TREATMENT OF THE MOTHER. 2$/ 



they are thickened with bread, well-cooked rice, barley 

 or other light starchy food, and at least one-fourth of the 

 whole is meat. 



Another word of caution here. Beef trimmings and 

 bones are very generally used for making soups or broths, 

 and these, as a rule, contain much fat, which when cooked 

 is somewhat of a tax upon the digestive organs of even 

 sound dogs, and much too great a burden for bitches that 

 have recently whelped. Moreover, this fat might cause 

 excessive acidity of the breast milk. Consequently, in all 

 instances the soups or broths should be allowed to stand 

 until cold and then treated to a faithful skimming. 



The last feed of the day should be practically a solid 

 one, and consist of finely chopped beef or mutton in the 

 proportion of one-half ; while the other half should be 

 made up of, say, one-third vegetables, one-third bread 

 and one-third well-boiled rice or oatmeal. 



As broth is required to soften the starches it is neces- 

 sary to cook the most of the meat, yet about twice a week 

 a goodly proportion of this food may be in the raw state. 

 For instance, instead of all being cooked, half of the meat 

 given for supper can be raw ; but it must be finely minced,, 

 and with the two kinds should be mixed vegetables and 

 starchy foods in the same proportion as when all the meat 

 allowed is cooked. 



Meat is often withheld from members of the human 

 family while they are liable to acute inflammations, as 

 immediately after surgical operations, severe traumatic 

 injuries, parturition, etc., and this fact has led some to 

 assume that it should be given only sparingly, if at all, 

 to bitches in the puerperal state, for fear of adding to the 

 liability of fever. But analogical reasoning in this in- 

 stance is clearly unsound, and it is a fixed fact that when 

 a dog is weakened by disease, accident or other cause, as- 



