The Dog Part 18

The t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es are occasionally the sources of annoyance to the proprietor.

In one instance a high-bred dog was sold, the person who bought the animal making the purchase with a view to breeding from it. Disappointment followed, for no s.e.xual desire could be excited; and as a stock-dog, the beast was useless. An examination was then made, and the s.c.r.o.t.u.m was discovered to contain no glands.

A most infamous fraud was now accused against him who had sold the dog; and as dog-dealers are not so respectable, and are almost as little credited as horse-dealers, any charge imputing dishonesty required no evidence to substantiate it. An infamous villain was convicted of having castrated the dog before he parted with it, in order that a valuable strain might not be rendered common. This same dog was brought to me. I could detect no t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es, and I could perceive no cicatrix. The body was fat and the disposition sluggish, but the frame well developed. It was possible the scar, if the operation had been performed early, should have disappeared: and there are means practised by which the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es can be in a great measure destroyed without making an incision. Here, however, there was nothing to denote they had been present; or evidence to show they had been removed. I could by manipulation discover no bodies in the inguinal ca.n.a.ls. Under the circ.u.mstances, I was unable to give a positive opinion; but I leant to the idea that the appearances resulted from defective conformation.

My indecision exposed me to some remarks at the time; for the veterinary surgeon is never permitted to doubt. Ignorance is the only reason the majority of his patrons can conceive to account for his deliberation. A year subsequent, however, the dog died; and the body was then brought to me, in order that the point might be decided. I found both glands, which were not larger than they should have been at birth, within the abdomen, whence they never had descended.

It is very common to find small dogs, especially spaniels and terriers, with only one t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e in the s.c.r.o.t.u.m; but in the larger number of such cases the other can be detected, though it will be of small size, within the ca.n.a.l. Animals in this condition are quite capable of being used as stock-dogs, and are for such purposes as certain, as those more perfectly formed. Of this I have had repeated proofs; and, consequently, the absence of one gland is not to be viewed as a serious defect; though I do not know that it can be regarded in the light of a recommendation. Speaking from observation, and bringing the results of positive experience to bear upon my opinion, I may a.s.sert, that in diminutive dogs--animals intended only to be esteemed as "toys,"--the absence of one t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e is not of the slightest import; though, in the larger breeds intended for actual work, I should by no means be inclined so to regard it.

The t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es are also subject to enlarge and become hard, more than is natural. In that state they most frequently are devoid of sensation; though sometimes, but rarely, they are unnaturally tender. The size and degree of feeling may be the only indications; but generally the s.c.r.o.t.u.m is at the same time thickened, and exhibits an alteration in structure.

Blaine speaks of castration under such circ.u.mstances. I have hitherto abstained from direct interference. Notwithstanding the alteration, which has been obvious, I have, beyond daily rubbing in the ointment, containing camphor and mercury, resorted to no topical application. In one instance I employed an unguent, containing iodine; but it was ultimately discontinued, from a conviction that it was in its operation injurious, seeming to produce effects the opposite of those desired. The food, however, I alter; and by gentle aperients I endeavor to regulate the bowels. A course of the iodide of pota.s.sium I have likewise adopted, and can with confidence recommend. Alterative doses only should be administered; and the drug ought to be continued for three months at least. If prepared in the following form, it will not perhaps be readily swallowed up, but the animal will very seldom violently resist its administration:--

Simple syrup Two ounces.

Water Six ounces.

Iodide of pota.s.sium Fifteen grains to one drachm.

Dose, one drachm, or a teaspoonful thrice daily

The quant.i.ty ordered contains from a quarter of a grain to a grain of the iodide; and, if there be motive for desiring it should be exhibited in substance, the like amounts may be made into pills with conserve of roses, and a little powdered liquorice. The form is of little importance; but I prefer the fluid, because I have found that the animal can, with no great trouble or vast tax upon ingenuity, be brought to accept it readily; and with dogs, as with children, we gain by convincing them we are practising no deception. These creatures possess remarkable discernment: it is astonishing how long the doubt, when once excited, will act upon the canine mind. A pill, for this reason, is better pushed down the throat than presented in meat; for the imposition, being once detected, will for a long time subsequent to it be suspected. It is, therefore, best to proceed openly and without fear. So strong is my impression that dogs have a general comprehension of the meaning of sounds, that when I have medicines to give, I always address them, saying, "Come and take your physic." Some will do as they are ordered; but others are less obedient. I have met with none (save clump-headed spaniels--which of all dogs are the very worst behaved) that were not to be subjected. Frankness and determination operate wonderfully on these occasions. The animal soon learns it must submit, and quickly ascertains you have no desire to hurt it. The natural and beautiful confidence the brute reposes in man is thus appealed to, and it is surely wise not to tamper with so n.o.ble a feeling.

With dogs be resolute and straightforward; have no sense of fear, and have no desire for deceit. Call upon the innate submissiveness of the creature, and claim its obedience as a right. The amiable brute will respond to such appeals; as the struggles which result from weakness operating upon sensibility will originate confusion, and provoke those bites which are not maliciously aimed, but intended for self-defence.

GENERATIVE ORGANS.--FEMALE.

The ignorant are always inclined to be officious where procreation is concerned. The knowledge they pretend to, concerning such matters, however, consists of mingled indecency and mystery; and, when exposed, only commands contempt. The poor dog, nevertheless, suffers cruelly through the practices which such persons subject it to; and great as may be the ignorance of the parties who go about the country under various a.s.sumed denominations, to torture the canine race, surely, they who pay such fellows, or allow their animals to be abused by these pretenders, display a want of sense even more deplorable? Still this is done every day. The n.o.bility continue to be the profitable dupes of a host of confident impostors; and strangely seem to be infatuated with the belief that the man who sells a dog can likewise administer to the diseases of the creatures in which he trades.

The b.i.t.c.h is most unfortunate in the variety of severities she is compelled to undergo. Some foolish persons have imagined they can at will induce the periodical desire for offspring in the animal. To do this, violent stimulants are employed; being often given by the mouth, but more frequently injected up the pa.s.sage. I have no proof that such means are ever successful; and were they capable of doing all they are employed to accomplish, I would certainly refuse to make use of them. Nature cannot be coerced to man's profit; and any interference with her laws is always dangerous. The consequences may not be so immediate that in every instance the effect is traced to the cause; but the major portion of the affections of which the female generative organs of the dog are too commonly the seat, may be attributed to the carelessness, or cruelty of the owner, or of those by whom he is surrounded.

Various morbid growths are apt to appear upon or within the parts when old age advances. These have been generally produced by violence endured at a period long prior to the development of the disease. Potent injections may have been employed to bring on the condition called "heat;"

or undue force may have been exerted to drag away the pups when the b.i.t.c.h was in labor; or brutality may have been resorted to, to tear apart the animals during the performance of the act of impregnation. Other sources of accident and injury may likewise operate in disposing the delicate membrane of the v.a.g.i.n.a to exhibit disease; for boys, and others also, are cruelly inquisitive, and the dumb creature cannot complain.

The growths that appear upon the parts are not peculiar to its locality.

They are only such as may be present on similar structures. They a.s.sume one of three forms, viz. either that of tumor, fungus, or polypus.

The tumor may be of any shape or size; and it may be very hard or comparatively soft. Its consistence and dimension will depend upon its character; and this is seldom in two cases exactly alike. Mostly it is confined to the more external parts of the pa.s.sage; but so deep-rooted is it that it cannot be conveniently dissected away. It may have a broad base or widely spreading attachment; and those I have examined after death most frequently were mixed up with the structures on which they seemed to repose.

When such is the case, nothing can be done beyond attending to the general health; as by supporting the const.i.tution, the tendency to disease is likely to be checked. To the part no local application should be used; and every care is required to prevent the animal from injuring it.

When more externally situated, a careful examination must be made, to decide whether there is a fair hope of the growth being successfully excised. If it is hard and circ.u.mscribed, an operation is justifiable; but the skin should be healthy. All the integument must be preserved, and the entire bulk of the morbid body cleanly taken away. The parts are not so sensitive as to render the operation exceedingly severe; however large the wound may be, it generally heals rapidly. After the operation no dressing will be required, unless some untoward circ.u.mstance should arise, when, of course, the remedies needed to counteract it must be resorted to.

Fungus is invariably preceded by a purulent discharge, which, when the growth is developed, is mingled with blood. The system is feverish, and the parts are hot, irritable, and painful. The animal is continually licking itself, and is disinclined for motion or food.

In the first instance the cure is speedy; but if allowed to proceed, the affection is troublesome, and may be difficult to eradicate. When any unnatural discharge exudes, a mild tepid lotion should be injected. It should be of an astringent nature, and an infusion of green tea or any of the eye-washes recommended will be of service. The strength should likewise be supported, and the cold bath given daily, while exercise is particularly attended to.

When blood mingles with the exudation, a careful examination, with a speculum, if required, must be made; and the diseased surface should be touched with lunar caustic, or sulphate of copper. After this, an injection of the chloride of zinc, one grain to distilled water one ounce, should be employed thrice daily.

Should, however, the growth be of any size, it should be snipped off with a pair of probe-pointed scissors; and the lunar caustic ought then to be applied and repeated when the bleeding has entirely ceased. If the bleeding be excessive, cold water may be thrown up, or a pair of bellows, to drive a current of air upon the place, supposing it to be situated where it can be thus acted upon, may be made use of. Too frequently, however, the affection is deeply located, and then injections are alone to be resorted to, though, at the same time, const.i.tutional measures may be employed. The case is not to be despaired of, but the prospect of success may not be satisfactory.

Polypus is a round pear-shaped body, generally hanging by a pedicle, or neck, like to the stalk of the fruit. It is smooth, also moist, and highly vascular, having a red and shining appearance. When present, its attachment is commonly rather backward, or pretty deep within the pa.s.sage.

A small glairy discharge is at first observed. The fluid emitted is simply mucous, caused by the increased secretion of the membrane, which is irritated by the presence of a foreign growth. The parts subsequently seem to be swollen, and the animal does not appear otherwise affected. At length something red and glistening is remarked to protrude. It is seen occasionally, and then withdrawn; but most generally it appears subsequent to the urine having been voided. Ultimately, however, it constantly hangs out; and as, when exposed, it annoys the animal, it may be injured, and bleed freely.

The pract.i.tioner must cautiously examine the part. Before he makes up his mind concerning the nature of that which is presented, he must a.s.sure himself that the womb has not become inverted. I was once requested by a veterinary surgeon to see him remove a polypus from the v.a.g.i.n.a of a b.i.t.c.h, as he had determined to excise it. Luckily I went, and saved him from cutting away the animal's uterus, which would a.s.suredly have destroyed her. A contrary course was pursued, and that dog, in three days afterwards, was returned to its master well. The following particulars will enable him who may be in such a difficulty to discriminate the uterus from a polypus.

The uterus is soft, but rough when exposed; no vessels are to be seen upon its surface; it does not shine; it is not round or pear-shaped; it feels like a thick empty sac, and never appears upon pressure to contain any substance; it cannot be traced to any stalk-like attachment, and, if returned, the situation it will occupy denotes the position it was ordained to hold.

A polypus is smooth, glistening, and on its surface generally exhibits vessels. Its covering is always tense, and contains a semi-solid substance; it is often sensitive, and, if the s.p.a.ce allows of the pa.s.sage of the finger, the neck or point of attachment can be felt; it cannot, like the womb, or the bladder when inverted, be forced inward, or made to take the situation which either of them would occupy.

Moreover, the appearance of a polypus is an affair which must have attracted notice some months prior to its occurrence; whereas, the inversion of the bladder or the womb, occupies but an instant, and is commonly preceded by no symptoms.

Being a.s.sured there is a polypus, if a fine silk can be pa.s.sed round the neck or stalk and be tied tight, so as to cut off the circulation of blood to the part, the growth will drop off in two days, supposing the operation to have been effectively performed. When a ligature cannot be applied, the body should be seized with a proper pair of forceps, and it should then be turned round and round several times. The object in doing this is to twist the stalk, so as to strangulate the vessels within it; and this sometimes answers quite as well as the ligature itself, but the last is best, as being more sure and less likely to be attended with accident. When neither can be accomplished, the polypus may be forcibly dragged away, or literally torn out; but the pain of this is very great, and the operation has nothing to recommend it but its absolute necessity.

The polypus being removed, perfectly cold, mild, astringent injections, to act as healing and cleansing lotions, should be used; or if any portion of the stalk remain, to that caustic may be applied.

Authors speak of cancer of the v.a.g.i.n.a. I have seen nothing yet in the animal that I may designate by such a term. I have, it is true, met with serious wounds and grievous sores; but all of these have yielded to treatment, and I am not aware that, if their nature had been malignant, they could have been subdued by any medicinal measures.

Dropsy of the uterus I have encountered, though, as no teacher or work speaks of such an affection in the dog, it was some time before I was able to recognise the disease. The b.i.t.c.h thus afflicted is generally petted into ill-health. She is fat, slothful, and weakly. All the various symptoms show the digestion to be deranged; and in most cases she eventually perishes of abdominal disease, which is in its termination independent of the condition of the uterus. The only marked symptom directing attention to the womb, is the cessation of every sign indicating s.e.xual desire. For years there may be no appearance of "_heat;_" but otherwise the b.i.t.c.h shall be regarded only as delicate, and not be esteemed to be decidedly unwell. If, however, the body of the animal be examined after death, the body and horns of the uterus will be found distended with a thin aqueous fluid; and the walls of the organ will be seen to be very attenuated, and much wanting in vascularity. There is no precise limit to the size the uterus may attain; but, in consequence of its increased volume, it occupies another situation to that it naturally holds in the abdomen of the b.i.t.c.h. Generally, when dropsical to any extent, it will repose immediately upon the linea alba; and it is apt to be injured if care be not taken when the _post mortem_ examination is made.

For dropsy of the uterus, general measures must alone be employed, and these must be of a tonic character; for, however much the dog may be petted, or however fat its body may be, the disease is always consequent upon debility. Among the tonics are several which have a stimulating action upon the uterus, and where it is suspected to be affected the following medicines may be administered:--

Powdered cinnamon One scruple to one and a half drachm.

Powdered borate of soda Ten grains to two scruples.

Powdered secale cornutum One to six grains.

Extract of gentian One drachm to half an ounce.

Powdered qua.s.sia A sufficiency.

Make in twenty-four pills, and give three daily.

Iodide of iron Ten grains to one scruple.

Powdered cinchona bark One drachm to half an ounce.

Extract of gentian One drachm to half an ounce.

Make as in the previous prescription.

Iodide of pota.s.sium Ten grains to one drachm.

Tincture of cantharides Five drops to one scruple.

Simple syrup One drachm.

Water Two ounces.

Let a tea-spoonful be given three times a day.

In some cases the pills first recommended may be given with the drops last proposed; but the action must be watched, and either the dose diminished or the medicine withheld, if it appears to have any violent effect. The intent is to work gently and gradually upon the system, and no immediate result should be expected or desired.

PARTURITION, OR PUPPING.--This is a very serious branch of the present subject; for, through the inability to bring forth their young, many a valuable b.i.t.c.h is annually lost; and, by the injudicious measures intended to relieve them, many more are yearly sacrificed. I know of no book that gives proper directions for the guidance of the pract.i.tioner; indeed, the rules laid down by both Blaine and Youatt are calculated to do mischief whenever they shall be put into practice. The reader must, therefore, be content to accept that which will be submitted to his consideration on this topic, as the result of the experience of an individual whose observations have been made only during a comparatively short period, and whose opinions consequently are not to be regarded as confirmed. While directing attention to what has been declared rejected, the author solicits no confidence in his judgment, beyond that which results shall sanction, and reason approve.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Little gentlemen are said to incline towards what are termed fine women; and many persons will remember the caricature, in which a strapping Life-guards-man was depicted, stooping to salute a lady who scarcely reached the top of his boots. The like admiration for bulk appears to be entertained by the members of the canine race. Small curs are much disposed to bestow their affections upon huge Newfoundlands; and diminutive b.i.t.c.hes, if followed by a host of suitors, will give the preference to the largest of the group. All descriptions of dogs will freely have intercourse with one another; and as these animals are of such various proportions, the female is frequently unable to give birth to the progeny of a gigantic sire. Care consequently should be taken to provide suitable males when pups are desired; and in all cases the dog should be smaller than the b.i.t.c.h. It is not, however, a sufficient precaution that the dog be of less size; for it, or the b.i.t.c.h herself, may be the dwarf of a large stock, and being so, may be capable of getting or gestating offspring as huge as the race from which either of them sprung. It is possible, therefore, for a small dog to be quite as dangerous as one of great weight; and I knew an animal of this kind which had been the cause of many deaths on that account. The animal alluded to was the property of a gentleman (now deceased) who had long graced the bench. The dog was a handsome Scotch terrier; and, being small, it was frequently solicited as a stock-dog. It was, however, very deceptive; for a b.i.t.c.h twice its own size could with difficulty survive the consequences of its embraces. It is a diminutive example of a naturally large race; and in its offspring there is a disposition to return to the original size. Therefore, not only must the dog be small, but, if possible, it must have been derived from a small stock. The giant's dwarf may beget a giant; and how frequently do parents of short stature have children who can at maturity look literally over their heads! Certainly more important, however, than the size of the dog, is the magnitude of the stock whence the b.i.t.c.h is derived. A full-sized pug b.i.t.c.h, whose portrait is given beneath, had connexion with a setter dog. She was sent to me to be delivered; but with little a.s.sistance the affair was accomplished. A small mongrel b.i.t.c.h, but a great favorite with its master, broke loose during his absence, and had connexion with a dog at least four times its size. The animal was brought to me to ascertain what could be done, her death being expected when the nine weeks expired.