PREVENTION OF HYDATIDS

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22656, 10 March 1939, Page 12

PREVENTION OF HYDATIDS

COMPLAINTS ABOUT TREATMENT EFFECT OF ARECOLINE v ON DOGS RESEARCH OFFICER’S REPLY As letters to "The Press” and complaints to several local authorities show, owners of dogs in the city are becoming seriously perturbed about the effects which the administration of the anti-hydatid drug, arecoline, is having on their dogs. The Christchurch 'City Council, the Agricultural Department, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are receiving numerous complaints. One specific complaint, giving exact details of the. condition of treated dogs, his been sent on to the Internal Affairs Department. It was explained for the Christchurch City Council that the council could not accept responsibility for any after-effects following the administration of the drug, as it was merely acting for the Internal Affairs Department, which was conducting the campaign, and which issued the instructions. It is considered in official quarters that the instructions given with the issue of the drug are insufficient, in that they do not prescribe for a great enough variety in type, character, and condition of dogs, and that the administration of the campaign ought to be in the hands of experts of the Department of Health, the Department of Agriculture, or of the Society for (he Prevention pi Cruelty to Animals. Owner’s Warning One prominent owner of dogs. Mrs I. M. Wheeley, declared emphatically to “The Press” that owners would be well advised, in the circumstances, to refuse to administer the arecoline tablets; until further information is . received. Mi's Wheeley’s complaint is the one that has been forwarded on to the Internal Affairs Department for' investigation. She sgid that she used the tablets, according to the instructions, on three dogs. Two became very ill, and one was slightly ill. Had her husband not known a great deal about the, subject, she did not think she could have saved them, "One of my dogs, a champion in Canterbury shows more than once, is now ruined for show purposes,” Mrs Wheeley said, "and is not likely to be any good again. I and my husband have kept dogs for 40 years and I feel I should warn every owner not to give this arecoline to dogs. Mine were in perfect agony for two hours.” Surgeon’s View Mr Wheeley said that he bad used arecoline for many years on dogs, but in smaller doses. He did not give it by the method instructed by the department, but in meat. He had consulted a veterinary surgeon, who advised him that, from the symptoms described, his' dogs had suffered after the doses from arecoline poisoning. It was all important to know as soon as possible the quantity and strength .of the arecoline in the tablets. More explicit instructions were necessary. In any case, Mr V/heeley said, he had found more successful anti-hydatids treatments than arecoline. Specific Cases Other prominent breeders and animal. experts have had similar results. Mr and Mr? H. D. Webb, of Prebbleton, have had specific cases submitted to them, they said, of damage done to dogs. Mrs Webb stated that they had to deal with the case of a small dog that after treatment swelled up like a balloon. It aid not die, but lost its hair, and was only saved by a "stiff fight.” “The trouble about the dose distributed through the local authorities is that the amount of the arecoline in the tablet is not specified,” Mrs Webb said. "Arecoline used the right, way has the finest effects; that is, if the chemist’s dose is used. We have had cases of sick dogs being ill with the dose we use, but fit dogs take the chemist’s tablet without trouble.”

Mr Webb stated that he had never known of a fit dog being killed eleven harmed in any way when the dose from the chemists had been properly administered. The amount of the dose he used was specified as three-eighths of a grain of arecoline, to be used for djfigs from 40-451b. Smaller dogs required less. It was very important to find out as soon as possible the amount of arecoline in the Government tablets now being issued. Comment By Authority

Dr. E. W. Bennett, of the Department of Hydatid Research and Prevention. Dunedin, who is at present in Christchurch, said last night that the alleged adverse effects of arecoline on dogs was not in accordance with his own very extensive experience with the drug, provided, of course, that the printed instructions given out with the supplies of arecoline were followed. It was important to use the right amount and the right method. .... Dr. Bennett said he was willing to investigate any case of drastic reactions in ’ dogs, and would endeavour to assist owners who might have had trouble by demonstrating the correct method and the dose for each dog. This service would be free of charge, but within-reasonable limits the cases would be inquired into if owners would leave their names and addresses and telephone numbers, if any,' either with the Department of Health,, the Department of Agriculture, or at the private telephone number, 30-215.

This should be done to-day or to-mor-row, at the latest. “If the .effects have been as stated, it will bg necessary to modify the scheme," said Dr. Bennett. “It is not my intention to dispute any genuine cases, but to assist owners of dogs in treating them in the "way that is necessary. In other centres, these. adverse comments have not been made, but there have been abundant expressions of surprise both at the efficiency of arecoline in removing worms from dogs, and at the obvious necessity for such treatment. There -are no doubt plenty of owners in Christchurch who have realised through the use of arecoline that dogs are urgently in need of treatment for these parasites, for the sake of the dogs as well as for the protection of human beings from diseases spread b/ them.”