If, after a couple of minutes' trial, he does not succeed, let him again
oil the eye on the inside and the out, and once more introduce the blunt
end of the needle, attempting to carry it upwards under the lid with two
or three fingers pressing on the eye, and the points of pressure being
frequently changed. In by far the greater number of cases, the eye will
be saved.
If it is impracticable to cause the eye to retract, a needle with a
thread attached must be passed through it, the eye being then drawn as
forward as possible and cut off close to the lids. The bleeding will
soon cease and the lids perfectly close.
'Ophthalmia' is a disease to which the dog is often liable. It is the
result of exposure either to heat or to cold, or violent exertion; it is
remedied by bleeding, purging, and the application of sedative medicine,
as the acetate of lead or the tincture of opium. When the eye is
considerably inflamed, in addition to the application of tepid or cold
water, either the inside of the lids or the white of the eye may be
lightly touched with the lancet. From exposure to cold, or accident or
violence, inflammation often spreads on the eye to a considerable
degree, the pupil is clouded, and small streaks of blood spread over the
opaque cornea. The mode of treatment just described must be pursued.
The crystalline lens occasionally becomes opaque. There is cataract. It
may be the result of external injury or of internal predisposition. Old
dogs are particularly subject to cataract. That which arises from
accident, or occasionally disease, may, although seldom, be reinstated,
especially in the young dog, and both eyes may become sound; but, in the
old, the slow-growing opacity will, almost to a certainty, terminate in
cataract.
There is occasionally an enlargement of the eye, or rather an
accumulation of fluid within the eye, to a very considerable extent. No
external application seems to have the slightest effect in reducing the
bulk of the eye. If it is punctured, much inflammation ensues, and the
eye gradually wastes away.
In 'amaurosis', the eye is beautifully clear, and, for a little while,
this clearness imposes upon the casual observer; but there is a peculiar
pellucid appearance about the eye--a preternatural and unchanging
brightness. In the horse, the sight occasionally returns, but I have
never seen this in the dog.
The occasional glittering of the eyes of the dog has been often
observed. The cat, the wolf, some carnivora, and also sheep, cows, and
horses, occasionally exhibit the same glittering. Pallas imagined that
the light of these animals emanated from the nervous membrane of the
eye, and considered it to be an electrical phenomenon. It is found,
however, in every animal that possesses a 'tapetum lucidum'. The
shining, however, never takes place in complete darkness. It is neither
produced voluntarily, nor in consequence of any moral emotion, but
solely from the reflection that falls on the eye.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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