Give oatmeal, rather than flour or fine bread, as the staple of his diet, but a goodly allowance of meat is to be given as well, with cabbage or boiled liver, or even a portion of raw liver.  Fresh air and exercise in the fields.  You may give a bolus before dinner, such as the following:  Compound rhubarb pill, 1 to 5 grains; quinine, 1/8 to 2 grains; extract of taraxacum, 2 to 10 grains.  Mix.

FITS.

Whatever be the cause, they are very alarming.  In puppies they are called Convulsions, and resemble epileptic fits.  Keep the dog very quiet, but use little force, simply enough to keep him from hurting himself.  Keep out of the sun, or in a darkened room.  When he can swallow give from 2 to 20 grains (according to size) of bromide of potassium in a little camphor water thrice daily for a few days.  Only milk food.  Keep quiet.

SKIN DISEASES.

In the whole range of dog ailments included in the term canine pathology there are none more bothersome to treat successfully nor more difficult to diagnose than those of the skin.  There are none either that afford the quack or patent-nostrum monger a larger field for the practice of his fiendish gifts.  If I were to be asked the questions, “Why do dogs suffer so much from skin complaints?” and “Why does it appear to be so difficult to treat them?” I should answer the first thus:  Through the neglect of their owners, from want of cleanliness, from injudicious feeding, from bad kennelling, and from permitting their favourites such free intercourse with other members of the canine fraternity.  Overcrowding is another and distinct source of skin troubles.

My answer to the second question is that the layman too often treats the trouble in the skin as if it were the disease itself, whereas it is, generally, merely a symptom thereof.  Examples:  To plaster medicated oils or ointments all over the skin of a dog suffering from constitutional eczema is about as sensible as would be the painting white of the yellow skin in jaundice in order to cure the disordered liver.

But even those contagious diseases that are caused by skin germs or animalcules will not be wholly cured by any applications whatever.  Constitutional remedies should go hand in hand with these.  And, indeed, so great is the defensive power of strong, pure blood, rich in its white corpuscles or leucocytes, that I believe I could cure even the worst forms of mange by internal remedies, good food, and tonics, etc., without the aid of any dressing whatever except pure cold water.

In treating of skin diseases it is usual to divide them into three sections:  (1) The non-contagious, (2) the contagious, and (3) ailments caused by external parasites.

(1) The Non-Contagious.—­(a) Erythema.—­This is a redness, with slight inflammation of the skin, the deeper tissues underneath not being involved. Examples—­That seen between the wrinkles of well-bred Pugs, Mastiffs, or Bulldogs, or inside the thighs of Greyhounds, etc.  If the skin breaks there may be discharges of pus, and if the case is not cured the skin may thicken and crack, and the dog make matters worse with his tongue.