Canine pathology; or, a description of the diseases of dogs, nosologically arranged, with their causes, symptoms, and curative treatment; preceded by a sketch of the natural history of the dog; with practical directions on the breeding, rearing, and salutary treatment of these animals

PART THE FIRST. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG, p. 9

Iiiiportaiice of the Dog, 9— his Classification, 1 4-— Synoptical View of M. Fred. Cuvier, 15 — his Divisions into Matins, 16 — Spaniels, 21-— Dogues, 27 — V'arieties resulting from these, 18-28 — the Dog an original and distinct Species of his Genus, 29-35 — his Qualities, 35 “the Rationality of the Dog, 35-37.

Part The Second. The Breeding, Rearing, And Natural Treatment Of

THE DOG, p. 41.

The Reproductive System, generally, 41 — Gestation, 44 — Systematic Breeding of Dogs, 48-55 — the Rearing of Young Dogs, 62 — the general Treatment of Dogs as preventive of Disease, 67— Feeding, 67-75 — "Lodging, 75 — Exercise, 78 — -Condition, 79-81 — Assistant Means of promoting Condition, as Alteratives, 82 — Emetics, 85-— Purgatives, 86.

PART THE THIRD. THE DISEASES OF THE DOG, p. 89

C General Treatment under Disease, 89 — Comparative Effects of Me“ dicinal Articles on Dogs, 90-91— Mode of administering Medicines to Dogs, 93— Professional Attendance on, 96— Diseases divided into Classes, 97.

Contents

ii

CLASS 1.

Important Febrile Affections 97 Symptomatic Fever 97

Preface

TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

As by common consent I appear to be considered the •Father of Canine Pathology, it follows, of course, that it will be expected of me as a parent that I should from time to time be doing something for the child of my adoption. Not to disappoint such expectations, this edition will be found to present some important alterations and additions. The anecdotical portion, as not necessarily connected with the subject at large, has here given place to a more extended inquiry into the animal himself, and to the introduction of some canine diseases not noticed before. The matter of the work is now divided into three parts. The first embraces the Natural History of the Dog, with an Inquiry into his primeval origin, and into the probable sources of his prominent varieties. The second jiart is devoted to a theoretical and practical consideration of the System of Breeding and Rearing these Animals, with their general Treatment, as our subservients, and the means of keeping them in Health. The third part comprehends their Diseases, when their health has been attacked ; the alphabetical arrangement of which, in former editions has given place in this to such a methodical classification as, while it renders it not less easy of reference to the amateur, will be more acceptable to the professional reader, from the relative view it will afford him of the various subjects thus congenerously grouped. Not that what is now offered has any pretensions to a strict nosological classification : on the contrary, it is evident that the work must yet continue to be so framed

A.

Preface To The Fourth Edition

as to prove a vade mecum to as many non-medical as medical readers ; and for whom a rigorous application of nosology would, therefore, be too technical. It may hereafter assume a still more systematic dress : at present, festinatio tarda est will probably apply ; and until circumstances allow or call for it, attempting too much might be found to be a preventive to the attaining of a little even. As regards the work generally, if my exertions should tend to alleviate the sufferings of an animal whose utility and good qualities can never be too highly estimated, I shall have accomplished an object always dear to my heart: and here, probably, my address ought to terminate ; but during the course of a long life, the circumstances of having been so repeatedly changing from one to the other of the seeming discordant pursuits of human and brute surgery ; of army life, both military and medical ; and of private life, as the country sportsman or the closeted author ; have, I am aware, excited the curiosity of many, and subjected me to the tax of great inconsistency of conduct, and vacillation of purpose from others. Wishing, in common with the rest of mankind, to stand well with the world, and knowing that, however I may not be able entirely to rid myself from these imputations, I may yet, by detailing the principal circumstances which led to these constantly varying pursuits, shew that they were less sought by than forced on me ; and that by such apologetical statement I may at once blunt censure and satisfy curiosity ; with which intentions only I am induced further to intrude by the following statement.

I WAS educated with my maternal grandfather, a dignitary of the cathedral of St. David’s ; the bishop of the diocess becoming my godfather, with an understanding that I was to be broughtup to the church, under his auspices. Unfortunately, the principles of my father, as a dissenting divine, frustrated these prospects ; and it was at length agreed between the two parents, that I should be consigned to a less scholastic but more laborious profession, the ars mendendi, which first aberration laid the foundation of all the subsequent ones ; for of all professions that of a parish priest offers the fewest temptations to deviate from a direct course. In consequence of this agreement, I was, at the age of fourteen, placed with an eminent practitioner in Buckinghamshire ; and at twenty-one was entered a pupil at the Borough Hospitals, under the direct guidance of the ingenious Dr. Flaighton, where I remained nearly three years, the last of which was passed under the roof of this friend of my family; and to whom, during my stay, it was my study to discharge some of my obligations, by actively employing myself in assisting him in his physiological experiments, and in myself making many of those particular dissections, and the whole of the drawings designated to illustrate the re-union of divided nerves, and the nature of the interposed substance, that gained him the prize medal of the Royal Institution ; and which further led to the discovery of the division of the ficial nerves a.s a cure for tic doloureux. About this time the public attention became engaged in forming a national college for the systematic study of brute medicine. One professor (M. St. Bel) had been already engaged ; and there was yet wanting an assistant teacher of

PROFESSIONAL IJFE OF THE AUTHOR.

anatomy and demonstrator ; which being offered me, I accepted, and by so doing a second important aberration from purposed intentions was committed; but enthusiastically attached to animals as I was, as well as to natural history and comparative anatomy, it was little to be wondered at, if a young mail should embrace a situation where his duties and his inclinations so well accorded. It may also readily be supposed, that the time thus passed would tend to divert my attention from my legitimate profession of human medicine ; and although, after I left the Veterinary College, I resumed it for a twelvemonth in Sussex, yet I was again influenced, by strong temptations held out, to enter on a course of public teaching of the veterinary art ; and also to engage in the practice of it at Lewes, where I met with much notice and encouragement. An improvident management of my resources, however, forced me from hence ; and I once more resumed human surgery in a regiment of militia, with which I remained, until, at the recommendation of the late General G Wynne, always a kind and zealous friend to me, I was appointed to a surgeoncy in one of the troops of horse artillery, then stationed at Woolwich, with which I remained nearly three years, extending my knowledge of human medicine by witnessing the judicious management of the Woolwich Artillery Hospital, under the direction of the late Dr. Rollo ; and as though the practice of brute medicine was ever to unite itself with whatever other pursuits I might be engaged in, I was requested to add to my duties the inspection of the extraordinary cases which might occur among the invalid horses belonging to the establishment.

As may be supposed, my time spent here was neither idly, unpleasantly, nor unprofitably employed ; but my relations becoming urgent with me to leave the army, and wholly confine myself to human medical practice near them, I left the Artillery, and made my dehut as a surgeon in the neighbourhood of Queen Square, London. Even here, however, the latent spark, which had smouldered but was not extinguished, again shewed itself by the employment of the hours that my professional avocations left me in preparing and publishing the Anatomy of the Horse, in folio monthly numbers, with both coloured and plain plates. Of this work it is certainly not too much to say, that it was a spirited undertaking : it was also thought so worthy of encouragement by that excellent character and great lover of this animal, George the Third, that he was pleased personally to urge my continuance of it, giving me, at the same time, permission to dedicate it to him. Settled as I now appeared to be, even yet a new aberration awaited me, fate herself seeming to have ordained that I should not remain long in one situation ; for the death of a near relative investing me with a considerable property, I relinquished my professional pursuits, and retired into the country, where the expences of a sporting establishment in a few years forced on me the necessity of again adopting a new course of life. In consequence, I first accepted a commission in the North Gloucester Regiment of Militia, and in it passed a campaign in Ireland during the rebellion ; but after two years wasted in this manner, prudence dictating that it was doing nothing towards my future welfare, on the announcement of the expedition to the Holder, I offered my services to the Medical Board, which were accepted, and I was provisionally appointed surgeon to the second battalion of the 40th regiment, with which I immediately embarked for Holland. As this corps particularly distinguished itself, and bore the brunt of several actions, my experience in my profession received considerable additions ; but neither my prospects nor interests seemed to be much brightened by my services, although a public acknowledgment of them by the regiment, coupled with a request for my continuance with it, was formally made to the Medical Board ; but which availed little, for the system of favoritism of the surgeon-general of that time made him, at the instance of General Cameron, then embarking for the West Indies, order me to accompany him, although but three weeks returned from Holland. Indignant at such treatment, I refused to go ; and thus any claim of mine for active service in several regiments was, in one mo-

PROFESSIONAL LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

meiit, cancelled. Some years after this, when in professional attendance on the late excellent Duchess of York, her princely consort admitted my active services on the Continent (for he had often himself inspected my hospital regulations, with which he always expressed himself as particularly well pleased), and most kindly observed that they deserved a different treatment from the Medical Board, but over which he had no controul. After this throwing up of my commission, I did not immediately turn my attention to any new pursuit, but remained some time in suspense, at the instance of my kind friend and patron the late Lord Craven, who also had himself left the d-Oth regiment, with some expectation of obtaining the command of a rifle corps, and in which he promised to procure me a commission, in case his interest should fail to gain me the surgeoncy of it. I was, however, to be again foiled, together with his lordship, who, instead of his medi" tated appointment, was promoted to the rank of a district general ; and I was consequently once more left to pursue my own fortune. Being not altogether destitute, I was in no hurry at that moment to risk a new run of ill luck ; but, on the contrary, quietly retired into the north of England, where my days were occupied in sketching, shooting, or fishing, and my evenings in arranging materials for the First Edition of the Veterinary Outlines. But as even such a course of study might not much advance my fortune, it might open a door thereto.

It did so, and I had no reason eventually to repent my determination. In a professional practice of human medicine it was certainly disheartening to reflect that I had lost some years in my start, and that my cotemporaries, from the advantage of early residence and locality, had outstripped me in the race ; and that, the market being already overstocked with human surgeons, I had numerous difficulties to overcome, and additional time to waste, before I could hope to get even into tolerable practice. I, however, removed to London, where I some time lingered in uncertainty : but my Veterinary Outlines, which I had in the meantime published, becoming known, together with the public remembrance of what little notoriety attached to my name as an early teacher at the Veterinary College, almost insensibly, and certainly unexpectedly, drew me into extensive correspondencies and a remunerative practice on the diseases of horses, dogs, and domestic animals in general, which, increasing daily, at length determined me to devote all my future professional energies to these subjects. In this almost unbeaten track I might hope to reap both fame and emolument ; and although it might not appear so honourable a calling as that of human medicine, it was at least a very useful one, and, under all the foregoing circumstances, the most prudent one. The resolve was followed by a popular and extensive practice in the British metropolis, during which I produced a succession of veterinary publications, all of which have received the meed of public approbation, by passing through several editions, and by having been translated into several continental languages. Firmly resolved no more to deviate from this settled line of practice (which, although it was not that which it has ever been my wish I had remained in, yet has proved a remunerating one to me, and I hope not altogether a useless one to the public), I remained engaged in it twenty years, although twice exposed, during that time, to temptations of a profitable and flattering nature to translate my professional services, first to India, and next to Russia. To induce me to take the direction of a veterinary school in Petersburgh. Prince Gargarini was directed, when the crowned heads were in England, to offer me the usual temptation of a title, with a liberal pension. By declining these, I hope I somewhat reclaimed a character for consistency, if not for prudence and wish for aggrandizement. For myself I have never repented the step : the retirement I have some years enjoyed is still employed in editing new editions of my former works, or collecting materials for others connected with the improvement of the persons and treatment of our domestic animals. Thus, though happily not called on by want, my energies, my competence, and my leisure, are yet devoted to the cause of humanity, and to that course which chance forced me into.

PROFESSIONAL LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

Little as this recital offers for boast or exultation, I shall, without doubt, be taxed with egotism and vanity, by introducing it. I have unquestionably personal motives in so doing ; but if I know myself, they centre in the hope that thereby I may at once satisfy all curiosity ; and that, wherever I may be, I may stand confessed to the world with regard to what I have been, and with regard to what I am, and ever mean to be. We have every one of us a sphere of action of our own : mine is a humble and limited one ; but the more narrow its limits, the more necessary is it that it should not be clouded by any doubts or obscurities.

Part The First. The Natural History Of The Dog

The importance of the dog in the scale of animated nature admits of no dispute, but, on the contrary, is forced on our conviction by many striking proofs ; among which the wide range of his geographical distribution, which exceeds that of almost any other scion of the zoological tree, stands prominent. Again, his teachable character renders him not only interesting, but highly useful also ; indeed so much so, that we can hardly persuade ourselves that any country is fully blessed with Nature’s gifts which does not possess the dog ; and Certainly none can deserve the title of civilized, which, owning him, has not engaged him in a close domestication : on the contrary, we have reason to believe that it was one of the earliest efforts of associated man, to secure to himself and fellow men the friendship and services of an animal whose manners, in his wild state even, must have exhibited physical and intellectual powers which, in an eminent degree, qualified

I

him, when reclaimed, to become a watchful and effective guard against the more predatory and ferocious brutes around ; a powerful assistant and ally in that further comjuest which he (man)

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BOG.

would be naturally led to meditate over other animal races, as well as a devoted and interesting companion. Indeed, his protection against the rapacity of other animals could hardly be obtained by any other than this canine compact : neither is it too much to assert, that but for this he could never have extended his conquest over other brute races, or, having effected it, it would have been utterly impossible to have maintained it. In great truth, therefore, the subjugation and domestication of the dog may be called the triumph of reason over nature ; and, as observed by Baron Cuvier, it is the most complete, singular, and useful conquest man has ever made. Viewed in these several relations, our inquiries concerning the dog necessarily embrace, first, his natural history, properly so called ; and, secondly, his artificial history, or the alterations effected in him hy his domestication with man.

The natural history of an animal is most satisfactorily commenced by inquiries into its direct origin ; and in this instance it would be peculiarly gratifying to trace the source from whence has been derived a race now so extensively diffused among us ; and one that is become not more important by the value of its services, than interesting by its amiable and companionable qualities. But, unfortunately, we have to lament, that around the descent of no quadruped does there hang so much obscurity as about that of the dog ; and however reason and analogy may lead us to conclude him an original animal, and however well convinced the majority may be that he is so, yet the subject is so beset with difficulties and contradictory appearances, that we cannot wonder at the doubts which exist in the minds of others on the subject. Some eminent naturalists have even doubted whether the dog be not wholly a factitious animal ; one not acknowledged by the great Architect of Nature, but altogether compounded from such spurious sources as the intermixture of various nearly-allied animals. Others have allowed him a more direct lineage, by confining his descent to one among those which compose the genus in which he is placed : thus, some have considered

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG.

his parentage derived from the wolf, and the comparison of the anatomy between these two animals presents an argument of some weight, and the more when, added to this, we take into the account that the gestation of the wolf is, like the canina, sixty-three days. The dingo has likewise been supposed a probable source from whence the dog originated, but, in my opinion, not a very likely one : some from the fox, others from the chacal or jackal, and a few have regarded the hyena as his primogenitor. (See Mr. Bell on this subject in his History of British Quadrupeds.) So infinitely varied are the scions of this great tree become, that among those who, like myself, would be glad to advocate his claim to originality of formation, yet we are constrained to admit the ditficulty of concluding that all his varieties can have sprung from one root. It is not easy to suppose that even the powerful agencies of climate, food, and domestication, could have operated diversities so striking and so multiplied ; but, on the contrary, some maintain that he was originally formed in such corresponding varieties as fitted him to inhabit the different countries in which he was placed, and which opinion it is not easy to controvert entirely. As regards the identity of the wolf and dog, I confess that, though originally hostile to such opinion, I am not equally so now. I would not willingly give up the opinion that the dog, in his native character, is an original animal, and most probably of one type ; but which type, yielding to the powerful influences of change of temperature, of locality, of food, of treatment, &c. has suffered vast alterations in its form and proportions, but I would less willingly adhere to error. It may, it is true, be asked whether the first dogs might not by intermixture with other members of his genus have so diversified his kinds. The query is at once curious and important, but at the same time it is one that I am not ready to uphold, nor prepared to deny. But when we regard attentively the effects produced by the powerful agencies already hinted at, particularly that resulting from climate, and that brought about by man when he assumes to himself the direction of the sexual intercourse, I cannot but incline to think, that the varieties

NATURAL HISTORY OR THE 1)00* of this animal, numerous and disproportionate as they are, might result from these united causes of themselves. This subject is not more interesting than intricate, and the more I examine it, the less am I satisfied with my own inferences. In one point only am I certain I am right, and that is, that the dog, let him be an original or a compounded animal, deserves our admiration.

In the zoological arrangement of the great naturalist, Sir Charles Linne, the Dog, Canis familiaris, is the first species of a genus which comprehends animals whose exterior forms and habits are considerably varied, but whose generic characters bear a close resemblance to each other. The animals included are, the Wolf, Can. lupus ; the Fox, Can. vulpes ; the Jackal, Can. aureus ; and the Hyeena, Can. hycena. The generic character's of this race are drawn from the number and the incisive formation of the teeth. There are, in front, six pointed conical fore teeth above and below, the laterals being more lobated and longer than the others. The molar or grinding teeth are furnished with pointed prominences, and in the intermediate space between the incisor and molar teeth placed on each side, above and below, is found a solitary incurvate tusk, from whence this tooth derives its characteristic name of canine, wherever it is met with. The specific characters, or those by which this great master distinguished the dog from the other members of the genus, are — the head carinated or keel-shaped on the crown ; the lower lip hid by the upper, indentated and naked at the sides ; tongue smooth ; five rows of whiskers on the upper lip; nostrils turned outward, into a crescent-shaped furrow ; upper margin of the ears reflected and doubled posteriorly ; anterior margin three-lobed, with seven or eight hairy warts on the face ; teats ten, six abdominal, four pectoral ; feet subpalmated, toes furnished with curved claws, not retractile. Of the wolf we have to remark, that the one belonging to Fred. M. Cuvier offered an example of the vast power of man over even the most untractable of the beasts of the field. It is well known that no spaniel was ever more attached to a master than was this wolf to M. Cuvier, brother to the great

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG.

naturalist. Tliis faithful animal bore one separation from him with difficulty. Another w^as attempted, but this was more than he could bear : he pined himself to death, a martyr to his attachment.

Baron Cuvier’s arrangement very properly excludes the hyaena from the genus Canis, but it retains the other members of the Linnaean arrangement. His canine generic characters are — three false molars above, four below, and two tuberculous teeth behind each carnivorous one. The first of these tuberculous teeth in the upper row is very large. The upper carnivorous tooth has but a single small tubercle within, but the lower one has its posterior point altogether tuberculous. The canine tongue is soft. The fore-feet have five toes, and the hinder four.

The specific characters of the dog are — his curved tail, and his numerous variations as to size, form, colour, and the quantity and quality of the hair. The dog indeed may be said to be, altogether, the most complete, the most varied, and the most useful conquest ever made by man. Almost every variety of canidae has become our property : each individual is altogether devoted to his master, assumes his manners, knows and defends his property, and remains attached to him until death ; all which appears to proceed neither from fear nor hope of reward, but solely from genuine attachment. The swiftness, the strength, and the powers of scent in the dog have, indeed, created for man a powerful ally against other animals, whose encroachments he watches with a jealous eye. He, in fact, is the only animal which has followed man through every region of the earth.

We have seen that some naturalists regard the dog as a species of wolf, others as a fox, and some as a domesticated jackal, which is evidently erroneous ; for such dogs as have become wild again in desert islands do not resemble either of these species. The truly wild dogs, and those also belonging to barbarous people, as the inhabitants of New Holland, have straight ears, which would lead us to the belief that the European races approximating most to the original type are the dingo of New Holland, our shepherd's

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG.

dog and our wolf-dog. But the comparison of crania points to a closer approximation in the mastiff diXidi Danish dog : after which come the hound, the 'pointer, and the terrier, which do not ma-* terially differ between themselves except in size and the proportions of the limbs. The greyhound is altogether more lank, its frontal sinuses also are small, and its scent but feeble. The shepherd’s dog and the wolf-dog present the straight ears of the wild dogs, but with a greater development of brain, which proceeds increasing, with a proportionate degree of intelligence, in the harhet and the spaniel. The bull-dog, on the other hand, is remarkable for the shortness and strength of its jaws, as well as the vigour and determination with which he retains his hold on the nose or lips of the bull. The cerebral cavities of the bull-dog are verv confined, and consequently his intellect is not very extended. He is without doubt an unnatural production, but is, nevertheless, a striking proof of that power which man exercises over nature.

The dog is born with the eyes closed, and they remain so until the tenth or twelfth day. His teeth begin to change in the fourth month, and his growth terminates at two years of age. The female goes with young sixty-three days, and brings forth from six to a dozen, or even more, young ones. The dog is erroneously said to be old at five years, and that he seldom lives more than twenty, which is true in the majority of instances ; but we have seen more than one dog that had lived beyond twenty. We knew a French dog which weighed less than four pounds, and which, as we were told by its owner, had reached its twenty-third or twenty-fourth year, we forget which. The vigilance, the bark, the singular mode of copulation of this animal, and his striking susceptibility of a varied education, are universally known^.

1 The illustrious naturalist, Cuvier, evinces some of the nationality which marked Buffon in his reveries on the origin of the dog : nor can I agree with him that the dog is old at five ; he is, on the contrary, then in his prime. And by limiting the number of progeny to twelve, he is equally in error : I took myselffrom a pregnant setter, after her death, sixteen young ones, within a week of their expected birth.

iSATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG. 15

The artificial history of the dog may with propriety commence with the synopsis of the varieties into which he is branched out. In the other species of the genus to which he belongs, this would rather belong to their natural history ; but it must be considered, that by far the greater number of the varieties of the dog have been the result of circumstances not contemplated by nature : on the contrary, many of them, we know, have arisen from the direct agency of man himself, and the greater proportion are wholly domesticated with him. The synoptical view of this subject, taken by that eminent zoologist M. Frederic Cuvier (a younger brother of the Baron), being now very generally followed by our best naturalists, will furnish me with an order of description slightly varying from that pursued in former editions, but not, I believe, less demonstrative or interesting. Founded on the construction of the various organs of the body, internal as well as external, these illustrious brothers have reared their systems on the most solid base ; employing principles which must produce the best effects on zoology, by rescuing it from fabled representation, traditionary account, or purposed exaggeration. The shape of the head, and the length of the jaws and muzzle, have furnished him, as he conceives, with facilities in arranging the dog varieties in the order of their approach to the parent stock, which he does in three several groups: 1. Matins^; 2. Spaniels^; 3. Dogues.