OBSTETRICS 227 



by boiling (laying them in antiseptic solution for a 

 few minutes will not sterilize them), and the hind 

 quarters of the patient must be washed repeatedly 

 with an antiseptic solution. The vagina and uterus 

 in the parturient bitch are highly susceptible to 

 septic infection, and every effort must be exerted to 

 avoid infecting them. 



In normal parturition the pups follow one another 

 at irregular intervals varying from a few minutes to 

 several hours, so that delay, unless the mother is 

 exhausted, the fetus dead, or the pains continuous 

 and without result, need not cause alarm or be 

 thought to demand interference. If, however, the 

 mother is exhausted or the pains weak or unpro- 

 ductive, an examination must be made, malpresenta- 

 tibn corrected, if present, and stimulants — brandy or 

 whisky combined with from one-fourth to one dram 

 of fluid extract of ergot — given every half hour. 

 Pituitrin has recently achieved great popul^-rity as 

 an agent for inducing contractions of the uterus in 

 parturient animals. The dose is from one to four 

 drams until delivery is effected or further measures 

 required. 



Let me here caution against undue haste in re- 

 course to forceps, more bitches having been de- 

 stroyed by the incautious use of forceps than there 

 have been pups delivered with them. Remember 

 always that the slightest laceration is an open door 

 for the entrance of infectious germs, and that sep- 

 ticemia only too often follows such laceration. 



The placenta is usually expelled soon after the 

 birth of the fetus, the mother severing the cord with 

 her teeth and, generally, eating placentas and mem- 

 branes. The placentae should be counted, as retained 

 placentae are a fruitful source of septic poisoning. 

 After the birth of the last pup the bitch should be 

 cleaned and given clean bedding, as heretofore de- 



