The Dog Part 17

If, when the discharge first appears, the dog be taken on the knee, and its back being slightly bent, so as to bring the hind-legs forward--if, having the animal in this position, the sheath be retracted, so as to expose the glans, it is generally found to be inflamed. When the case is slight, the inflammation is confined to the base of the member, just around that part where the lining membrane is reflected upon the inner surface of the prepuce. As far back, therefore, as it can be exposed, a little redness may be discovered; but this will be so distributed as to convince us that the interior of the sheath is also involved. All the inflammation that can be detected will not be sufficient to account for the quant.i.ty of pus that is thrown out; and some persons have therefore allowed the disease to progress, imagining there was nothing present requiring to be treated. This is always a mistake. The lining membrane of the prepuce in these animals cannot be readily laid bare, and that part is always the most seriously attacked. The p.e.n.i.s during health ought to be moist and of a delicate flesh color; it should not be wet, neither should it be in any degree red. The appearance ought to suggest the secluded situation to which the part is by nature a.s.signed, and the sensitiveness with which it is endued. It should not denote uncleanliness or anger; but convey an idea of delicacy, and even beauty, to those who have good sense enough to appreciate nature's provisions.

When the want of early attention has allowed the structures to be seriously implicated, ulcers appear, which enlarge, and ultimately by uniting form a ma.s.s of sores. There is then often resistance exhibited when the part is touched, and cries declare the pain which pulling back the sheath occasions. The prepuce sometimes is not to be withdrawn, and the struggles of the animal are excessive when its retraction is attempted. There are then fungoid growths within, and the heat and tenderness denote the condition of the surface, which cannot without much violence be beheld.

All this suffering is to be traced to the misplaced kindness of the owner.

Over-feeding is the cause; and, so far as I know, the single cause which gives rise to the serious aspect of this form of disease. Should it accompany debility, it is mild in its character, and as the strength returns it will disappear. Even in this last case, however, it would be more certainly, and with more speed removed, by a few simple measures which necessitate no vast trouble.

In its mildest shape, any astringent eye-lotion will generally answer; but the strength may with safety and advantage be increased.

1.

Sulphate of copper or zinc Five grains.

Distilled water One ounce.

2.

Liquor plumbi One drachm.

Distilled water One ounce.

3.

Alum Half a scruple.

Rose water One ounce.

Either of the foregoing will be of service; but before any of them, I prefer the subjoined:--

Chloride of zinc One grain.

Distilled water One ounce.

Whichever of the lotions the pract.i.tioner may prefer, should be used at least thrice daily, and if more frequently employed, no injury will be done. The mode of applying the lotion is extremely simple. The seat of the disease being exposed, with a piece of lint or soft rag the fluid is pa.s.sed over the surface. No friction is resorted to; but a simple bathing, in the gentlest possible manner, is all that can be required. In a few days the effect will be perceived, for by such means the affection can be cured; but unless the food is improved, and the digestion relieved, there can be no security against its speedy return.

Under its more virulent form it is not to be thus easily got rid of, though even then it is to be subdued. If there be much pain, I inject the lotion up the sheath, and by closing the orifice around the point of the syringe, endeavor to pa.s.s the fluid over the whole of the interior.

Sometimes the pain or irritation is excessive: I then combine sedatives with the lotions, and their strength I increase as the occasion warrants; but the non-professional person had better use none more potent than one drachm of tincture of opium to every ounce of lotion. When the pain, decreasing, allows the p.e.n.i.s to be protruded, if any sprouting fungus or proud flesh is upon it, a pair of scissors should be used to snip it off.

Some bleeding will ensue, but a little burnt alum will generally stay it; though, if allowed to continue, I have thought the local depletion was beneficial, and it has never to my knowledge been attended with danger.

The burnt alum I use in powder, and I prefer it in these cases to the lunar caustic; which gives more pain; acts less immediately as a styptic, and is not so satisfactory in its subsequent effects, and, as the animal can hardly be kept from licking the place, it may possibly be objectionable on that account. Such treatment usually is beneficial; and the only further direction to be added concerns such minor points as reason probably would not need to have specially pointed out.

When the hairs at the orifice are matted together, it is best to snip them away, which will not only remove a present inconvenience, but effectually prevent its recurrence. The wounds which occasionally cover the exterior of the sheath are of no vast importance, or, at all events, they are of secondary consideration. With the healing of the inward sores they mostly depart; but their disappearance will be hastened, and the comfort of the animal improved, if, when the injection is used, they are at the same time smeared with some mild ointment. That composed of camphor, &c., and to be found described at page 265, does very well for such a purpose; but any other of a gentle nature would probably answer as well.

Soreness of the s.c.r.o.t.u.m is very common, and I have seen it in every description of dog. I attribute it to derangement of the digestion; never having witnessed it in animals that were not thus affected, and not having been able to discover it had any more immediate origin. It mostly appears first as a redness, which soon becomes covered with small pimples, that break and discharge a thin watery fluid. The fluid coagulates, and a thin scab covers the surface. The scab is generally detached, being retained only by the straggling hairs that grow upon the bag. The scab being removed, shows a moist and unhealthy patch, the margin of which is of a faint dirty red color.

This condition of the s.c.r.o.t.u.m yields, in the first instance, to simple applications; but, should nothing be done, it will continue bad for some period, and may involve the whole of the bag. It will, in most instances, so far as the outward and more acute symptom is concerned; that is, the discharge will cease, the scab fall off, and nothing be left for the eye to dwell upon. With the seeming cessation, however, other and more deep-seated structures become involved. The disease leaves the surface only, and its virulence fixes upon the internal parts. The skin at the place thickens, becomes hard and gristly. There is no pain; but the sensation is diminished, which, to the surgeon, is a far worse sign than is a little anguish. The thickening is sometimes stationary; and the animal dies without any further evil afflicting him. There is, however, no security that it will remain thus pa.s.sive; for occasionally it increases in size, inflames, gets hurt or rubbed, and ulcerates: in fact, cancer of the s.c.r.o.t.u.m is established; and as this mostly comes on when the const.i.tution is weakened, little relief and no promise of cure can generally be afforded.

These cancers do not appear to burst of themselves. They get sensation as they inflame; but in every instance that has fallen under my notice, before ulceration has taken place, they have been slightly wounded; either by the dog's dragging himself upon the earth, or otherwise. The smallest injury, however, is sufficient to provoke the action, which when once excited is not afterwards to be subdued. The ulcer being established, enlarges; and the humanity of the owner does not allow the lingering and disgusting disease to take its course, but the poor dog is destroyed to spare its suffering.

At the commencement the diet must be changed, for the manner of feeding is at fault. The remedies proper to improve the general health must be employed, and everything done to restore the system.

To the s.c.r.o.t.u.m a mild ointment will be sufficient. Should that not succeed, some of those recommended for mange may be tried; or the surface may be lightly pa.s.sed over once with a stick of lunar caustic, care being taken to tie the head of the dog up afterwards to prevent it licking the part.

The measures already spoken of apply only to mild and recent cases. When the disease has probably existed for years, such remedies will be of little service. The skin being unnaturally hard and thick, feeling like cartilage, and giving the idea that a firm or resistant tumor is connected with the integument; such being the condition of the part, the surgeon pauses before he advises it should be interfered with. As it seems to be possessed of small sensibility, and appears to have a.s.sumed a form in which there is a probability of its remaining, the less done to the local affection the better.

The relief should be directed wholly to keep the cancer, for such it is, in a pa.s.sive or quiescent state. There is no hope that nature will remove it; and every effort must be made to prevent its malignant character being by accident or otherwise provoked. With a little care the dog may die of old age, and the disease may even at the time of death be dormant. A very mild mercurial ointment may be daily applied to the surface. This will remove scurf, allay irritability, and prevent the itching, which might induce the animal to injure the part. The food must be good, proportioned to the work the creature has to perform,--sufficiently nutritive, but easy of digestion, and by no means heating. The stomach must be strengthened by tonics and vegetable bitters, combined with alkalies. Sedatives are sometimes required, and hyosciamus is in that case to be preferred. A course of iodide of pota.s.sium is likewise frequently beneficial; but it must be employed only in alterative doses, and persevered with for a considerable period. The eighth of a grain or half-a-grain may be given three times a day for six months; and on the first indication of irritability appearing, the medicine must be resumed. Should the symptoms of activity be such as to excite alarm, the iodide must be administered in quant.i.ties likely to affect the system. This is to be done with safety, by dissolving two drachms of the salt in two ounces of water, every drop of which will then hold in solution the eighth of a grain of the medicine.

From two to ten drops may be given at the commencement, and every day afterwards one drop may be added to the dose, which should be regularly administered thrice in the twenty-four hours. The physic should thus be gradually increased until the appet.i.te fails; or the eyes become inflamed; or the animal is in an obvious degree dull. When that result is obtained, the dose ought to be withheld for a time, or to be diminished three or twelve drops, and the lessened quant.i.ty only given until the symptoms have subsided. The spirits, or appet.i.te, having returned, and sufficient time having been allowed to make certain of the fact, the dose may once more be increased; and thus by degrees be augmented, until it is worked up to from fifty to a hundred drops three times a day, beyond which it ought not to be pushed. Even while this is being done, it is well to give tonic and strengthening pills; but purgatives are to be used with extreme caution.

Too frequently our a.s.sistance is not sought until the disease has a.s.sumed its worst aspect. There is then an open cancer, and we are asked to cure it. There is in medicine no known means of performing so desirable an object; physic can, in such a case, only be palliative--whatever hope then remains must rest upon the employment of the knife. The surgeon, however, must well examine the part before he consents to operate. Entreaties will not unfrequently be urgent; and where the life of an animal only is involved in the result, it is hard to say "no" to supplications which may be accompanied with tears. The professional man, however, must consult his judgment, and by its dictates resolutely abide; for those who are most eager in their requests are always most sanguine in their hopes. The issue, if unsuccessful, will not do otherwise than expose the surgeon to reproaches, perhaps more bitter than the supplications to which he yielded were imploring. Even should the proprietor be silent, the reputation of the operator will be injured; for, when the knife is resorted to, mankind will not tolerate failure. Therefore it is prudent, and also humane, to consider how far surgery can eradicate the affection ere excision is employed to add to the immediate suffering, and perhaps hasten the consequence it was designed to prevent.

The tumor should be circ.u.mscribed, or, at all events, there should be around it a fair proportion of healthy skin whenever its removal is attempted. When such exists, the operation is justifiable; but without such being present, it is to be condemned. The skin is wanted to close the orifice, and it must be healthy, in order that it may properly unite. In extreme cases, where the life of the animal depends upon activity, it may be proper to remove both t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es; but this should, if possible, be avoided.

Castration in the dog is not of itself dangerous; but it renders the animal disposed to acc.u.mulate fat, and destroys many of those qualities for which it is esteemed. The creature afterwards becomes lethargic, and its spirits never are recovered. It is best performed by cutting through the spermatic nerve, and sc.r.a.ping the artery, so as to separate it; taking care to do this sufficiently high up to prevent the cord from being exposed.

When the operator has decided to take away the spermatic glands, he does so at the commencement of the operation. With one cut he lays the s.c.r.o.t.u.m open, and pulling forth the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e, divides the nerve; then with the edge of a blunt but coa.r.s.e knife, sc.r.a.pes it as the cords lie upon his finger. Having done this on one or both sides, as the case may require, he inspects the tumor, the substance of which is now exposed to view. By the aspect of the growth he decides upon the course he will next adopt; or rather shapes the manner he had proposed to proceed. Seldom will it occasion him to change his plan; but he must be prepared to do so, if the appearances should be contrary to his antic.i.p.ations. The skin is here of primary importance; wherever it is not involved, it is dissected back, and every portion of hard or gristly matter scrupulously sought for and cut away. All such substance being excised, care is then directed to bring the edges together. A pair of scissors may be required to make them exactly even, but the less snipping there may be the better. To retain the lips of the wound in the places desired, collodium will be found far superior to sutures or plasters. It is with a camel's hair pencil laid in bands along the parts, which are held in their intended situations while it dries. A few threads of linen are embedded in it while it is in a liquid state, so as to increase its strength; and layer after layer is added until the mind is a.s.sured the purpose is obtained. The application must on no account be made in one continuous sheet; for before union can take place suppuration must be established, and s.p.a.ces are necessary to allow the matter to escape. Therefore, in several fine strips stretching over the wound, and holding its edges close, the collodium is to be employed; and this being ended, subsequent attention is generally required only to regulate the health, on which the healing process will greatly depend.

To stone in the bladder the dog is liable. The cause cannot be directly traced, but the symptoms are not obscure; the animal is constantly voiding its urine, which, though small in quant.i.ty, is not of a healthy character.

A few drops of blood occasionally are pa.s.sed; and, in attempting to go down stairs, sudden cries are often emitted. Fits of pain and seasons of illness are frequent, and the point of the p.e.n.i.s is protruded from the sheath, never being withdrawn. The leg is not raised to void the urine; but the creature strains when the act has either been accomplished, or there is no power to perform it. If the dog be taken on the knee, and one knowing the situation of the contents gently manipulates the abdomen, the body may be felt within the bladder, which will mostly be contracted and empty.

The nature of the disease having been ascertained, little can be done beyond relieving the immediate distress. Some writers have given directions for operating under such circ.u.mstances; but none of them tell us they have successfully performed lithotomy upon the animal. In every case of the kind upon which I have been consulted, the idea of such a measure was not for an instant to be countenanced. Dogs thus afflicted, are mostly small, and the calculus is generally of great proportional size, prior to our attention being directed to it. In a creature so very delicate as the dog, every operation requires to be well considered before it is resorted to; and though the cutler might make knives sufficiently diminutive for the occasion, it may be doubted if our hands are sufficiently nice to employ them. The stones I have met with were of a size I would not have liked to have drawn through the urethra; and therefore, though I will not a.s.sert lithotomy cannot be performed upon the dog, I must confess I have not performed it, and must say I should require strong inducements to attempt it upon the animal.

All I aim at is to limit the increase of the deposit, and to alleviate the painful symptoms it gives rise to. A strictly vegetable diet best accomplishes the first object, and doses of ether and laudanum, repeatedly administered by mouth and injection, most speedily secure the second.

Pills of henbane are likewise of service; and with them small quant.i.ties of the balsams may be combined, though the last should not be continued if they have any marked diuretic action. The peppers, especially cubebs, I have thought serviceable, and very minute doses of cantharides have seemed to be attended with benefit. Here, however, I speak with doubt; for the agents have by me been employed only in h.o.m.oeopathic quant.i.ties, and I have not the means of saying they had very decided action. They appeared to do good, since under their use the animals improved; and that is all I can state in their behalf. Proprietors, however, when the pressing annoyance is allayed, being told there is no prospect of a radical cure, do not generally afford us much opportunity to watch the action of medicines.

Haematuria or b.l.o.o.d.y urine is met with in the dog; and I (having been unfortunate in those cases where I employed acetate of lead) adopted small doses of cantharides, and with these to my surprise succeeded; for which reason I have persevered in my h.o.m.oeopathic treatment. The quant.i.ty of tincture of cantharides I employ is three minims to two ounces of water, and to my wonder, this appears to answer every purpose; the only fault, indeed, that a general pract.i.tioner might find with it being that it did its work too quickly.

Swelling of the glans p.e.n.i.s is not uncommon. It comes on suddenly, and the dog is by it rendered offensive to the owner's sight. The membrane is in a state of erection, and being so, is of course protruded; and while thus exposed, the end of it loses its mild red color, becoming of a paler hue, and at the same time enlarging. Its size increases to such an extent, that when the erection subsides, it cannot be retracted.

This generally happens to animals that are weakly; such being of what are called high breeds, or having recovered from some dangerous disorder. It is not a dangerous affection, and if taken early is very easily subdued.

With a silk handkerchief, the exposed part should be grasped by the left hand; and while every means is employed to push the gland back, the fingers of the right hand ought to be used, to draw the prepuce over it. A little time and care will, in most instances, do what is desired; and there is no need of haste, or justification for violence. Oil is not required, as the parts are sufficiently lubricated by their own secretion; and still less are those practices some persons have advocated, admissible.

The scarification of the glans, or the slitting of the prepuce, should not ever be allowed, save the absolute failure of all other measures has demonstrated relief is not otherwise to be procured. Before these severe resorts are sanctioned, the effects of cold and stimulants, locally applied, ought to be fully and patiently tried. A lotion containing ether, in such proportions as water will dissolve it, should be applied to the part; and spirit of nitric ether, to which double its amount of proof spirit has been added, may be with a camel's hair pencil painted over its surface. Ice is even better, but both, according as they can be readily obtained, are beneficial. Gentle manipulations will also be of benefit, and if the patience of the pract.i.tioner be not too easily exhausted, he will rarely need more to bring about that which is desired.

Retention of urine, though not very common in the dog, is, however, encountered too frequently to be termed a rare affection. It mostly accompanies debility, during the last stage of distemper, and is sometimes present in paralysis of the hind extremities. I have not seen a case in which it took the acute form, though obviously it may do so.

The symptoms generally are obscure; for in the majority of instances the distension of the bladder will simply aggravate the general uneasiness.

The condition of the part, therefore, may not be suspected, but in such cases it is to be ascertained by manipulation. By taking the animal, and gently pressing its abdomen, if the bladder be empty, the intestines will be felt; but if the viscus be full, there will be a soft and pulpy ma.s.s under the fingers. The sensation imparted by it conveys the idea that it is fluid, and the greatest care will in it detect nothing denoting substance or form. The proof thus obtained is positive, and will not deceive him who has accepted it. All pretending to administer to canine disease should be able to read this indication, but sometimes others direct attention to its presence.

The dog having the bladder gorged, and not so debilitated as to be deprived of power to move, or by paralysis disabled, mostly lies, but even then it is never at rest. The position is constantly shifted. Food and drink are refused, great dulness is exhibited, and a low plaintive moan is from time to time emitted. If made to walk, the animal straddles the hind-legs, and its gait is peculiar. The spine is arched, but the posterior limbs are not drawn or carried forward. If pressure is made upon the belly, it provokes resistance; and any attempt to raise the dog from the ground induces it to struggle.

Relief should without loss of time be afforded by the use of the catheter.

When I was a pupil at the college, the professor used to a.s.sert that the introduction of such an instrument was in the dog a physical impossibility. The bone found in the p.e.n.i.s of this animal, the gentleman instructed his pupils to believe, opposed an obstacle which could not be overcome. My former teacher, however, was in error. He had either never made the trial, or he had not judgment sufficient to conduct an operation which, when properly undertaken, is remarkably easy and simple. I believe I was the first pract.i.tioner in England who used the catheter for the dog, though prior to my doing so, reports were published of the instrument having been employed in France. On the Continent, however, I have heard of no one who had thought of introducing a catheter into the bladder of the b.i.t.c.h. That also I have done; and find the operation to be unattended with danger or difficulty. The method of operating upon the female will be explained in another place. Here I have to speak of the mode in which the male is to be relieved.

Let the dog be placed upon its side, and by means of a handkerchief the p.e.n.i.s be drawn. A catheter of proportionate size must be selected.

Metallic tubes will not do; but the gum elastic are to be employed. Before one of these is introduced, the wire must be taken out, and the outer surface moistened with olive oil.

The human catheters answer admirably for small dogs; but these are not made long enough to be of service to animals of the larger kinds. For a dog of middle height, an instrument twice the length of those employed on man ought to be at hand; and for a huge Newfoundland, one thrice as long will be useful. The shorter catheters may be of the sizes sold as Nos. 1, 2, and 3; the middle length, 4 and 5; the longest, Nos. 6, 7, and 8.

The dog being placed upon its side, and retained there in a position such as the operator may think most advantageous to his movements, the catheter is introduced with one hand while the p.e.n.i.s is held by the other.

The meatus being found--there is no great ingenuity required to discover it--the instrument is inserted and pushed gently onward. At first its pa.s.sage is easy, but it has not gone far before a check is felt. The stoppage arises from the spasmodic contraction of the ca.n.a.l, caused by the point of the instrument having reached the bone of the p.e.n.i.s. For a period the pa.s.sage is effectually closed; but no force must be employed to overcome the obstacle. Gentle but steady pressure is kept up; and under this it is rarely longer than a few minutes before the spasm yields. The catheter then glides forward, and the operator, resigning the hold of the p.e.n.i.s to his a.s.sistant, pa.s.ses his free hand to the perinaeum. When he feels the point of the tube below the a.n.u.s, he uses his fingers to direct its course,--for at this part the ca.n.a.l curves, taking a direction forward,--and after a little further way has been made, another check is experienced. This last springs from the contraction of the neck of the bladder; and once more gentle, but steady pressure must he employed to overcome the spasm. It rarely resists long; but the sudden absence of all opposition, and the flow of urine, shows that the object of the operation has been obtained.

The dog offers no resistance to the pa.s.sage of the instrument. I have never known one to cry, or seen one exhibit a struggle. I could not account for this by attributing it to any fondness for the necessary restraint, under which the creature is temporarily placed. During the flowing of the urine, the dog invariably remains perfectly quiet; and the relief afforded seems to dispose it almost to sleep; for after it is over, the animal lies in a kind of happy lethargy. The fluid, however, does not jet forth or empty quickly. The operator must not be impatient, for the stream is perfectly pa.s.sive; since, in consequence of the distension, the bladder has lost its contractive power. To obtain the whole of the contents, has sometimes required a quarter of an hour, and the quant.i.ty procured has frequently been quite disproportioned to the size of the patient. From a small petted spaniel, brought under my notice by my friend, Mr. Henderson, I extracted very nearly half a pint of urine, and the animal from that period began to get well. From a very small dog, the property of a lady of fortune, I for several days, every night and morning, withdrew about four ounces of the excretion with marked benefit to the animal. The operation is tedious, but it repays us for the time it occupies. Towards the conclusion the stream is frequently interrupted. It stops, then recommences; ceases, and then begins again; and the last portions are often ejected with a force which the first did not display. A little straining may attend the closing of the operation. For this the operator must be prepared, and immediately withdraw the catheter; lest the bladder, energetically contracting upon it, should cause the point to pierce the sides of the viscus. The instrument is no longer required when straining is excited; for then the contractive function has been resumed, and nature will subsequently perform her office without a.s.sistance.

The bladder that has been relieved, may require the care of the surgeon a second time; but no officiousness should be indulged in that respect. Let the necessity be present before the operation is resorted to; and the need for its adoption can be so accurately ascertained, that there is no excuse whatever for needless interference. The operation is attended with no immediate danger or subsequent ill consequences, that I am aware of; but it is particularly recommended by the fact, that in the dog it is not accompanied with that pain, which in man usually provokes exclamation, sometimes causes fainting, and not unfrequently induces irritability of the membrane lining the ca.n.a.l.