PRACTICAL GREYHOUND BREEDING 79 



to health ; often, indeed, every effort will prove futile, and they 

 will become masses of corruption. In cases of follicular mange, 

 during pregnancy, the bitch should be isolated at once, and 

 well dressed with one of the lotions in vogue. That of Messrs. 

 Spratt is good. A more cooling diet should be resorted to, and 

 a mild aperient administered. Most people prescribe castor-oil, 

 but for our part we prefer to use flower of sulphur, or one of 

 Norton's camomile pills given every other night till six have been 

 taken. These are mild in their action, and stimulate instead of 

 exhausting the digestive organs, whereas castor-oil always causes 

 a certain amount of griping. The dressing should be applied 

 once a week, and continued until the skin presents a healthy 

 appearance and all humid spots have entirely disappeared. 

 In the case of a bitch who has broken out subsequently to the 

 birth of her puppies a somewhat different course must be 

 pursued, for it would not do for them to take in with their 

 mother's milk a large percentage of strong dressing, or to be 

 in continued contact therewith. Therefore the spots and sore 

 places must be well anointed and rubbed in, and the super- 

 fluous dressing removed with a dry cloth ; after which the back 

 and sides may be covered with a light mixture of sulphur and 

 vaseline, and the same concoction may be applied to the 

 puppies themselves when they are upwards of a fortnight old. 

 If it be possible to obtain a foster-bitch, of course this plan 

 should be adopted, and an exchange of puppies will mini- 

 mise the risk of infection as regards the little greyhounds, 

 while the other puppies will serve to draw the milk from the 

 tainted bitch and keep her from fretting. 



It often happens that a bitch after whelping shows a certain 

 amount of eruptiveness during her suckling period. This is 

 generally the result of too heating food, and must not be con- 

 founded with mange or eczema, as it will disappear on change 

 of diet and a cooling draught. When the bitch is suffering 

 from true eczema the internal treatment is more severe, though 

 we have found the mange lotion very efficacious, even when 

 the disease is entirely sanguineous and no parasites exist in the 



