22 A MANUAL OF TOY DOGS 



ones to wit, nearly burst themselves, whereupon Nature 

 rebels and relieves the pressure by means of diarrhoea ; 

 others, dainty feeders, are sickened after one or two 

 doses, and can hardly be got to feed at all. They loathe 

 their food, and getting them on is a constant worry ; 

 presently they begin to be often sick (this is the stomach's 

 protest against being constantly distended with liquid 

 food) and if they have, as most puppies have, the ova 

 of worms inside them, these are immensely encouraged 

 to develop, and lose no time in doing so. A nice pre- 

 paration for the critical period of teething ! 



If those who find toy puppies difficult to rear thus, 

 would forsake slops and feed them rationally, they 

 would, I think, share the success of a number of breeders, 

 whose toys are noted for their health and beauty, 

 and whose methods I rely upon to back up my con- 

 tention. Up to the time the puppy can use its first 

 teeth, give it nothing but milk, pure, sweet, fresh, and 

 warm mixed with plasmon or any other good dried milk 

 powder ; cold milk will give the baby colic. Teach it 

 to la.p from a saucer of warm milk ; either good cow's 

 milk, if you can rely on getting it free from boracic 

 acid ; pure cream and hot water to the thickness of 

 milk ; goat's milk, best of all ; or, in the last resource, 

 condensed milk, thinned with hot water. 



The latter must be the kind which is not over- 

 sweetened, and not the kind which has had the cream 

 separated. Up to six weeks I find my puppies do best on 

 milk only ; when their little teeth are through, and their 

 mother forsakes them, get them on to solids. A puppy 

 loves to gnaw a lump of stalish sponge cake, or suck a 

 rusk ; it comforts him to use his sharp little needle- 

 points feeds and amuses him at once. Let him then 

 have milk for breakfast and tea ; an Osborne biscuit 

 broken up, a rusk of the kind known as " tops and 

 bottoms," just softened with a little drop of milk, not 

 made into a slop, or a bit of sponge cake, for his dinner 

 and supper. At four weeks he may have a little minced 

 chicken or boiled fish for dinner, or shredded boiled 



