Jaundice, while it is the term frequently used to indicate a disease, is only a symptom of a disease, as evidenced by the yellow coloration of the mucous membrane of the eyes, and even, in severe cases, of the skin over the surface of the body and of the discharges. Jaundice is due to a disease of the liver, which may be either a temporary congestion or a chronic anatomical change in the structure of the liver, which in either case interferes with the function of this organ, and prevents its eliminating the bile, which is a waste product of the blood. This bile, then, not being carried off by its natural emunctory, must find some exit from the body, and is carried to the surface of the mucous membranes and skin, which are more important excretory glands for waste matter than they are usually given credit for. In case of congestion of the liver, examination of the right-hand side of the body, just under and behind the last ribs, will show a tumor or swelling, and a certain degree of tenderness, according to the acuteness of the congestion.

In case of chronic disease of the liver, hypertrophy or cirrhosis, the liver may be enlarged or diminished in size. The liver may also be affected with hydatids or other parasites, which produce similar symptoms.

In cases of constipation an examination should be made of the rectum, and a thorough examination of the abdomen should be made by manipulating the walls until the contents can be felt; for constipation in the cat is in the majority of cases due to a mechanical obstruction. I have at various times found this obstruction to be a bone which has been swallowed, bits of coal, pebbles, or a button which has been swallowed and acted as a nucleus for the accumulation of food around it, or balls of hair, called ægagropila, which have been made by the felting of the hair which the cat has licked off of its own sides. In one case the obstruction was a small fish-hook, which had passed through the entire length of the intestinal tract, and had lodged within an inch of the orifice of the anus. In this case I judged that the point of the hook had been protected during its first passage in a bit of hard fish-gill, which only had become absorbed, leaving the point free when it had nearly been passed. If any obstruction is found it should be removed, and the evacuation of the accumulated matter hastened by a dose of one or two tablespoonsful of castor-oil, or a somewhat larger quantity of syrup of buckthorn.

The intestine of the cat is such a simple tube that by careful manipulation almost any obstruction can be worked down.

In case of diarrhoea the diet must be regulated from the outset. The animal can be given, at intervals of two hours, a powder made of one-eighth grain of calomel and five grains of saccharated pepsin. It should also be given small doses (thirty drops to one teaspoonful) of syrup of buckthorn, which, by stimulating the secretion from the surface of the intestine, relieves its congested condition. Should the diarrhoea be more severe, or become chronic, and be mixed with blood, tending to dysentery, or should the animal seem to be in much pain, as shown by its cries, and by tenderness upon pressure over the belly, give thirty-drop doses of paregoric, with teaspoonful doses of the mixture of chalk (Mistura Creta). This can be repeated every two, three, or four hours, according to the continued severity or the subsidence of the symptoms. In chronic cases, also, which tend to debilitate the animal, a half-teaspoonful dose of brandy can be added to the other treatment.

In jaundice the calomel must be used in one-tenth or one-twelfth grain doses, with a few grains of saccharated pepsin, given once every hour for a period of twelve or eighteen hours, and then followed by a full dose of castor-oil, or, perhaps preferably, by a purgative dose of sulphate of soda (thirty grains to one table-spoonful of water). Then for a day or two keep the animal on a moderate diet of milk, with a half-teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda in each saucer of water; and at the end of that time the calomel can be repeated in the same doses, at an hour's interval each, for eight or ten hours.