n—WHELPING OF PUPPIES 



there may be another puppy still in 

 the womb or an afterbirth yet to be 

 discharged. 



Dangers from Instruments 



Instruments are for use of the vet- 

 erinarian — and then chiefly when sev- 

 eral puppies already have been 

 delivered and it is desired to save the 

 bitch from death on account of a dead 

 puppy or puppies remaining in the 

 womb. 



Hair should be clipped in the area 

 of the vulva and tail, the hindquarters 

 and belly thoroly washed, and the 

 bitch kept in standing position while 

 the instrument is being used. 



If it is known definitely that a 

 puppy is dead, effort should be made 

 to crush it \vith the forceps before 

 it is pulled out. Then the womb 

 should be washed after this to avoid 

 infection; the use of permanganate 

 of potash or saline solution can be 

 recommended. 



Let the Newborn Puppy Yelp 



When the puppy is delivered out of 

 the vagina, the bitch should tear off 

 the sac covering immediately and if 

 she does not do this, the attendant 

 should. Otherwise the puppy gets a 

 slow start, and the lungs are not 

 properly inflated. The puppy instead 

 of being round and plump, feels stiff 

 to the touch. He tries to move up 

 the dam's flanks and ribs. 



This is a situation akin to pneu- 

 monia and the puppy is trying to 

 relieve the pressure on his lungs. 



A few lusty yells out of the new- 

 bom puppy is a desirable thing for 

 it indicates working lungs full of air 

 and with proper breathing. 



The uterus or womb, the U-shaped 

 tube, within twenty-four hours after 

 delivery, reduces from its large swoll- 

 en condition to about one-tenth of 

 that size, or to its normal size, per- 

 haps about the thickness of a lead 

 pencil. 



Feeding the Mother 



The mother should not be fed until 

 about an hour after the last puppy is 

 delivered. Do not feed her during the 

 whelping period. 



First, she should be permitted to 

 get up, leave the puppies, go outside 

 and relieve herself. Upon her return, 

 she should have warm beef finely 

 ground, soup and the like. At once 



thereafter she can have her regular 

 diet, strong in lean meat with plenty 

 of milk, calcium gluconate tablets, dry 

 biscuit food, good soups, etc. 



The mother may be douched with 

 bicarbonate of soda or light antiseptic 

 soon after the last puppy is whelped. 

 Douching must be done carefully and 

 expertly. A tablespoon ful of mineral 

 oil may be given her for internal 

 cleansing. 



Wash her teats and belly with 

 warm water several times during 

 whelping. Do not use soap or disin- 

 fectant. Wash breasts daily for first 

 ten days or so, with a boracic acid 

 or other similar solution. 



Milk but No Puppies 



Bitches formerly bred but passed 

 at last heat, also bitches bred but 

 failing to conceive, may have breasts 

 swollen with milk. They may be 

 used as foster mothers; or a little 

 milk may be drawn off. Reduced diet 

 should be given to these bitches. 



The Caesarean Operation 



(Condensed from Judy's Principles 

 of Dog Breeding, 3rd ed.) 



Mutations or sports appeared in a breed, 

 due likely to abnormality of the endocrine 

 glands, at least likely to a confusion or 

 unbalanced performance of the internal 

 secretions which determined growth and 

 development. 



These dogs possessing the unusual, were 

 selected for mating to each other or to 

 other specimens. Succeeding generations 

 continued this selective and related breed- 

 ing until new type was established thru 

 heredity. Thus was established a fixed 

 chondrodystrophy, an hereditary perpetu- 

 ation of abnormalities. And the unfortunate 

 situation follows that whelping is made 

 more and more uncertain, more diflficult, 

 because of these fixed departures from 

 nature's types. 



Size Determined by Family 



In the author's Principles of Dog Breed- 

 ing, he emphasizes that caesareans in cer- 

 tain breeds are made necessary by the fact 

 that small specimens are bred to obtain 

 the small or toy size, but that these same 

 small bitches produce puppies according to 

 the average normal size of their breed and 

 not their own ; and this selection of the 

 abnormally small is made constantly, by 

 man, against nature's dictates. 



There is the tendency that is dominant 

 for the young to revert to the normal size ; 

 consequently, puppies are too large to pass 

 thru the opening or mouth of the womb, 

 particularly of breeds whose heads are mas- 

 sive, that is, large in proportion to other 

 parts of the body. 



Pelvic Bones a Material Factor 



Breeds having large heads and small 

 hips, may suffer trouble in whelping. The 

 hips or pelvic bones consist of three pairs : 



