COMPLICATIONS INCIDENT TO PARTURITION. 289 



oil (one to twenty) or simply with vaseline, the bitch kept 

 perfectly quiet, and no force used. 



Naturally, a bitch whelping for the first time is liable 

 to be longer in giving birth to the first puppy. So long 

 as there is no great constitutional disturbance, nothing to 



FIG. 19. UTERUS AND OVARIES OP THE Sow, SEMI-DIAGRAMMATIC 



(AFTER D ALTON). 

 o, ovary; H, Fallopian tube; A, horn of the uterus; 6, body of the uterus; v, vagina. 



indicate lack of muscular power in the uterus, no weak- 

 ness or exhaustion, no foul smell, discharge, or other in- 

 dication of a dead puppy, etc., patience is all that is re- 

 quired. 



Occasionally false pains occur in the bitch near or just 

 before the date of whelping. An opiate by the mouth, or 

 an injection into the rectum of soap-suds medicated with 

 laudanum (twenty to thirty drops), will relieve these. But 

 in this and all cases it must be ascertained that constipa- 

 tion does not exist, for which an enema is the best remedy 

 in such a case. "When very severe, true labor pains may 

 be mitigated by a close of Dover's powder or of Battley's 

 sedative solution of opium. 



Malpresentations are very rare in the bitch, and pup- 

 pies are so flexible that Nature often rights this matter. 



