BEST DIET FOR WHELPS. 275 



when cold it shall be capable of being cut with a knife without 

 sticking to it much, for if too adhesive they do not eat it so well 

 as wheu somewhat drier, always remembering to add a little salt 

 to all their food. The wheat-flour should be boiled about ten 

 minutes, and the oatmeal about fifteen, as a longer time makes the 

 stirabout too sticky. The proportions of oatmeal and wheat-flour 

 should be varied according to the consistence of the faeces passed, 

 using more than half oatmeal if too hard, and less when the dog is 

 too loose ; the quantity of flesh should also be regulated by the 

 colour of the fceces, which become quite black when the flesh is in 

 too great a quantity ; after six months, an average puppy ought 

 to have one pound of flesh daily. Care should also be taken that 

 the liver is acting properly, which may be known by the presence 

 of the colour of ' gingerbread ' in the motions. This is the healthy 

 colour, and so long as you have this present, without diarrhoea or 

 costiveness, you may be satisfied there is not much the 

 matter. The flesh used should also be frequently changed, and 

 the good kennelman may be known by his constantly looking out 

 for ( slink ' calves or lambs, as well as for sheep dying an acci- 

 dental death. It is well also occasionally to stop the meat 

 altogether for a day or two, substituting slops of some kind. The 

 puppies' stomach, like that of man, requires constant change of diet, 

 without which "not only does the appetite suffer, but the blood 

 becomes foul. 



In order to satisfy myself upon the advantage or otherwise of a 

 milk diet, I have divided a litter, and reared one part upon an 

 unlimited supply of new milk, with an occasional allowance of flesh, 



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