INTESTINAL PARASITES. 3^1 



nursing mother is given one-half a teaspoonful of this oil 

 twice daily for several days, not enough of it would reach 

 the puppies to have any anthelmintic effect. Further- 

 more, to give even this dose of turpentine and repeat each 

 day for several days would be hazardous with most 

 mothers ; and certainly doses large enough to furnish the 

 milk with the quantity necessary to destroy worms in the 

 puppies would likely greatly injure the parent organism. 



Very generally it is between the fifth and seventh weeks 

 that positive symptoms of worms first appear. And duly 

 recognizing the fact that the liability to infection is great, 

 also that a large proportion of puppies suffer from the 

 pests, breeders generally hold that all should be given 

 worm medicine near the eighth week, whether or not they 

 present suspicious signs. 



Notwithstanding that the liability and danger are all 

 that breeders assume, such an iron rule is open to objec- 

 tions. For instance, were the bitch the only one of her 

 kind in a family, or had she no more than one or two 

 mates, and none were quartered in kennels, but all had 

 places by the kitchen fire, and there the whelping had 

 occurred and she and her little ones had been kept until 

 the weaning, then to apply this rule and dose for worms 

 in the absence of symptoms would scarcely be advisable, 

 for the chances are many that under such happy, cleanly 

 conditions the puppies would not be infested, or if they 

 were the number of worms would be too small to do great 

 harm. 



But, on the other hand, had the mother several mates, 

 all were kept in kennels, and the whelping occurred in 

 quarters which had been frequented by other dogs, then it 

 would be far too much to expect that the puppies had 

 escaped infection, and the rule in question could properly 

 be applied. 



