Mild cases of eczema are not difficult to bring under control, but those of long-standing demand perseverance. If skin scaly, use tar ointment daily.
A common situation for these to make their appearance is upon or between the toes.
Frequently they are very troublesome, appearing and reappearing.
The best treatment is to poultice freely with hot linseed meal, and if at all tardy in healing, paint with Friar's Balsam.
Keep feet very clean, soaking in hot water at each time of removal of poultice.
Give a dose of Epsom salts, and don't allow dog to run about without a leather boot for a few days, or at anyrate until the sores have become perfectly healed. A little powdered boracic acid powder can be dusted upon the sore places. For drawing sores turpentine ointment is very useful.
By this term we mean an eruption of vesicles or small blisters in groups upon an inflamed skin. These blisters are larger than those of eczema. It is not uncommon to see them around the lips during an attack of distemper, causing the mouth to become extremely sore and painful. In ringworm, the patch is of a kindred nature, though contagious.
This complaint is characterised by the sudden appearance of numerous wheals or elevations upon various parts of the skin, causing a burning and itching sensation, provoking the dog to bite and scratch the parts affected.
Generally these wheals disappear as suddenly as they came, though now and again some are very stationary.
The best treatment comprises the administration of a 5-grain blue pill and the application of a little vinegar and water to the irritable patches.
=External Parasites and Parasitic Skin Diseases=
FLEAS--PEDICULI OR LICE--RINGWORM--SARCOPTIC MANGE--FOLLICULAR MANGE
During the warm weather more particularly, fleas are a source of great annoyance to dogs, and frequently to their owners, more especially if the animal be kept in the house.
Owing to the rapid multiplication of fleas, dogs that are not regularly groomed or washed, soon become swarmed with these pests, consequently the severe irritation they produce upon the skin causes the animal to lose condition, whilst the scratching and biting destroys its coat. Regularity of washing, both dog and kennel, constitutes the best means of checking these pests.