Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1894 — DOCTORING ANIMALS. [ARTICLE]

DOCTORING ANIMALS.

Wk*n Sick or Injured Ferocious Boosts Loss Courage. Hospitals for animals are novelties in their way, and scenes witnessed there frequently quicken our sympathy with the brute world as life in the wards of a human hospital brings us into closer touch with forlorn humanity, says a writer in Our Animal Friends. When a man is ill we get a different glimpse of his nature, and the same is true of suffering animals. We can study them to better advantage than when they are strong, frisky, and overflowing with spirits. Medicine and surgery have of late years alleviated much pain among animals, and veterinary science is broadening into new avenues every year. Formerly it was considered impossible to heal the fractured leg of an animal, or to administer medicine to it internally when suffering from disease. Now cats, dogs, horses, wild animals, and, in fact, all creatures that are useful and pleasurable to man, have surgeons and physicians who study their ailments as carefully as if they were human patients. Generally speaking an animal loses heart when it gets sick or breaks a bone, and one of the greatest things against which these animal physicians have to contend is the depressing influence of melancholy on their patients. Many thousands of dollars are lost annually by ostrichfarmers because the birds break their legs and pine away and die. Nothing seems to revive their courage, and they actually grow weak and sick from discouragement. A cat or dog 1 shows this same inclination to moan and pine away when injured severely, but in a much lesser degree than the ostrich. Sickness breaks the spirit of the proudest and most ferocious animal. In the wards of the hospital the sick lion or tiger will drop its head between its paws and scarcely notices intruders. It is quite safe then for almost any one to enter the cage, and sometimes it becomes necessary to prod the creatures in order to rouse them. To enrage them is frequently the best tonic that can be administered. They all naturally object to taking medicine, and many schemes are often resorted to before it can be introduced into their stomachs. Tempting morsels of food, with the medicine deftly concealed inside, are given to them, and after they have swallowed it there is a look of disgust in their eyes that makes one am. le. But when they get so Biok as to refuse all food, medicine has to be literally forced upon them. Their mouths are pried open, and held there until the medicine is poured down their throats.

For the larger animals, such as we find in our menageries, regular straitjackets and slings of great power are arranged, by means of which the heads of the creatures, when si«k, are thrown back, and their mouths are opened until the medicine is administered. When a lion breaks his leg, he has not sufficient intelligence to let the surgeons set it, and after it is set he will not keep quiet enough to let it heal. At such times the animals are bound in powerful slings so that they have to remain in an easy position; and the injured leg is kept quiet until the broken bone has knit together again. Elephants, bears, tigers, and other wild animals of our menageries, are treated in the same way. Monkeys will frequently tear the bandages from .a wound, and when sick they have to be confined in some gentle way. They seem to be unable to comprehend the meaning of the white bandages bound around them; but a little force and firmness often quiets them, and they gradually begin to understand that surgeons are t heir friends. The affection which these suffering creatures show toward their benefactors when they begin to Improve is sufficient reward for all the trouble. There is nothing more touching than the affectionate greeting which a well-bred dpg will give to a surgeon who comes daily to inspect his injuries. He will lick his kind friend’s hands and face and grow so wild with joy that the surgeon must use strong words to make him keep quiet. Even small, sick monkeys will stop their moaning and give squeaks of pleasure as their medical friends enter the cage. They will sometimes point in a most laughable way to their stomachs, as if to tell the doctor of the terrible feelings that they have down there. Sometimes it seems as if they were appealing for more of the medicine which relieved them before. Cats show their affection by purring loudly. When sick these domestic pets become very affectionate and love to curl up in the lap of their owner, moaning or whining piteously, as if asking for human relief. It is well known that dogs, when ill, will hurry to their masters and follow them closely, as if loath to be left alone to die. Birds are no less affectionate to those who help them. Wild birds that are picked up with broken legs or wings will resent any curtailment of their liberty, but if they are taken and cared for tenderly until the injured limb grows strong, they show their regard for their benefactor in many ways. They will grow tame and fond of their friend, and many instances are on record in which birds of passage have migrated annually to see their human physician. Birds are less demonstrative than animals, as a rule, when a limb is broken, and they will remain quiet enough until the bone is cured. It is not ■ necessary to place them in a swing, with the exception of a few species.