52 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



a laggard, which remains small and feeble even off matters which they have in their bodies, and 



when adult. A mother can suckle ten at a 

 time, but the anatomical construction of her 

 breast gives a smaller relative production of 

 milk than is the case with any of the 

 other domestic animals, which 

 alone is reason enough to 

 limit the number of pups 

 If the mother is a ven' 

 valuable dog, a substi- 

 tute is found for her 

 after a time; and 

 advertisements often 

 appear in the news- 

 papers, to the great 

 amusement of those 

 who know nothing of 

 dogs, soliciting the serv 

 ices of a "wet-nurse 

 bitch." An attempt has been 

 made to manufacture an artificial 

 nurse, consisting of an apparatus in 

 which the pups are kept warm and 

 supplied with nursing bottles of warm 

 milk. Some pups are brought up on 

 the bottle, but the mother's milk is so efficacious 



You.xG Mastiffs 



Photo J. T. Newman, 

 Berkhampstead 



which ought to disappear as soon as possible. 



Mothers who are very young give birth at 

 first to few pups. Their litters become larger 

 till their fourth year, when they begin 

 to diminish. During the period 

 if suckling the mother shfiuld 

 iven food that is easy 

 to digest, and in which 

 there is much white of 

 egg, grease, and salt, 

 which serve to make 

 milk for the young 

 lines. A broth of flesh, 

 with much warm milk 

 and rice, makes e.xcel- 

 ent nourishment for the 

 nursing mother. At the 

 end of five or six weeks 

 meat can be given to her, 

 either cooked or raw, minced 

 fine, with bread and, if necessary, 

 biscuit. Salt must not be forgotten, 

 nor phosphated chalk, nor bone dust 

 to strengthen the bones. 

 If the weather is warm, the pups can be 



from the birth of the little ones that art is taken out of the bo.x on the fifth day and put 



found powerless to equal nature. It is, in fact, in a basket. The bo.x should then be thor- 



absolutely necessary that the pups should suck oughly cleansed. At the end of eight days 



thefirst drops from the mother's breast, because the young dogs begin to open their eyes and 



that milk, watery in appearance, contains sub- try to creep ; by the fifteenth day they can, 



stances which warm them internally and carry 



Young B.asskt Hhunds — Gekm-\n 



though very awkward!}-, lap milk from a dish 

 or a plate. The milk, however, should be mixed 

 with water or limewater. Weaning must not 

 begin till after the fifth week. The mother 

 will tr_\' to fulfill her nursing duties as long as 

 possible ; but if the pups are fed during her 

 absence from them (which ought to take place 

 four or five times a day), the difficulty will 

 soon be overcome. If the little creatures are 

 fed at first on milk, broth, cod-liver oil, or 

 biscuit prepared for young pups, they will 

 soon take these things as their regular food. 

 Rut they should be fed several times a day in 

 small quantities, and not all at once, in which 

 case they will be likely to stuff themseh'es to 

 their ears, to the great detriment of their health 

 and well-being. 



