BEFORE WHELPING. 235 



for her puppies to develop properly and have good vitality 

 at birth. Manifestly her requirements in the way of 

 structure-building materials are much greater now than 

 when she had to meet merely the wear and tear on her 

 own body, and as she finds these in very considerable 

 amount and convenient state in animal substances only, 

 assuredly she must have more of them in proportion than 

 when not in pup. But mindful of the facts already given 

 great prominence in chapters devoted to feeding, the in- 

 crease of the daily amount of meat, the most serviceable of 

 these substances, must be intelligent, for the same penal- 

 ties are inflicted for excess now as before impregnation. 



In considering the use of this food the matter of prep- 

 aration being of great importance can properly come first. 

 Boiling is the common method of cooking, and against 

 it nothing can be said if the water — broth — used in 

 the operation is fed out with the meat, for then the most 

 of the virtues of the food will have been saved, and espe- 

 cially certain salts, extracted by the water during cooking, 

 which the mother must have' to pass on to her pup- 

 pies. And that these salts are indispensable to healthy 

 osseous growth the following experiment has clearly 

 demonstrated : — 



A well-known German physician selected a medium- 

 sized, strong, healthy bitch, and after she had been mated 

 he fed her on finely chopped horse-meat from which the 

 salts were to a large extent extracted by boiling for two 

 hours in distilled water. In addition to this she was given 

 each day a certain quantity of tried fat. As drink she 

 had only distilled, water. She gave birth to six healthy 

 puppies, one of which was killed immediately, and its 

 bones were found to be strong and well-built and free 

 from abnormalities. The other puppies did not thrive, 

 but remained weak, and could scarcely walk at the end of 



