In the treatment of medicated baths, usually composed of that most evil-smelling compound liver of sulphur and water--in professional language, "a sulphuretted potash solution"--I own I have little or no faith. A plain sulphur ointment is twice as efficacious, far easier to apply, and has no disagreeable smell; while, if well rubbed into the skin, as it and other skin ointments should be, and not left in the hair, it is not in any way unpleasant.
In all cases where skin trouble is accompanied by a strong and most unpleasant smell, mange (either follicular, or, more commonly, sarcoptic), may be suspected. The latter is easier to cure than many forms of eczema, but it is absolutely needful to keep the patient smothered in a dressing of sweet oil and sulphur, than which there is nothing better, for several days, then to wash and dress again; and such cases are not suitable for home treatment, although no veterinary surgeon should be permitted to apply strong dressings like paraffin, mercurial ointment, or tar (otherwise creosote) to delicate toys. Mercurial dressings, in all cases, are rank poison, the absorption of the drug into the system having fatal effects for the future.
Follicular mange, in which the insect causing the trouble burrows deep, is a horrible disease, about the worst a dog can have, and here skilled veterinary assistance cannot be dispensed with. But it is safe for the amateur, in all cases of commencing skin trouble, where there is no smell and the bare patches do not spread rapidly, to use the phenyl lotion or sulphur or Kanofelin ointment, according to the state of the skin, and to begin the more important internal treatment by a complete change of diet.
A very dry or confined diet, certain meals, as oatmeal or Indian corn meals, either in biscuits or otherwise; too little food; more rarely too much; absence of meat from the dietary, or too little of it; as before, but very rarely too much--these are all incentives to skin trouble, while heredity has much to say to a tendency thereto.
A dog which has not been having much meat, but has been chiefly fed on dog biscuit, may, on the appearance of skin irritation, be given plenty of good, underdone meat--roast mutton, sheep's head, and bullock's heart, all being very suitable. In no case of skin disease should either oatmeal or Indian corn be given; and sea air should be avoided, as it is always aggravating to skin troubles. Tripe is nourishing and very digestible, and fresh fish suits most of the invalids very well. Together with the entire change of diet--the hours for meals need not, of course, be altered--a course of iron and cod liver oil is always well worth trying. Personally, I pin my faith to the following method, which I have known most successful in difficult cases, and which, as I can say of the other remedies advised in this little book, can do no harm. Powerful drugs are often a source of danger in inexperienced hands, and a good many of the medicines one sees advised are, so to speak, extremely speculative.