ECZEMA IN DOGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2603, 3 February 1904, Page 50

ECZEMA IN DOGS.

Recently I have received several communications respecting the above disease. A synopsis of the malady amd suggestive treatment by "Cockspur," an Australian expert, may therefore prove useful to those whose dogs suffer from this common but troublesome canine skin disease. Eczema is a common disease among dogs, and often very troublesome to treat. It is commonly mistaken for mange, though having for its cause a different origin, and the remedies having nothing in common. It comes on usually without any preliminary symptoms, though a very careful observer might notice feverishness and restlessness before the skin becomes reddened — which is commonly the first thing noticed — all along the belly, thighs, under the arms, and other parts of the body. This intense redness is followed b.'- the appearance of numerous small ■vesicles or bladders, which vary in size i<n different attacks, and, when associated with, distemper, often have a distinct character, of which I will presently speak.

The vesicles contain a thin, watery fluid, and not pus or matter ; they break, coalesce, and form scabby masses, which often cause further irritation to the surrounding sound skin, and so produce a confluent mass, which may easily be mistaken for a burn or scald, but which has its origin, in the vehicular eruption known as eczema. It should be clearly distinguished from

mange, either of the sarcopic or follicular variety, the latter being both parasitic in their origin, and only to be cured by remedies that will destroy the "living varmints." Indigestion or errors of diet account for nearly all attacks of eczema, though many persons are difficult to convince on the point, and much acrimonious correspondence ha* been produced by veterinary surgeons objecting to making any one dog biscuit the sole diet for a lomg period. There are a great many theories and no little prejudice in this matter of dog feeding, and we think, as the result of observations, that dogs thrive best on a mixed diet. The notion is supported by a compromise between nature and art. Nature provides dogs with teeth of a character destined only for flesh eating, while domestication makes it undesirable to give meat alone. Eczema in the dog, it is quoted by high authorities, appears to be accompanied with general acidity, and alkaline bicarbonates amd saline aperients have proved the most valuable remedies. In a simple case an aperient such as the time-honoured syrup of buckthorn and olive oi 1 , rather than castor oil, which is sucl? 1 a bother to administer, to be followed up by a mixture of bicarb-potash, .sulphate and syrup-rochadus should prove satisfactory. Chronic eczema is more difficult to treat, as it too often happens that the subject is a pet dog, indulged with sugar and pastry, or "stuffed" with meat, to the exclusion of all other food, and after a course of salines as already recommended, we would say carefully wash the dog and gently dry him, then smear him well with ung. zinc, ox., made soft and thin by tho addition of olive oil. A cooling dressing is the following : Liq. potassae ldr, olive oil 9oz, liq. plumbi 4dr.

Chronic cases sometimes yie-ld to arsenic given in the food ox drink.