This is an affection to which dogs are very subject

This is an affection to which dogs are very subject

This is an affection to which dogs are very subject

Colic. This is an affection to which dogs are very subject. The human infant is not more liable to be griped than are the young of the canine species. The idea of a cur with a belly-ache may, to some persons, seem to be suggestive of fun; but to the creature that suffers, it is indeed a serious business. A duchess with the spasms does not endure so much, and is not in half the danger, that a dog is exposed to during a fit of gripes. The animal must be relieved, or inflammation will speedily ensue, and death will follow. In some cases, the appearance of colic is almost a certain indication that the poor beast will die. When it comes on a week or two prior to pupping, we may cure it; but during, or soon after parturition, the bitch generally perishes. When it starts up in the later or more virulent stage of distemper, especially at the time when the champing of the jaw denotes the approach of fits, the chance of a favorable termination to the disease is materially diminished. When in a violent form it attacks a litter of puppies, either simultaneously or consecutively, it is always attended with danger. At no season, and under no circumstances, is it trivial, and never ought it to be neglected. The cries and distress of the suffering animal will, when it is fully established, enforce attention; but too often it has then proceeded so far that much medicine will not check what in the first instance a single dose might have entirely banished.