the tail off. He is on no account to administer a full dose of salt and water, a lump of tobacco, or to throw the animal into an adjacent pond; and of all things he is to allow no man more acquainted with dogs than the other spectators to bleed the creature. Any offer to rub the nose with syrup of buckthorn, however confidently he who makes the proposal may recommend that energetic mode of treatment, is to be unhesitatingly declined. The friendly desire of any one who may express his willingness to ram a secret and choice specific down the prostrate animal's throat, must be refused with firmness. The attendant must however take advantage of the time the dog is on the ground to pa.s.s a handkerchief round the neck or through the collar.

This done, he must wait patiently till the dog gets upon its legs, when he must, amidst its struggles to be free, caress it and call it kindly by its name. That part of the business over, he must take the creature in his arms, and seeking the nearest cab-stand, carry the poor animal with all expedition homeward.

I have known a dog to have a succession of fits which lasted more than an hour; and yet this creature, by the treatment I shall presently describe, was the next day upon its legs, and to all appearance as well as ever.

The dog being brought home, if the fit continues, give nothing by the mouth; because the animal being insensible cannot swallow; and the breathing being laborious, anything administered is more likely to be drawn on to the lungs, and so to suffocate the creature, than to pa.s.s into the stomach, and thus (if it have any curative properties) effect a restoration. On this account the very best physic ever invented would be dangerous, and should be withheld. Enemas are the only things in these cases to be depended upon; and the best the author is at present acquainted with, is made of 1, 2, or 3 drachms of sulphuric aether, and 2, 4, or 6 scruples of laudanum to 1, 3, or 4 ounces of the very coldest spring water that can be obtained. The above injection having been administered, the dog is left entirely by itself, and, as far as possible, in absolute silence for an hour; at the expiration of which time, in whatever state the animal may be in, another dose is given in the same manner as before.

There is no limitation to the quant.i.ty which may be administered; the only sign the attendant accepts that the creature has received sufficient is the sight of it coiled up as though it were composing itself to sleep, when he gives one more injection, and leaves the dog to recover at leisure, but in perfect stillness.

So valuable is this medicine in cases of fits that I have known it to cut them short as with a knife; literally to let the first part of the fit be heard, but to check the attack before the last and worst portion could put in an appearance.

Armed with this medicine I fearlessly face the disorder, which other veterinary surgeons dread; and, whether it be my good luck or no, cannot be decided, but I have not, under its operation, lost a single case.

Fits in my opinion are, in the great majority of cases, to be traced to the quant.i.ty or quality of the food consumed. In proof of this, dogs have had fits whenever flesh has been given; which ceased on this kind of diet being withheld, and medicine calculated to restore the tone of the stomach being ordered. In every case of fits, when the attack is over, I attend to the stomach; at the same time, ordering that the dog is to go short distances, and never to leave the house without a chain and collar.

The object of this last injunction is to prevent the animal running about, and thus heating itself, or causing a flow of blood to the brain.

It is to be lamented that the crowd of people prevents an injection being administered out of doors in London: but the same objection does not apply to the country; and as the effects of the aether are more marked in proportion as it is quickly exhibited, persons in the country, when, during the hot months of summer, they take dogs for an airing, should be provided with the materials necessary to render fits, if not harmless, at all events less fatal.

NERVOUS SYSTEM.--RABIES.

The dog is naturally the most nervous of all the dumb tribe. His intense affection, his ever-watchful jealousy, his method of attack, the blindness of his rage, and his insensibility to consequences, all bespeak a creature whose nervous system is developed in the highest possible degree. I myself once had a little cur, who, as I sat reading, would enter the apartment, jump upon my knee, uttering a low whimper all the time, creep along my waistcoat, rub his little body against my head and face, lick the hand lifted up to return his caresses, and then scamper off, and perhaps not come near me again the whole of that afternoon. What was this but an affectionate impulse seeking a nervous development? The way to manage an animal of this description is, to respect his evident excitability. The instant a dog appears to be getting excited, there should be a sign given, commanding a stop to be put to all further proceedings. If the respect of the animal be habitual, the person who mildly enforces it may enter a room, where the same dog is in a rabid state, and come forth unscathed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A RABID DOG.]

I have hitherto been much among dogs, and, nevertheless, have almost escaped being bitten. The reason is, that I understand and respect the innate nervousness of the animal. When I go into a room, if there be a dog there and he growl, I speak kindly to him, and then seat myself, and bestow on him none of my attention for some time. My request to his master or mistress is, that he or she will not check or seek to stop the symptom of his wrath; but allow him to vent his rage until he is ashamed of it, and from a feeling of remorse is silent. When this takes place, and a sufficient time has pa.s.sed to confirm him in the new mood into which he has recently entered, I approach him with my hand extended and open; this I bring near to him by degrees, avoiding all sudden movements or anything that might provoke his natural disposition. Generally he crouches, then I speak to him in tones of encouragement. If he display a return of his warlike propensity, I still bring the hand nearer and nearer to him, telling him to bite it if he pleases, if he is not ashamed to injure that which means to do him good. Then, perhaps, he will make a snap at my extended hand, which is not upon this withdrawn, or the jaws would close with nervous violence, but allowed to remain, and the teeth are felt to touch the skin without wounding it. I allow him to hold the hand for any length of time he pleases, telling him "he would lose his character if he were to harm it. That he is a courageous dog, and means no hurt; he would be ashamed to bite." And with this kind of speech, which the animal may not literally understand, but the sense and purpose of which it nevertheless appears to comprehend, I seldom fail of getting my hand safe and sound from the creature's jaws. After that I may pat him, for an intimacy has begun. He allows me to drag him forth, take him on my knees, and permits me any liberty I please to take. I do not attribute my escape to any charm that I possess; but account for it simply by my knowing and respecting the natural temperament of the beast with which I have to interfere.

This natural respect for the feelings of a most affectionate creature, with such a power of observation as will enable the individual to recognise the presence of lamentable sickness in an animal that has with truth been called "the companion of the home," shall at all times enable the uneducated in such matters to recognise a mad dog, and, unless luck be dead against the individual, save him from being bitten.

It is no pleasure to a dog to go mad. Quite the reverse. Dreadful as hydrophobia may be to the human being, rabies is worse to the dog. It makes its approach more gradually. It lasts longer, and it is more intense while it endures. The dog that is going mad, feels unwell for a long time prior to the full development of the disease. He is very ill, but he does not know what ails him. He feels nasty; dissatisfied with everything; vexed without a reason; and, greatly against his better nature, very snappish. Feeling thus, he longs to avoid all annoyance by being alone.

This makes him seem strange to those who are most accustomed to him.

The sensation induces him to seek solitude. But there is another reason which decides his choice of a resting-place. The light inflicts upon him intense agony. The sun is to him an instrument of torture, which he therefore studies to avoid, for his brain aches and feels as it were a trembling jelly. This induces the poor brute to find out the holes and corners where he is least likely to be noticed, and into which the light is unable to enter. In solitude and darkness he pa.s.ses his day. If his retreat be discovered and the master's voice bids him to come forth, the affectionate creature's countenance brightens; his tail beats the ground, and he leaves his hiding-place, anxious to obey the loved authority; but before he has gone half the distance, a kind of sensation comes over him, which produces an instantaneous change in his whole appearance. He seems to say to himself, "Why cannot you let me alone? Go away. Do go away. You trouble, you pain me." And thereon he suddenly turns tail and darts back into his dark corner. If let alone, there he will remain; perhaps frothing a little at the mouth, and drinking a great deal of water, but not issuing from his hiding-place to seek after food. His appet.i.tes are altered, hair, straw, dirt, filth, excrement, rags, tin shavings, stones, the most noisome and unnatural substances are then the delicacies for which the poor dog, changed by disease, longs, and swallows, in hope to ease a burning stomach. So anxious is he for liquids, and so depraved are his appet.i.tes, that no sooner has he pa.s.sed a little urine than he turns round to lick it up. He is now altogether changed. Still he does not desire to bite mankind; he rather endeavors to avoid society; he takes long journeys of thirty or forty miles in extent, and lengthened by all kinds of accidents, to vent his restless desire for motion. When on these journeys he does not walk. This would be too formal and measured a pace for an animal whose whole frame quivers with excitement. He does not run. That would be too great an exertion for an animal whose body is the abode of a deadly sickness. He proceeds in a slouching manner, in a kind of trot; a movement neither run nor walk, and his aspect is dejected. His eyes do not glare and stare, but they are dull and retracted. His appearance is very characteristic, and if once seen, can never afterwards be mistaken. In this state he will travel the most dusty roads, his tongue hanging dry from his open mouth, from which, however, there drops no foam. His course is not straight. How could it be, since it is doubtful whether at this period he sees at all? His desire is to journey unnoticed. If no one notices him, he gladly pa.s.ses by them. He is very ill. He cannot stay to bite. If, nevertheless, anything oppose his progress, he will, as if by impulse, snap--as a man in a similar state might strike, and tell the person "to get out of the way." He may take his road across a field in which there are a flock of sheep. Could these creatures only make room for him, and stand motionless, the dog would pa.s.s on and leave them behind uninjured. But they begin, to run, and at the sound, the dog p.r.i.c.ks up.

His entire aspect changes. Rage takes possession of him. What made that noise? He pursues it with all the energy of madness. He flies at one, then at another. He does not mangle, nor is his bite, simply considered, terrible. He cannot pause to tear the creature he has caught. He snaps and then rushes onward, till, fairly exhausted and unable longer to follow, he sinks down, and the sheep pa.s.s forward to be no more molested. He may have bitten twenty or thirty in his mad onslaught; and would have worried more had his strength lasted, for the furor of madness then had possession of him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A MAD DOG ON THE MARCH.]

He may be slain while on these excursions; but if he escapes he returns home and seeks the darkness and quiet of his former abode. His thirst increases; but with it comes the swelling of the throat. He will plunge his head into water, so ravenous is his desire; but not a drop of the liquid can he swallow, though its surface is covered with bubbles in consequence of the efforts he makes to gulp the smallest quant.i.ty. The throat is enlarged to that extent which will permit nothing to pa.s.s. He is the victim of the most horrible inflammation of the stomach, and the most intense inflammation of the bowels. His state of suffering is most pitiable. He has lost all self-reliance; even feeling is gone. He flies at and pulls to pieces anything that is within his reach. One animal in this condition, being confined near a fire, flew at the burning ma.s.s, pulled out the live coals, and in his fury scrunched them. He emits the most hideous cries. The noise he makes is incessant and peculiar. It begins as a bark, which sound, being too torturing to be continued, is quickly changed to a howl, which is suddenly cut short in the middle; and so the poor wretch at last falls, fairly worn out by a terrible disease.

But now comes the question, How do we know that rabies is a nervous disease? Why, the whole course of the disorder declares it, or if that be not thought sufficient, the dog at one stage very distinctly announces it.

He may be sitting down, an unwilling listener to his master's voice, when the brute's eyes will wander; and at length fix themselves upon some object at a distance, which it will keep watching, crouching down as the horror seems, to the excited brain of the poor beast, to draw near; till, having apparently come within bounds, the hateful presence is no longer to be endured, and the vision-haunted animal dashes forward with a howl of execration, as if to seize and tear the terrible spectre. This action being performed, and the dog biting the air, he stands for a moment, shivers, looks stupidly around him, and slinks back. What is this but a power of seeing visions depending on a disordered brain, or positive delirium exemplified by a dumb creature? And the same piece of pantomime the dog may go through fifty times in an hour. No disappointment can teach him; and experience is lost upon the animal that in his sane state was so quick to learn.

Youatt mentions as a symptom, that the dog in all he does is instigated by the spirit of mischief or of malice,--that he desires to do injury, and is prompted by malice in all his acts. This, to an outward observer, will appear a correct judgment; but it is essentially wrong. It is the conclusion reached by one who judges mainly of exteriors; it can be true only to those who are willing to look no deeper than the surface. There can be no malice in a raging fever, which vents itself on every object within its reach, animate or inanimate. Mischief is too playful a term to apply to a consuming wrath that ultimately destroys the life. All pain is lost; as a consequence all fear is gone. The poor beast is urged by some power too mighty for its control, which lashes it on beyond all earthly restraint to pull to pieces, to gnaw, and to attempt to eat every object it can get at; but how far it is urged by malice or mischief, the following anecdote will serve to show:--

A butcher had a large bull mastiff of which he was very fond; but, observing something very strange in his pet's behavior, he came to consult the author about the dog. The man was told to bring the animal for inspection early the same evening. This order was given from no suspicion of the truth, for the owner's description was too confused to be rightly interpreted. The animal was accordingly brought punctual to time, led through the streets by a silk handkerchief carelessly tied round the neck of the beast. The author being at the exact moment of the dog's arrival, fortunately, engaged, the butcher had to wait some few minutes, during which time the writer's eyes were kept upon the huge creature. It was remarked to look round in a strange manner. The eye was retracted and the nose dry. It was at length seen to put its mouth against its master's boot, continue in that position uttering a strange noise, and to move its jaws as if biting at some substance. The butcher all this time stood perfectly still, allowing his favorite to follow the bent of its inclination without rebuke or opposition. When the mastiff's head was removed, the boot it had apparently been biting was perfectly dry. The author observed nothing more than this; but, afraid to confess his dread, lest the cry of mad dog should be raised, and do more, much more, harm than good, he called to the butcher, telling him he was going abroad shortly, and would call upon him. In the mean time, he was to take the dog home, place it where it could do no injury, and in a place whence there was no possibility of escape. The man touched his hair and retired.

No time elapsed before the author paid his promised visit; and when he did so, he was pleased to hear the dog was securely confined in that which ought to have been the front kitchen of the house in which the butcher resided. To this spot the man led the way, and was about fearlessly to open the door, when he was entreated to stay his hand. The author listened at the closed entrance, and from the interior there soon came forth sounds that left no doubt of the poor creature's real condition. The butcher was thereupon informed that his dog was mad. The man was at first wholly incredulous; whereon the writer requested him to look through a c.h.i.n.k, and say how the animal was employed. "He is tearing a piece of wood to pieces, and munching it as though he were very hungry. Poor thing, I must go to him! He has taken no victuals or drink these three days." The author interposed, to prevent the master from fulfilling his humane suggestion.

With much difficulty he was persuaded to wait the turn of events, and not to unloose the door that night. The next morning the butcher was thoroughly convinced. Neither he nor his family had been able to get any rest on account of the dog's cries; and before that day expired, to antic.i.p.ate the poor animal's fate, the unfortunate beast was shot.

In this case the dog exhibited no malice, neither did he appear to be prompted solely by mischief. When the muzzle was first lowered to the master's boot, the poor animal doubtless was moved to that action by the irresistible desire natural to the disease. The longing was to bite something, no matter what; any object must be cooler than the heat that burnt within the wretched creature's throat and stomach. The teeth were impulsively prepared to bite, but between the desire and its consummation, reflection came. The affection natural to the dog acted as a restraint. It was unable entirely to destroy the prompting of disease, but it turned the bite which it was prepared to give into a mumble, and the loved master escaped unhurt.

There is also something which must not be quite overlooked in the habitual wanderings that, as the disease grows in virulence beyond the dog's control, causes the animal constantly to leave the home within which its attachment resides. There is something likewise in the disposition, which causes the poor beast to quit the society of all it loves; and to leave the house in which those for whom its life would cheerfully be sacrificed dwell, to inhabit a dark and noisome corner. It is not mischief which makes the creature respond to its master's voice so long as memory has power--even after rabies has set in. There is no malice in the end of the disease; it is blind and indiscriminate fury, which would much rather vent itself on things than upon beings--even finding an unholy pleasure in injuring itself by gnawing, biting, and tearing its own flesh; and so truly is the fury _blind_, that most frequently the eyes ulcerate, the humors escape, and the rabid dog becomes actually sightless.

Of the causes or treatment of this disorder we know nothing; neither are we likely to learn, when the nature of the disease is considered. The danger of the study must excuse our ignorance; nor is this much to be regretted, since it is highly improbable that medicine could cure what is so deeply seated and universally present. The entire glandular structure seems to be in the highest degree inflamed; and besides these, the brain, the organs of mastication, deglut.i.tion, digestion, nutrition, generation, and occasionally of respiration, are acutely involved. The entire animal is inflamed. Some except from this category the muscular system; but such persons forget that paralysis of the hind extremities is often present during rabies. The body seems to be yielded up to the fury of the disease, and it obviously would be folly trying to cure a malady which has so many and such various organs for its prey. Neither are we better informed with regard to the causes which generate the disease. Hot weather has been imagined to influence its development; but this belief is denied, by the fact that mad dogs are quite as, if not more, frequent in winter than in summer. Abstinence from fluids has been thought to provoke it; but this circ.u.mstance will hardly account for its absence in the arid East, and its presence in a country so well watered as England, especially when the unscrupulous nature of the dog's appet.i.te is considered. The French have been supposed to set this latter question at rest by a cruelty, miscalled an experiment. They obtained forty dogs, and withheld all drink from the unhappy beasts till they died. Not one of them, however, exhibited rabies, and by this the French philosophers think that they have demonstrated that the disorder is not caused by want of water. No such thing; they have proved only their want of feeling, and show nothing more than that one out of every forty dogs is not liable to be attacked with rabies. They have demonstrated that the utmost malice of the human being can be vented upon his poor dumb slave without exciting rabies. They have made plain that the poor dog can endure the most h.e.l.lish torments the mind of man can invent without displaying rabies. They have held themselves up to the world, and in their book have duly reported themselves as capable of perverting science to the most hideous abuses, and under its name contemplating acts and beholding sufferings at which the feelings of humanity recoil with disgust.

It is rarely that more than one mad dog appears at a time in England; so, to perfect their experiment, it would be requisite for the French philosophers to procure all the specimens of the canine species in this island, and doom them to torture; since, of the predisposing disposition or circ.u.mstances necessary to the development of this disease, man knows nothing. Ignorance is not to be concealed under the practices of barbarity.

Irritation or teazing, by exciting the nervous irritability of the dog, appears more likely than any physical want to excite rabies.

TETa.n.u.s.--I have witnessed no case of this description in the dog. Both Blaine and Youatt speak of teta.n.u.s as extremely rare in that animal; but both mention having encountered it, and that it was in every instance fatal. Since such is its termination, I am in no hurry to meet with it, and care not how long it remains a stranger to me. If any of my readers were to have a dog subject to this disease, the best treatment would be the application of ether internally as medicine, with slops or light puddings as food. The effects of the ether ought to be kept up for a considerable period at one time, and recommenced so soon as the slightest trace of the disorder reappears.

GENERATIVE ORGANS.--MALE.

These parts in the dogs are liable to various diseases, among the most common of which is a thick discharge, either of pus or of impure mucus.

Petted animals are very frequently thus affected, and are a source of annoyance to those who lap them. In this condition they also offend the ideas of propriety, by paying certain lingual attentions to themselves without regard to privacy. The favourite is for these things repeatedly chid and thrust from the knee; but it cannot be instructed to forego the impulses of its nature, or of itself to restrain the symptoms of its affliction. Indeed, the dog is not to blame; the fault lies with the owner.

The generative organs, in the male of the canine species, are peculiarly sympathetic with the digestive functions. This is so with man, but in the dog it is much more strongly marked. If a dog become from bad food affected with mange, canker, sore feet, &c., the part is never cleanly.

When, however, the animal is fat and gross, though neither mange, canker, nor other disease be present, the organ may, nevertheless, be a source of painful irritation, and beyond a little thin fluid about the opening of the prepuce, there will be nothing to attract attention.

In such a case the discharge originally is thick and mattery. It acc.u.mulates upon the few hairs that fringe the urinal orifice, and sometimes almost impedes the pa.s.sage of the water. The symptom being neglected, the running becomes less consistent. The part is frequently erect, and the animal persists in licking it. The organ is now painful, and should be without delay attended to. If, however, no heed be taken of the creature's necessity, to which its instinct directs the proprietor's eye, swellings appear about the sheath, and blood is mingled with the exudation. Sores then appear externally, and the member becomes a ma.s.s of acute disease, often of a frightful character.