HEALTHY PARTURITION. 197 



made with half milk and half water, should be given, and repeated 

 at intervals of two or three hours. Nothing cold is to be allowed 

 for the first two or three days, unless it is in the height of 

 summer, when these precautions are unnecessary, as the ordinary 

 temperature is generally between 60° and 70" of Fahrenheit. 

 If milk is not easily had, broth will do nearly as well, thickening 

 it with oatmeal, which should be well boiled in it. This food 

 is continued till the secretion of milk is fully established, when 

 a more generous diet is gradually to be allowed, consisting of 

 sloppy food, together with an allowance of meat somewhat 

 greater than that to which she has been accustomed. This last 

 is the best rule, for it will be found that no other useful one can 

 be given ; those bitches which have been previously accustomed 

 to a flesh diet sinking away if they have not got it at this time, 

 when the demands of the puppies for milk drain the system 

 considerably ; and those which have not been used to it being 

 rendered feverish and dyspeptic if they have an inordinate allow- 

 ance of it. A bitch in good health, and neither over-reduced 

 by starvation nor made too fat by excessive feeding, will rarely 

 give any trouble at this time ; but, in either of these conditions, 

 it may happen that the secretion fails to be established. (For the 

 proper remedies see Parturition, in Book III.) From the first 

 day the bitch should be encouraged to leave her puppies twice 

 or thrice daily to empty herself, which some, in their excessive 

 fondness for their new charge, are apt to neglect. When the 

 milk is thoroughly established, they should be regularly exercised 

 for an hour a day, which increases the secretion of milk, and 



