BEFORE WHELP /AG. 24 1 



With not a few breeders the final preparatory measure 

 is a dose of castor oil or other cathartic, which they give 

 indiscriminately in every case on the day before whelping. 

 This treatment has so many advocates it is necessary to 

 urge that it is advisable only when severe constipation 

 exists, also, that were it applied in instances where the 

 discharges were soft or liquid it would not only be 

 superfluous but somewhat hazardous, since it might cause 

 diarrhoea in the puppies. And this would very likely 

 happen were castor oil given, for a portion of its prin- 

 ciple is absorbed and goes out with the milk. 



Boiled liver, which is also given for the same purpose, 

 is open to even greater objections than castor oil or other 

 medicinal cathartic, for its laxative action is attained only 

 at the expense of digestion. Being exceedingly rich but 

 few stomachs are capable of disposing of any considerable 

 quantity, and given generously as a rule it generally proves 

 too great a burden for them ; and they tiring after a time 

 pass a goodly portion of it, while yet only partially 

 digested, on to the intestines, where it acts as any foreign 

 body would and. sets up an irritation. After which 

 diarrhoea, nature's method of freeing the bowels of 

 troublesome matters, occurs, and it is several days before 

 the integrity of the abused organs is restored. In the 

 mean time the milk is more or less vitiated in consequence 

 of the indigestion, and very generally causes a like disturb- 

 ance in the nursing puppies, in which event they, also, 

 suffer from colic and diarrhoea — symptoms that are sin- 

 gularly fatal in the first weeks of life. 



In the highest order of animals constipation is a 

 common affection during pregnancy, and the popular 

 theory as to causation is that it is produced by pressure 

 of the enlarging uterus on the upper part of the rectum, 

 by which not only is its calibre diminished but its action 



