280 USEFUL INFORMATION REGARDING DOGS. 



FEEDING PUPPIES 



Special article written by Harry W. Lacy, Editor American Fancier: 



If you were to ask the average dog owner, who in the course of a year 

 raises some puppies, what he gives the puppies when weaning, the answer 

 would, nine times out of ten, be — "Oh, milk and bread, or milk and oat- 

 meal — something of that sort." Yes, its just this something of that sort 

 that does the mischief, and to add to the trouble he adds water to the 

 milk, usually. Right off the mother the pups are asked at the most critical 

 time of their lives to make good on a diet that contains much less nourish- 

 ment than they enjoyed with mamma. We have always been interested in 

 the common sense methods as advised by "Great Dane" in his "Dog Feeding 

 Up-To-Date," and especially in his insistence on a familiar topic of advice in 

 these columns whenever we get the chance and that is — feed the bitch. 



The proper feeding of puppies is at first effected by properly feeding 

 the dam; and it must needs be commenced before their birth, since, if the 

 bearing mother be underfed, improperly sheltered, over-exercised or other- 

 Wise neglected or overtaxed, the puppies naturally come into the world 

 starvelings, seldom capable of repaying their breeder for the cost and 

 worry of rearing them. If, however, the bitch be kept in vigorous condi- 

 tion with good food and good care, her puppies are ensured an ample store 

 of nourishment whereon to draw for the development of their bodies and 

 constitutions. They are born strong and healthy, and soon commence to 

 suck; and with even fairly good management there is little risk of losing 

 such puppies. Weaklings, on the other hand, frequently require consider- 

 able care and attention to raise. The great points at the outset are, of 

 course, to get them to suck within an hour or so of birth and to prevent 

 their being chilled, so that such as are too feeble to reach and pull at the 

 teats must be helped as often as seems needful, some of the milk being 

 pressed out with the finger and thumb. Nothing is so well calculated to 

 make very young puppies grow strongly and vigorously as a bountiful sup- 

 ply of their mother's milk, which, in general, supplies everything required 

 for their proper nourishment. Any bitch capable of nursing her puppies 

 should be made to do so. To needlessly deny a puppy its dam's milk and to 

 substitute artificial means of subsistence is to deprive it of the best safe- 

 guard of its life. The first milk or colostrum is laxative in character, and 

 so assists in removing from their bodies waste matters accumulated before 

 birth. Hence, if for some reason or other they do not get this first milk, 

 it is wise to give each a drop or two of castor oil in warm milk instead. 



Where it becomes necessary to substitute cow's milk for that of the 

 dam, it is, as previously explained, essential to make it as similar as pos- 

 sible in composition and richness to the milk the puppies would naturally 

 obtain. It is apparent that the milk of the bitch is about thrice as rich in 

 protein and fat as is that of the cow, so that, if we propose to use cow's 

 milk for puppies, we must correspondingly increase its protein and fat. 



This can be approximately done by heating the milk until some two- 

 thirds of its volume have evaporated. No nutrients are lost, only water 

 being given off, so that the result is a concentrated milk thrice as rich as 

 ordinary cow's milk. A better and more convenient plan is to add to each 

 half-pint of fresh cow's milk two to two-and-a-half ounces of full-cream 

 milk^powder. The concentrated milk-food thus prepared is approximately 

 thrice as strong as cow's milk, so that puppies only require one-third as 

 much of it. At 3 weeks old the following quantities are appropriate: 

 Toy puppies, 1 teaspoonful; Fox-terrier-sized puppies, 1 desertspoonful; 

 .Collie-sized puppies, g teaspoonfuls; and largest-breed puppies, a table- 



