The dog can fast for a great number of days

The dog can fast for a great number of days

The dog can fast for a great number of days

The dog can fast for a great number of days. Abstinence for forty-eight hours seldom injures it; but it is a practice which ought not to be too frequently adopted, as by its repetition the digestion is weakened. One meal, however, is sufficient, in every case, for the twenty-four hours. Animals not worked, but kept as favourites, or allowed only to range at pleasure, should not have any meat, nor be permitted to consume any large quantity of fatty substances. Butter, fat, or grease, soon renders the skin of the dog diseased and its body gross. Milk, fine bread, cakes, or sugar, are better far for children, and can be on the human race bestowed with advantage; while given to the brute they are apt to generate disorders, which a long course of medicine will not in every case eradicate. Beer, wine, or spirits, all of which the dog can be induced to drink, show rather the master's ignorance than the creature's liking. Nice food, or that which a human being would so consider, is in fact not fitted to support the dog in health. It may appear offensive to ladies when they behold their favourites gorge rankly, but Nature has wisely ordained that her numerous children should, by their difference of appetite, consume the produce of earth. The dog, therefore, can enjoy and thrive upon that which man thinks of with disgust; but our reason sees in this circumstance no facts worthy of our exclamation. The animal seeking the provender its Creator formed its appetite to relish, is not necessarily filthy or unclean; but could dogs write books, probably the opinions of these beasts upon many of the made dishes and tit-bits of the fashionable circles, would be opposed to the ideas which delicate epicures entertain concerning such luxurious fare. The spaniel which, bloated with sweets, escapes from the drawing-room to amuse itself with a blackened bone picked from a dung-hill, follows but the inclination of its kind; and while tearing with its teeth the dirt-begrimed morsels, it is, according to its nature, daintily employed. Could we read its thoughts, probably the perverse little pet, even while it is provoking its mistress's horror, is reflecting upon the nasty trash which the human stomach can endure, and upon the tempting relishes which mankind know not, like dogs, how to appreciate. An occasional bone and a little dirt are beneficial to the canine race, while food nicely minced and served on plates is calculated to do harm. Such keep fattens to excess, destroys activity, renders the bowels costive, and causes the teeth to be encrusted with tartar.