Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1938-06-16
DOGGIE DOINGS
CARE OF THE NEWBORN
By M. D. DENLINGER
CONTINUED from last week.

The outlook may be considered
favorable if at this tine the breasts
are large and fairly good flow of
milk has been established. The chances
are also increased somewhat where
puppies have been previously born,
for in many instances the quantity OF
milk is notably greater after the
second and third litters; and it would
seem that in certain mothers it grew
more abundant after every whelping,
up to the fourth or fifth year.
/ The kind and amount of food also
bear upon this question, more heavily
even than the age, and in all cases
where the mother has not been wisely
and generously fed during CESSATION
scanty supply of milk is the rule,
while in exceptions to it, in which
there is an abundance of milk after
whelping, its early decline in guam
tity or quality, and generally both,
may be confdentally expected. Again,
the health of the nursing mother is a
matter of infinite Importance and the
fact need not be urged that ii her
constitution is poor or she is victim
oil harrassing and facilitating disease
her milk supply can never be apund-
ant; moreover, that what little she
has will be vitiated and unwhole-
some if not absolutely poisonous.
Summarizing briefly, for the pur-
pose of emphasizing the first essen
tials brought out in the foregoing:
The puppies should be put to the
breast and made to nurse if possible
as soon as the whelping is over and
the bedding has been changed. Duly
considering the facts stated am esti-
mate should be made of the chances
of having a goodly supply of milk,
and if they seem poor everything
needful should be at once obtained
and kept in readiness to nourish arti-
ficially as soon as indications for
such treatment appear. AS for signs
manifested by little ones that are de-
MED sufficient milk, their abdomens
instead of being well rounded out and
somewhat resistent to pressure are
quite flat, the walls being relaxed and
faccid; they sleep much of the time
and seem unwilling to make any at
tempt to nurse, and when taken in
the hands are limp and feeble. These
symptoms in the main are those of
weakness and may be occasioned by a
large variety of influences, yet the
conditions of the mothers breasts be-
ing questionable they must point to
starvation as the cause, and the serv-
ices of foster mother should be Sc
cured Immediately.
Breeders generally seem impressed
with the idea that most canine
mothers suffer from milk fever, yet
this is by no means the rule where
puppies are born alive and continue to
live and nurse vigorously during the
next forty-eight hours. And the rea-
son why they so often escape appears
in the fact that they begin to suckle
their young very soon after whelping,
consequently their breasts are seldom
very much swollen even when the
milk is abundent. Where puppies that
have reached an advanced stage of
CESSATION are born dead or die shortly
after delivery, usually, but not in
variably, all the phenomena of milk
fever manifest themselves, the breast
becomes much swollen and evidently
painful, the skin is hot and dry and
the pulse quickened: there are thirst,
loss of appetite and a decided disin-
clination to activity. Of these symp-
toms generally the fever and acceler-
alton of pulse are the first to disap-
pear, and in the course of from
twenty-four to forty-eight hours, at
which time the breast although still
distended is evidently less acutely
painful. The rapidity with which the
swelling in them subsidies depends
much upon the treatment, but even
when none is applied the natural state
of things is generally restored ere
the end of the week.
The dangers of this and other