AILMENTS AND ILLNESSES 43 



this time ezccma in its more common forms would have 

 died out, worms be the infrequent exception rather 

 than the rule, and " distemper " would have ceased to 

 be a thing of terror. 



It is extraordinary how ignorant educated people, 

 otherwise well informed, can show themselves on this 

 subject. I have repeatedly received letters in which, 

 after detailing a diet of milk puddings, oatmeal porridge, 

 vegetables, bread and gravy, and so on, the writer 

 gravely adds the assurance " But I have never given 

 a farinaceous diet !" Green vegetables and such starchy 

 vegetables as potatoes are absolutely useless to dogs, 

 and so indigestible as only to rank second to absolute 

 poisons, like carrots and turnips. No dog can get the 

 mineral salts necessary to healthy blood out of oat- 

 meal, Indian corn meal, or any other meal, nor out of 

 a little iron-hard, dried gristle or some similar substance, 

 such as appears in some so-called " meat " foods. It 

 can only get these substances out of its natural and 

 proper food meat. Puppies fed on meat from the 

 time their teeth can bite it do not have anaemia, and 

 are consequently free from skin trouble : their blood 

 is rich and pure, and they do not harbour worms. I 

 only ask any reader who doubts these statements to 

 try the very simple experiment of separating a litter 

 at seven weeks, and feeding half the pups on meat, of 

 course varied, cut up small, and given in moderate 

 quantity three times, and subsequently twice, a day, 

 with a very small proportion of wheaten flour-stuff 

 given merely as a treat and variety, in the form of small 

 sweet biscuits or sponge cake, to afford the needful 

 bulk to the meals. No gravy, milk, vegetables, nor 

 any liquid but water to be given. The other pups in 

 the litter can be fed on the old, artificial, unnatural 

 plan of constant, large, sloppy meals of milk food. If 

 the conditions are otherwise equal plenty of fun, sun- 

 shine, and exercise being given the difference between 

 the two sets of pups will probably be quite sufficiently 

 marked to uphold my argument, with the further addi- 



