PREPARATION FOR "WHELPING. 271 



measure all necessity for opening medicine will be avoided. 

 During the last few weeks her food should be regulated by her 

 condition, which must be raised if she is too low, or the reverse 

 if she is too fat, the desired medium being such a state as is 

 compatible with high health, and neither tending towards ex- 

 haustion nor inflammation. Excessive fat in a bitch not only 

 interferes with the birth of the pups, but also is very liable to 

 interfere with the secretion of milk, and, if this last does happen, 

 aggravates the attendant or "milk" fever. To know by the eye 

 and hand how to fix upon this proper standard, it is only neces- 

 sary to feel the ribs, when they should at once be apparent to 

 the hand, rolling loosely under it, but not evident to the eye 

 so as to count them. It is better to separate the bitch from other 

 dogs during the last week or ten days, as she then becomes 

 restless, and is instinctively and constantly looking for a place to 

 whelp in, whereas, if she is prevented from occupying any de- 

 sirable corner, she is uneasy. At this time the food should be of a 

 very sloppy nature, chiefly .composed of broth, or milk and bread, 

 adding oatmeal according to the state of the bowels. 



PREPARATION FOR WHELPING. 



The best mode of preparing a place for the bitch to whelp in 

 is to nail a piece of old carpet over a smooth boarded floor, to 

 a regular "bench," if in a sporting kennel; or on a door or 

 other flat piece of board raised a few inches from the ground, 

 if for any other breed. When a regular wooden box or kennel, 

 as these are called in ordinary language, is used for the bitch, 

 she may as well continue to occupy it, as she will be more 

 contented than in a fresh place ; but it is not so easy to get at 

 her there if anything goes wrong with either mother or whelps, 



