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
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]
[1] Many dog owners swear by the preparation called Ruby, which can be
recommended as a cure for worms.--Ed.
The perfect cleanliness of the kennel is of paramount importance.
The animal's general health requires looking after, and he may be
brought once more into good condition by proper food and a course of
vegetable tonics. If wanted in show condition we have Plasmon to fall
back upon, and Burroughs and Wellcome's extract of malt.
There is a round-worm which at times infests the dog's bladder, and
may cause occlusion of the urethra; a whip-worm inhabiting the caecum;
another may occupy a position in the mucous membrane of the stomach;
some infest the blood, and others the eye.
(2) Tape-worms--There are several kinds, but the treatment is the
same in all cases. The commonest in the country is the Cucumerine.
This is a tape-worm of about fifteen inches in average length,
although I have taken them from Newfoundland pups fully thirty inches
long. It is a semi-transparent entozoon; each segment is long compared
to its breadth, and narrowed at both ends. Each joint has, when
detached, an independent sexual existence.
The dog often becomes infested with this parasite from eating sheeps'
brains, and dogs thus afflicted and allowed to roam at pleasure over
fields and hills where sheep are fed sow the seeds of gid in our
flocks to any extent. We know too well the great use of Collie dogs to
the shepherd or grazier to advise that dogs should not be employed as
assistants, but surely it would be to their owners' advantage to see
that they were kept in a state of health and cleanliness.
Treatment--We ought to endeavour to prevent as well as to cure. We
should never allow our dogs to eat the entrails of hares or rabbits.
Never allow them to be fed on raw sheep's intestines, nor the brains
of sheep. Never permit them to lounge around butchers' shops, nor eat
offal of any kind. Let their food be well cooked, and their skins and
kennels kept scrupulously clean. Dogs that are used for sheep and
cattle ought, twice a year at least, to go under treatment for the
expulsion of worms, whether they are infested or not; an anthelmintic
would make sure, and could hardly hurt them.
For the expulsion of tape-worms we depend mostly on areca-nut. In
order that the tape-worm should receive the full benefit of the remedy,
we order a dose of castor oil the day before in the morning, and
recommend no food to be given that day except beef-tea or mutton broth.
The bowels are thus empty next morning, so that the parasite cannot
shelter itself anywhere, and is therefore sure to be acted on.
Infusion of cusco is sometimes used as an anthelmintic, so is wormwood,
and the liquid extract of male fern, and in America spigelia root and
pumpkin seeds.
The best tonic to give in cases of worms is the extract of quassia.
Extract of quassia, 1 to 10 grains; extract of hyoscyamus, 1/2 to 5
grains. To make one pill. Thrice daily.
More
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