Dog Asthma

ASTHMA in dogs. This is a common disease and a most distressing complaint its victims being mostly found among house pets and toy dogs that have been overfed with a too rich diet and a lack of exercise.

Dog Asthma

ASTHMA in dogs. This is a common disease and a most distressing complaint its victims being mostly found among house pets and toy dogs that have been overfed with a too rich diet, and lack of exercise as well. Almost every toy dog so improperly cared for and fed will develop asthma as they get along in years. The grossness of body induces and fosters it and often causes as well a kind of scurvy mange, the coat feeling harsh and dry with a rough and dirty look. The symptoms are distressing paroxysms of coughing with great difficulty in breathing, which occur frequently. The symptoms exhibited are due to thickening of the mucus lining of the trachea and bronchial tubes which by lessening the calibre of the respiratory tract interferes with the act of breathing which is attended by a loud, wheezing noise. The blood is imperfectly aereated and the visible mucous membranes congested and dark in color. Pugs and aged spaniels seem predisposed to asthmatic troubles, which, while not usually fatal, do not prove amenable to treatment.

An important feature of the treatment is attention to the diet, which should be of a non-stimulating character. First relieve the animal by giving the following antispasmotic drops: Compound spirits of sulphuric ether and tincture of opium, equal parts, which keep in a cool place and well corked. The dose for a 15-lb. To 30-lb. Dog would be a small teaspoonful in a couple of tablespoonfuls of gruel or milk. This, however, only relieves and does not cure. The dog must now have frequent doses of a brisk aperient, and a pill of the following prescription will be found very beneficial given every night lor a while:

Podophyllin 6 grains

Compound extract of colocynth 30 grains

Powdered rhubard 48 grains

Extract of henbane .... 36 grains

Mix and divide into twenty-four pills.

Small breeds such as pugs or toy poodles give half of one of these .pills. A little warm broth after the pill will assist its action. Feed rather oftener than you do your well dogs but in small quantities. Make dog take more exercise every day, which will cause him to more readily eat coarser food. The chance of a complete cure i not encouraging in a confirmed or chronic case, but the regular use of the following pills will have a wonderful effect in counteracting severe paroxysms:

Powdered ipecacuanha 6 grains

Powdered opium 6 grains

Compound squill pill 24 grains

Powdered gum ammoniacum 24 grains

Powdered licorice 24 grains

Powdered rhubard 12 grains

Mix and make into twenty-four pills.

The dose for a 15-lb. To 40-lb. Dog must be cne pill morning and night. Smaller than 15-lbs. Half a pill.

Whenever severe fits of coughing with difficuty of breathing occur, if the antispasmodic drops mentioned in first of article are not handy, chlorodine may be given in the same way as the drops, the dose being from twenty to thirty drops. Much relief can be given to asthmatical dogs by confining them in a close box or kennel and filling it with the smoke of thorn apple. This may be done twice a day, but care should be taken with such patients that they are not exposed to any sudden change of temperature, whether from heat or cold, or the reverse.

Or, in place of this during acute attacks when the breathing is very labored, relief may be obtained by inhalations of the fumes of burning tar, resin or creosote.

An asthmatic form of breathing is frequently found in connection with tumors involving the respiratory tract. Such cases are incurable and it is the most merclful procedure to put the animal to a painless death.

Harry W. Lacy has the following to say as to asthma, and I append it also for the benefit it may do:

"Asthma is a very common ailment among .sporting dogs, and is brought on by repeated exposure, followed by inattention. If the simple duty of making a dog comfortable be attended to at the close of each day's work, there need be little fear of anything like this ensuing. It is not actually the exposure to the weather that causes a dog to have lung trouble, because when a" dog is out exposed he is constantly on the move, and the circulation keeps up, so that it is not possible for him to contract a chill; but the chill is contracted when the animal returns home and lies down in a wet condition. Then the blood ceases to circulate as rapidly as during exercise, and the animal becomes shivery and a cold develops. This repeated a few times more or less will end in a cough, and asthma will ensue.

When once a dog has suffered from an attack of asthma there always remains with him a predisposition to a renewal ol the trouble. It is a most distressing complaint, and in the case of an animal like the dog, which leads, or should lead an active outdoor life, it is almost impossible to effect a parmanent cure. Asthma differs from bronchitis in several ways. It conies on in paroxysm*, which gradually get worse and worse, until finally the animal is suffocated. The treatment usually adopted consists in placing the animal in a room or chamber where a kettle is constantly boiling, so that the atmosphere is kept continually moist as moist warmth does as much good as anything to give relief in such cases. As regards medicine, some of the ordinary cough remedies may be tried, the best thing perhaps being mixture of oxymel or> squill and glycerine, in equal parts, to which, a little paregoric elixir is added. The dog should have this about three times a day."

Another very good thing to do in connection with any treatment you use is, cut up an onion small and fine, anoint with a drop or two (no more or it will blister) of kerosene is excellent for asthma and bronchitis.

This, then put into a cotton cloth and tied around the dog's neck will afford relief in breathing. The onion should be renewed by a fresh one every day.

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