CANCER DISEASES OF PARTURITION. 43 



CANCER AND FUNGUS H^MATODES. 



These malignant diseases usually attack the bitch either in the uterus or teats. 

 Cancer, in the early stage, is known by its peculiar hardness, while fungus is 

 distinguished by its comparatively soft and elastic feel, and by its general tendency 

 to bleed. Both are incurable, and the only chance is to remove the tumours with 

 the knife if they occur in the teats, but the disease generally returns. 



ENCYSTED TUMOURS 



Are very common in the dog, and consist of small soft bags, lying close 

 under the skin, of a circular form, and devoid of pain or inflammation. They vary 

 in size from that of a pea to the volume of a small orange. The only remedy is the 

 knife, which may be used with perfect safety, by anyone accustomed to it. The 

 skin must be saved and dissected back, and the tumour, when exposed, may readily 

 be lifted out of its bed without much dissection ; after which the parts may be 

 suffered to heal of themselves. 



DISEASES OF PARTURITION. 



In HEALTHY PARTURITION the bitch seldom suffers much ; but sometimes in a 

 small bitch, when the sire is of much larger size, the disproportion between the 

 whelps and the mother is so great as to occasion great difficulty and danger. This 

 sometimes also happens without any apparent reason. 



In order to ascertain whether or not the bitch is in pup,' a careful external 

 examination will generally be necessary ; when, on pressing the fingers deeply 

 into the flank, several small round or oval bodies may be felt, in number 

 according to the future litter. Between the fourth and seventh weeks the 

 whelps cannot so easily be felt; but, though they are said to be lost, a careful 

 examination by a practised hand will always detect nearly all of them lying close 

 against the spine. After the seventh week they appear very plainly, and the 

 belly rapidly swells till it attains the size which it presents at whelping time ; 

 about three or four days before which the teats begin to swell, and on the day 

 before generally are full of milk a pretty sure indication of the near approach of 

 labour. 



In the PROCESS OP PARTURITION, the bitch should be left to herself as much 

 as possible ; and if of good size and healthy, she will nearly always pass through it 

 without trouble. Sometimes, however, her pelvis is too small to allow of the passage 

 of the whelp, and then either she must die, or man must afford his aid by 

 mechanical means ; but this operation is too difficult for any but a practised hand, 

 and therefore I should recommend the aid of a skilful veterinarian to be in all 

 cases called in. If a part of the whelp is bom, and the remainder does not come 



