ject in giving a variety of food is that all parts of the animal may 
be nourished. The old idea that feeding meat to a puppy will 
cause distemper, mange, fits, etc., has long since been exploded. 
The dog is a carnivorous animal, meat being his natural diet, 
but when kept as a pet and getting but little exercise, the cooling 
effect of vegetables is necessary to counteract the over-stimulating 
effect of excessive meat diet. Dogs when at work in the field 
(pointers, setters, spaniels or hounds) cannot be fed too strongly 
on meats. For three months after a puppy is weaned he should 
be fed four times a day, and should never be allowed to gorge 
himself until his belly is distended like an inflated balloon, as it 
taxes the digestion, besides giving too much weight for the legs 
to support, causing rickets (crooked legs). After he has 
attained the age of five or six months, three times a day is frequent 
enough to feed, giving the principal meal in the evening, as diges¬ 
tion goes on much better when the animal is at rest. 
The custom) of feeding but once a day is the habit at many 
large kennels, but I consider twice a day much preferable, for not 
only is twenty-four hours too long for the stomach to go without 
food, but the animal so fed will bolt his food without properly 
masticating it, which is productive of indigestion. At my own 
kennels the food was prepared fresh daily. Beef heads, neck, 
flanks and bones were put in a large pot and thoroughly boiled, 
the bones then taken out and a quantity of vegetables added, all 
of which were boiled to shreds. If no rice was used the stew 
was thickened with stale bread or toast which can be broken up 
and added to the food. When done, after cooling, each 
dog was given two or three times a week, a large bone. 
This keeps the teeth clean and the small particles gnawed off con¬ 
tribute towards supplying nutrition to the animal’s bone structures. 
During the hunting season, dogs at work had in addition a liberal 
allowance of raw meat. This I consider the most approved mode of 
feeding, from the fact that the dogs get a variety of fresh, nutritious 
diet which is quite as important to the health of the dog as to that of 
a man. Small bones which are inclined to splinter should never be 
allowed, as they are liable to cause trouble either by lacerating or 
puncturing the stomach or intestines. 
4 
