226 CANINE MEDICINE AND SURGERY 



or attendant, than a newspaper laid flat. It is easily 

 removed and burned after parturition, and may then 

 be advantageously replaced with hay, straw, or ex- 

 celsior. 



A box or basket lined with flannel must also be 

 provided for the pups, which should be placed there- 

 in as soon as born, covered with a piece of flannel, 

 and not returned to the mother until the last one 

 has arrived and the kennel or box has been cleaned. 

 They may then be placed with the bitch, which will 

 in a normal case clean them and attend to them as 

 her instinct prompts her. 



In any case of part-urition a certain routine should 

 be practiced, otherwise accidents or untoward 

 sequelae are liable to result. After disinfecting the 

 hands and cleaning the external genitals and vagina, 

 a digital examination should be made and the follow- 

 ing points noted, — the condition of the os uteri, the 

 presentation of the fetus, the size of the pelvic open- 

 ing, and the existence or otherwise of maternal mal- 

 formation, new growths, or constrictions of the 

 vagina. 



The importance of this early examination for the 

 discovery of abnormalities cannot be overestimated, 

 since the attendant's whole mode of action depends 

 upon it. For example, it is useless to expect a 

 natural delivery if the pelvic outlet is excessively 

 narrow, either by reason of congenital malformation 

 or from a previous fracture, and a practitioner who 

 allowed labor to proceed until the mother was ex- 

 hausted- and moribund before he discovered it would 

 lay himself open to charge of malpractice. At least, 

 he would lose his patient and his client. Too much 

 stress cannot be laid upon the use of antiseptic pre- 

 cautions, both in making examination and in any 

 manipulation required. The hands must be disin- 

 fected thoroughly, the instruments must be sterilized 



