There are two things which assist the arsenic, at least to go well with it; they are, iron in some form and Virol.  The latter will be needed when there is much loss of flesh.  A simple pill of sulphate of iron and extract of liquorice may be used.  Dose of Liquor arsenicalis from 1 to 6 drops ter die to commence with, gradually increased to 5 to 20 drops.

Dandruff.—­A scaly or scurfy condition of the skin, with more or less of irritation.  It is really a shedding of the scaly epidermis brought on by injudicious feeding or want of exercise as a primary cause.  The dog, in cases of this kind, needs cooling medicines, such as small doses of the nitrate and chlorates of potash, perhaps less food.  Bowels to be seen to by giving plenty of green food, with a morsel of sheep’s melt or raw liver occasionally.  Wash about once in three weeks, a very little borax in the last water, say a drachm to a gallon.  Use mild soap.  Never use a very hard brush or sharp comb.  Tar soap (Wright’s) may be tried.

PARASITES—­INTERNAL.

WORMS.

We have, roughly speaking, two kinds of worms to treat in the dog:  (1) the round, and (2) the tape.

(1) Round-worms—­They are in shape and size not unlike the garden worm, but harder, pale, and pointed.

Symptoms—­Sometimes these are alarming, for the worm itself is occasionally seized with the mania for foreign travel, and finds its way into the throat or nostrils, causing the dog to become perfectly furious, and inducing such pain and agony that it may seem charity to end its life.  The worms may also crawl into the stomach, and give rise to great irritation, but are usually dislodged therefrom by the violence accompanying the act of vomiting.

Their usual habitat, however, is the small intestines, where they occasion great distress to their host.  The appetite is always depraved and voracious.  At times there is colic, with sickness and perhaps vomiting, and the bowels are alternately constipated or loose.  The coat is harsh and staring, there usually is short, dry cough from reflex irritation of the bronchial mucous membrane, a bad-smelling breath and emaciation or at least considerable poverty of flesh.

The disease is most common in puppies and in young dogs.  The appearance of the ascaris in the dog’s stools is, of course, the diagnostic symptom.

Treatment—­I have cured many cases with santonin and areca-nut powder (betel-nut), dose 10 grains to 2 drachms; or turpentine, dose from 10 drops to 1-1/2 drachms, beaten up with yolk of egg.

But areca-nut does better for tape-worm, so we cannot do better than trust to pure santonin.  The dose is from 1 grain for a Toy up to 6 grains for a Mastiff.  Mix it with a little butter, and stick it well back in the roof of the dog’s mouth.  He must have fasted previously for twelve hours, and had a dose of castor oil the day before.  In four or five hours after he has swallowed the santonin, let him have a dose of either olive oil or decoction of aloes.  Dose, 2 drachms to 2 ounces or more.  Repeat the treatment in five days.  Spratts’ cure may be safely depended on for worms. [1]