48 The Dog Book 



sweet it is all right. With city kennels meat is an item that tells. Country 

 kennels also get milk at a cheap rate, as a rule, and it should be known by 

 all dog-fanciers that exhibitors of rabbits are strong believers in milk for 

 putting a polish on the coat of their exhibition animals, so when procurable 

 it may well be added to the kennel bill of fare. 



There has perhaps been more discussion as to milk for dogs, particu- 

 larly puppies, than anything else in the dietary line. Some hold that milk 

 is a fruitful source of worms in puppies. The fact is, that there is milk and 

 milk. Warm milk from the cow is a very different thing from cold skimmed- 

 milk, and even the best of cow's-milk is radically different from the milk 

 of a bitch. 



Mr. A. J. Sewall, the London veterinarian, who makes dogs a specialty, 

 has recently drawn the attention of English dog-owners to this difference in 

 these milks, and he gives the following analysis of the two: 



Cow's milk. Bitch's milk. 



Water 87.4 66.3 



Butter 4.0 14.8 



Sugar and soluble salts 5.0 2.9 



Casein and insoluble salts 3.6 16.0 



When, therefore, you weaken the milk by skimming it, think of how 

 the poor puppy must gorge itself in order to get the necessary nourishment 

 in order merely to live, let alone thrive. 



In place of weakening the cow's milk it should be enriched, either by 

 concentration in the way of boiling and thus evaporating the water, or 

 by adding eggs. It is remarkable how closely eggs and bitch's milk agree in 

 analysis, they being practically the same with the exception of the lack of 

 sugar in eggs. Now, if one appreciates that he is substituting milk for 

 eggs and milk, or in some cases skim-milk for eggs and milk, he will not be 

 surprised at his puppies going wrong. 



A puppy has a small stomach, and what it gets from its dam is very rich 

 food. Then, if left to herself the dam would, as soon as her flow of milk 

 fell off, disgorge half-digested meat, and this the puppies would eat. Their 

 food would be almost entirely half-digested meat, if she could get it, and it is 

 thus seen how radically wrong it is to suppose that poor milk will by itself 

 do for dogs — especially young, growing animals. Mr. Sewall's suggestion 



