Treatment Of The Suckling Bitch

For the first few days the food should consist of strong broth, bread and milk, oatmeal porridge and milk, and such like food, with but very little meat, and all should be given slightly warm. Prom the first, however, well boiled paunch, being easy of digestion and assimilation, may be given, and one or two meals of boiled bullock's liver is beneficial, acting mildly on the bowels.

On the day after pupping she should be enticed out or taken out for a short time, that she may empty herself, and she should then be offered food, and each day she should be kept a little longer from the pups, as the exercise taken is necessary and beneficial to her, and increases her milk. She will, as the pups grow, require more food, which should be given oftener and contain a larger proportion of meat, but no sudden change to a meat diet should be made, or it will be likely, confined as she is, to cause surfeit, and not unlikely even more serious consequences.

A little fresh hay should be added to the nest occasionally; and when the puppies have got their eyes open, take advantage of the dam being out at exercise to change the bed entirely, cleaning the place thoroughly, and sprinkling with a little Sanitas or Condy's fluid properly diluted.

If one or more of the teats appear to be blind or to have got dammed up, it should be freely bathed with warm water daily, or twice a day, and then well rubbed with camphorated oil or marshmallow ointment.

Where the puppies are the result of a me'salliance, or from other causes it is not desirable to rear them, that wish should be sacrificed in humanity to the poor mother. The maternal instincts in the dog are remarkably strong, and it is a most cruel thing to rob her of her puppies, so that at least one or two should always be left for her to nurse. Another reason for this is, that with no puppies to draw the milk from her she runs great risk of milk fever and the formation of tumours in the teats.

Nowadays, however, there are always plenty of pure bred puppies it is desired to rear, and whose owners are glad of the services of a foster mother, and if these are substituted for her own her attentions and affections are soon transferred to the adopted ones, and no harm done.

Treatment Of Pups In The Nest

I am often consulted as to treatment of pups in the nest when they are suffering from various ailments, but I think it foolish to force medicine down the throats of puppies at that age.

In cases of purging, the finger, smeared with milk, which has been thickened with prepared chalk, may be placed in the pup's mouth, when the mixture will probably be swallowed and tend to check the diarrhoea. Sometimes this is brought on by the pups being kept too close and warm. Whatever may be the matter with the pups at that early age, it is better to give the mother a mild aperient and vary the diet than to physic them.

When they begin to crawl about, it is a good plan, where it can be done, to have alongside the nest a boarded floor, such as an old door or some such thing, on which is nailed a bit of old carpet or sacking. The pups, getting a good foothold on this, can creep about easily.

In breeds in which the tail is usually docked this should be done whilst the pups are still with the mother, and it is well to remove dew claws then also. The pain caused is very slight, and the mother's tongue has the effect of healing and comforting the wounds.

Weanmg Pups

When the dam is strong and has a sufficiency of milk the pups should not be weaned before six weeks. All of them should, for some time, have been able to lap well, and even to eat meat and milk, thick porridge, broth, etc.; but it is a mistake to give very young pups meat at once on being weaned. That food should be gradually adopted, a little only, torn into thin shreds, being first given, for they have not the power of digesting it except in minute quantities.

As the time for weaning approaches the time3 of the bitch's absence from them should be daily more and more prolonged.

Foster Mothers

It is not an uncommon idea that the foster mother affects the mental qualities and temperament of the pups, but there is no ground for it; the milk of the foster mother and of the dam, if they are both healthy, will answer the same to chemical analysis. The after education the pup receives will affect the dog's temper, manners, and ability for his special work, but the milk that nourishes him affects his physical development only.

When a foster mother has to be selected, see that she is in perfect health, and quite clean, free from vermin, etc, and she should not be old, for then the milk is rarely so good in quality or sufficient in quantity. Smooth-coated bitches are preferable for this purpose.

To get a bitch to take to the aliens a little patience and tact must be used. If she is kept away from her own pups for a time, until the udder is full of milk, she will be more likely to let the strange pup suck, as it will relieve her; or she may be cheated into accepting the strangers by putting them, one at a time, whilst she is kept away, in the nest with her own, and in this way gradually removing her own and substituting the others. In any case watch her behaviour to the stranger; if she licks it all is well, but if she treats it as an intruder she should be muzzled or held; but this is rarely needed if plenty of time is taken, and patience and gentleness exercised.

Feeding Puppies

On the feeding the growth and health of the puppies largely depends. I find them thrive best on a varied diet, everything I give being well cooked, except that occasionally I give a little sound lean beef or mutton raw, and this I find, if not overdone, of great benefit to weak puppies. It should be given finely minced to young ones.

Cows' milk, it has been contended, produces worms in puppies if given unboiled. I have never found a single person holding this opinion who could produce a shred of proof in support of it, and I think it a theory most unlikely to be correct. Cows are, unlike dogs, very little subject to worms, and if they were, I doubt very much if the milk is at all a likely secretion in which to meet with the embryo of these parasites. I have no doubt, however, that cows' milk is often too rich for the assimilative powers of puppies and makes them ill when given undiluted.

Oatmeal porridge, stale bread, puppy biscuits, with milk, or broth from sheeps' heads, rough bones, or pieces of lean meat, a few green vegetables being added, generally suit puppies well; and a little bit of dry biscuit and a rough bone too big for them to break, to play with and exercise their teeth on, is also beneficial.

For the first three or four months they should be fed four times a day, letting them at each meal eat as much as they will but removing any food remaining as soon as they appear satisfied.

The dishes should be thoroughly cleansed after each meal; clean cold water should be always within their reach. The antiquated practice of putting a lump of roll brimstone in the water has no practical value, the sulphur being as insoluble as a paving stone.

Fresh air, sunshine, and exercise are as necessary to healthy development as good food and water. The kennel yard should slope so as to be kept dry; a southern aspect is the best. A few empty champagne cases turned upside down make good seats for them to mount, and the pups like to play hide and seek round them and get good exercise in clambering over or jumping on to them.

Occasional runs in field or lane, where the pups can get couch grass, is beneficial, besides which the change is in itself good for them.

Weak legs and tendency to rickets is best corrected by the above means, but as an aid lime water (a wineglassful to half a pint of milk), given daily, and Parish's syrup of phosphates, called by the druggists "chemical food," given two or three times a day, often does great good. Cod liver oil is prescribed very much at random. It should not be given to puppies except in debility; it fattens too much, and a fat heavy pup is apt to go wrong in the legs.

Vermin

Puppies are very often preyed on by parasites living on or in the skin. Leaving out the parasites of mange, they are pestered by fleas, and also, although not so generally, by lice and ticks; the two former living on, the latter partially burrowing in, the skin.

Regular search should be made for these, especially if a puppy is seen to scratch himself much, which, if the parasites become numerous, he will do till the skin is broken and nasty sores are formed.

Spratts patent dog soap, which has the advantage of being absolutely free from poison, is the best and the pleasantest to use I have tried; it kills all three parasites named. Field's medicated dog soap is also very effectual, but has the trifling disadvantage of being dark in colour. I object to carbolic acid soaps, as they poison by absorption, several such instances having come under my own observation.

Perfect cleanliness in the kennel is the best preventive of parasites in the pups.

Removal Of Dew Claws

This is best done when the puppies are still with the mother. All breeds of dogs have these extra toes. In some cases there is a bony attachment, in others the dew claw is held by a loose ligament. The nail may be drawn out with a pair of small pincers, or cut off close to the leg with a pair of sharp shears; the latter is the cleaner process.

Cropping The Ears

This is done when the puppy is about seven or eight months old. To make a neat job of it, cut a piece of paper the exact shape it is desired the ears shall be; spread on this some Canada balsam, or a charge made as follows: Canada balsam, 2½oz.; yellow rosin, ½oz.; melt together, spread on thin leather or paper, and put on whilst still slightly warm. The dog being held firmly by an assistant, the operator, with a pair of strong sharp scissors, cuts along the edge of the pattern paper. Friar's balsam should be at once applied to stop the bleeding. The paper with the charge may be left on as a support.