No better treatise on this trouble can be given than Dalziel's:

"Every dog owner must know what a common filing it is to see a bitch with an enlargement of one of her teats, or the structures adjoining them. Now, not only is such very unsightly, but when grown to a considerable size, as it will do, it is very liable to injury.

"The immediate cause is the damming up of one of the milk-ducts; the teat is 'blind,' as it is called in dairy parlance - that is, the flow of milk through it is obstructed by some malformation. Far oftener, however, the milk itself is the cause; that is to say, it is not drained off sufficiently, when it hardens, acts as a foreign body, and still further as an irritant, because of its chemical decomposition. The effect of this is that more or less Inflammation of the milk-gland is produced, a hard lump forms and increases gradually, and once begun, the evil develops more and more at each returning period after oestrutn, when pupping has or should have taken place.

"From the numerous questions I have received on the subject it does not appear to be generally known by those who keep dogs that some bitches, even If they have been secluded from the dog during the period of 'heat,' will secrete a fluid much resembling milk at the time they would have had pups had impregnation been allowed, but such is the case. It is, therefore, the duty of the owner to note the time and look out for the evidence of this secretion and have it removed by hand, or by one of the many breast-exhausters, giving at the same time a light diet, with an extra proportion of boiled vegetables and a few doses of cooling, aperient medicine. Permitting a bitch when in milk to lie on cold bricks or flags, or to be exposed in other ways to cold and damp, may also cause obstruction af the teat and subsequent tumors; while blows, bruises and wounds sometimes produce a like result. A not uncommon cause of these lacteal tumors is the hurried drying up of the milk by artificial means. It is sometimes desirable to destroy pups that are the result of a mesalliance, but it is absolutely cruel to deprive the poor mother of all her progeny. In addition to the cruelty, there is always the risk of the flow of milk damming up one or more of the teats and producing tumor.

"The measure of prevention against lacteal tumors will, from the foregoing remarks, have suggested themselves to the reader. Nature has ordained that the bitch should bring forth young at least once in twelve months, and, though she permits us to take certain liberties with her laws, yet if we go-beyond a certain limit, disease follows as a punishment; even when we interfere with her prerogative, it must not be by direct contradiction, but by diverting her forces into other channels. When we forbid the bitch to breed we put an embargo on certain functions, and the energy that supplies and works these functions we divert by exciting extra secretions of the bowels, kidneys, etc.; but the safest, because the most natural, prevention of disease, is to let the bitch breed.

"When it is desired to 'dry' the bitch, that is, to stop the secretion of milk, it is wrong to give alum and other astringents, and to rub brandy, etc., along the mammae. The object is more surely obtained gradually, and that without the risk of untoward results, by drawing off what milk there is regularly, giving a spare diet, and a good purge, following this with 2 grains to 3 grains of iodide of potassium, twice a day, and rubbing well with the following liniment:

Liniment For Drying Bitches

Iodide of potassium, 2 drams; soap liniment and oil of camphor, of each 2 ounces.

When a tumor does form, and the bitch is still in milk, draw the milk off twiee a day, and in any case, give a brisk purge. Keep her on a spare, and rather dry diet, and to one of 20 lb. weight give twice a day 2 grains of iodide of potassium, in about two tablespoonfuls of water, immediately after feeding, and apply twice or three a day the following ointment to. the lumps or swelling

Ointment For Lacteal Tumors

Iodide of potassium ........................................ 1 dram powdered camphor ............................................. 1 dram.

Strong mercurial ointment ................................... 1/2 ounce.

Spermaceti ointment .............................................. 1 ounce.

Mixed, Rub a little well in with gentle friction.

If these means do not prove sufficient for the dispersion of the swelling, add to the above ointment 2scr, of resublimed iodine dissolved in a little spirit of wine.

When the swelling has gone on so far unheeded that matter.is formed, and becomes soft and ripe (which may be told by the fluctuating of the enlargement under pressure of the fingers, there is nothing for it but the lancet, which should be inserted in the soft part, and a cut made downwards, to insure perfect drainage. The parts must then be frequently bathed, the matter pressed out, washed with a solution of Condy's Fluid, and dressed with Turner's cerate, while the pat?ent should have a good strong purge. These growths are often removed by the knife, and when of, long standing that is the only course. Camphorated Oil is also used in such cases, and for drying up the milk I have found it very satisfactory.

Dent treats this subject as follows:

"Nature has ordained that at least once a year certain nervous energies in the female clog be set in motion. This nervous force excites the bowels, the brain, the kidneys, the circulation, and all the other organs of the body, and what is known as the period of oestrum, or being in season, is the result. If the bitch be bred at this time a natural function is performed and a natural law satisfied. If she is not bred these functions are seriously interfered with for the time, how seriously or the extent of the interference we do not know. That this nervous action does not cease or is entirely suppressed by simply putting the bitch by for the time is unmistakably denied by subsequent events. A natural prerogative asserts itself and it is a common occurrence for bitches which have not been bred to develop a feverish disturbance of the system, a swelling of the milk glands and the secretion of a whitish fluid resembling milk at the time they would have given birth to puppies if they had been bred.

"If this milky fluid is not drawn off with the breast pump there is danger of its hardening and forming a lacteal tumor. In passing a bitch over the period of oestrum without breeding her, it would be well for all breeders to anticipate the possibility of .this secretion; watch for it at the proper time. Remove it if it appears and feed for the time a light, "cooling diet of stale bread or dog biscuits softened in soup or milk, with an increased amount of vegetables, and keep the bowels open with doses of cascara sagrada and olive oil as often as may be necessary. In cases of a misalliance the puppies are frequently destroyed at birth. This is positively cruel to the mother and the shock to her nervous system is so great as to frequently affect her constitution. The puppies should be taken away as previously stated, one or two at a time, and the milk dried up, with the same care as if the puppies were to be raised.

"Lacteal tumors sometimes result from blows, wounds, kicks and other injuries; exposure to the cold, sudden chills from lying on damp straw or upon cold bricks or cement floors. The great proportion of cases, however, is due to the causes first mentioned.

Treatment

To dry a bitch up properly and prevent the formation of milk tumors after removing the puppies as previously described, keep the bowels open with cascara sagrada and olive oil; feed a spare diet or raw, lean beef, chopped fine, milk, gelatin, eggs, stale bread or dog biscuits soaked in thin soup. If there is any milk remaining in the gland draw it off night and morning with a breast pump.

"Apply the following liniment three times a day, with gentle massage: Camphorated oil four ounces, fluid extract of belladonna three drams, soap liniment two ounces, witch hazel two ounces.

"Give a thirty-pound dog a capsule containing of the iodide of potash three grains, pepsin three grains, gentian three grains, diastase one grain.

"For the removal of lacteal tumors the following ointment is recommended: Iodide of potassium two drams, powdered camphor two grains, mercurial ointment two drams, iodine resub ten grains, five grains of menthol alcohol q. s., lanolin three ounces. Apply three times a clay and rub well into the skin with gentle friction. The capsules previously mentioned should also be given three times a day.

"Tumors that do not yield to the treatment, or have been let go so far as to become ripe or full of matter, can only be treated with the knife. Operations should only be entrusted to a veterinary surgeon, who will insert the lancet at the softest spot of the enlargement and drain off the contents, afterward inserting a pledget of oakum which should be changed daily. Large tumors that do not soften should be dissected out entire and the wound properly dressed."