Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1938-06-30
DOGGIE DOINGS
CARE OF THE NEWBORN
BY NJ. D. DENLINGER
Continued from last week.

N-1hG OE III z NE w -DOhN
On one occasion the writer had
Dane who invariably layed on her
pups killing them. She whelped two
puppies during the night, but as the
litter was so small, she had not shown
signs of pregnacy, therefore no pre-
paration had been made for a Foster
Mother. There was only two bitches
nursing at the time, both were Schip-
perkes, to leave the pups with the
Dane would have been fatal, SO the
two filters of Schippefkes were pu,
on one mother, and the two Danes on
the other Schipperke. 1t is admitted
that the Danes did not reach their
normal size or growth at weaving,
but made it up later and matured into
full sized specimens.
1t is of the greatest importance
that the foster mother be in good
health, and imperatively necessary is
it that she be not only absolutely free
from mango and other contagious af-
fections but that there exist not the
slightest danger of her being the
carrier of disease, for instance, did
she belong to kennel in which there
were or had recently been cases of
distemper, although she herself might
be perfectly safe from the disease
she would yet be ineligible, since she
would likely transmit the germs in
her coat.
With due regard to possible irregu-
larities in the duration of CESSATION,
| it is advisable that the foster mother
be due to whelp about day earlier
than the bitch whose duties she may
be called upon to assume. Yet nice
adjustments need not be attempted,
for milk three or four days older than
that of the adopted is generally well
borne, and in fact, instances are not
infrequent where puppies in the first
OF second days of life do well on milk
from week to ten days old.
As for puppies that are in the last
part of the first week milk even three
OF four weeks old is often kindly re-
ceived by them. And in one case the
writer put puppies of this age to the
breasts Of mother and brought back
her milk, which had nearly all dis
appeared, after she had weaned her
own litter.
Another case of even greater in
terest than this was that of an Eng
lish setter. Some five months after
whelping, one of her mates, a toy,
had litter of puppies, of which this
setter at once became very fond.
And as she was friendly with their
mother she was permitted to pass
much of her time with them and
snuggle them as she would her own.
Very strangely, indeed, by the end Of
the second week, and doubtless in
consequence of frequent tugging by
the puppies, milk appeared in her
breasts, which was absolutely dry
when these little ones were born; and
she nursed them regularly until
weaned. More than this, after the
toys had been weaned, two Danes
about a week old were put to her
breasts, and these, also, she carried
to the weaving.
Considering that delay is extremely
liable to prove fatal, obviously the
transfer of the puppies to the foster
should be made as soon as signs
appear that their mother will be un-
able to nourish them. And the fact
deserves emphasis that to wait for
positive proof in the instance is al
ways hazardous.
| In dicussing this subject it is quite
the custom to intimate that it is a
hard task to induce foster mothers to
do their duty by their charges, yet
the writer's experience is at variance,
and only in one instance has he en-
countered any difficulty, although he
has made many transfers, while in
this exceptional case the introduction
was SO abrupt and due formalities so
sighted the results occasioned no
surprise.
A wise course to pursue in making
the transfer is to remove both lit