s.

When a dog is prostrated by this affliction, it must on no account be
suffered to remain on the floor, where its limbs would speedily become
excoriated, being forcibly moved upon the boards; anything placed beneath
the animal to save the limbs, would be saturated with the urine and faeces
the poor beast is necessitated to pass. The best bed in such cases is made
of a slanting piece of woodwork, of sufficient size to allow the animal to
lie with ease at full length. The planks composing the wooden stage must
be placed apart, be pierced with numerous holes, have the edges rounded,
and be elevated at one end so as to allow all moisture readily to run
off. The wood must be covered with a quantity of straw; which sort of
bedding is convenient, not only because it allows the water to speedily
percolate through it, but because it is warm, and being cheap, permits of
repeated change.

Physic is not of much avail in this disorder; kind nursing and mild food
will do more towards recovery. Still, medicine, as an accessory, may be of
considerable service, and in a secondary view deserves honorable mention.
Alkalies, sedatives, and vegetable bitters, may be combined in various
forms. The author's favorite sedative in stomach diseases is hyoscyamus,
and alkali potash. For a bitter, quassia is a very good one; better than
gentian, a small amount of the extract of which, however, may be used to
make up the pill. When speaking of the pill, the most important ingredient
must not be forgotten--I mean nux vomica. Some people employ strychnia,
but such persons more often kill than cure their patients. Strychnia in
any doses, however minute, is a violent poison to the dog. While at
college I beheld animals killed with it; and there does not live the
person who knows how to render this agent safe to the dog. Nux vomica,
even, must be used in very minute doses, to be entirely safe--from a
quarter of a grain to a small pup, to two grains to the largest animal.
That quantity must be continued for a week, four pills being given daily;
then add a quarter of a grain daily to the four larger pills, and a
quarter of a grain every four days to all the smaller ones; keep on
increasing the amount, till the physiological effects of the drug, as
they are called, become developed. These consist in the beast having that
which uninformed people term "a fit." He lies upon the ground, uttering
rather loud cries, whilst every muscle of his body is in motion