THE TOY BITCH WHEN PUPPING
Too much interference is generally alternated in the case of dogs with a
disregard of their natural feelings where the arrival of puppies is
concerned. It is quite natural that the little bitch, feeling distressed
and uneasy, should claim a great deal of notice and attention, and if
she has been made a pet of she will expect, and deserve, to be allowed
to have her puppies in her mistress's dressing-room or some similar
luxury; in which she should be indulged. But once she has got over the
preliminaries, which I will presently describe, she should, if possible,
be left to herself as far as manual assistance goes. Nature will bring
the puppies into the world far better than our clumsy hands, and the
merest little tyro of a year-old bitch generally possesses the
marvellous instinct teaching her to put her babies comfortably afloat
on the sea of life. The disregard of a pet dog's feelings at which I
have hinted may take the form of sending a tiny bitch out to the stable
to pup under the care of a coachman or groom, and this may or may not be
cruel according to whether she has any affection for the man or any
knowledge of her temporary quarters; personally, I should consider it an
unkind thing to do under any circumstances.
The beginning of the toy bitch's trouble is apparent to her owner almost
as soon as to herself. She pants, and runs about excitedly, scratching
here and there, making wildly impossible and absurd nests for her
puppies in all kinds of unsuitable places. This may last for days, but
is generally only done for a few hours before the puppies arrive, which,
by the way, will be nine weeks after mating. Some bitches shriek in a
very distressing way before they pup, and, as a rule, food is refused,
and the little mother that is to be is often sick. No anxiety, however,
need be felt. As soon as she really means business she will quiet down
and settle in the place prepared for her, which by choice should be a
big, deep arm-chair, with a white blanket--any old thing will do that is
clean--folded in the seat of it, and over this an old cotton sheet,
likewise folded, and so secured that the bitch cannot scrabble it up in
the foolish endeavour to improve human bed-making which always possesses
dogs, and, if indulged, lands them in desperate discomfort on the top of
a kind of volcano of rags!
In nine cases out of ten a bitch chooses to pup in the night, and the
hours often seem very long, while she may lie and sleep in evident
uneasiness, getting up every now and then to make her bed, and panting
as if exhausted. It is quite safe to leave her in this condition for
twelve hours, but if by that time she seems to be getting weaker and no
puppies have come, the vet's services should be requisitioned. Probably
she will not eat, but she may be offered a little cold milk. On no
account give her anything hot, externally or internally, and do not be
tempted to do anything whatever to her; the only interference which is
ever excusable is the application of a very little sweet oil or vaseline
externally, which she will lick off, and which does no harm and no good,
in my experience.
If help is called for at all, it must be the skilled aid of a surgeon;
any other is worse than useless.
Illustration: FRENCH TOY BULLDOG. _"La Reine des Roses," owned by Mrs.
Townsend Green._
The puppies are born singly, and if a bitch has a large litter they
generally come in twos and threes, with a very short interval between
the items of each brace or trio, and a long rest between the batches.
The first services the mother has to render her babies are to free them
from the bag of membranes in which they are born, and to bite the cord
which joins each puppy to the afterbirth--a fleshy substance which comes
away with or shortly after it. All animals intensely dislike being
watched while they perform these operations; but every bitch who is
anything at all of a mother will manage them perfectly. Next comes the
licking of the puppies, which have been enclosed each in its membranous
bag full of liquid (the _liquor amniae_), and are consequently dripping
wet. Here is the crucial test: a good mother licks her babies until they
are warm and dry, then feeds them, and snuggles down with them into a
contented heap of intense happiness. A bad mother, on the contrary,
leaves her poor infants to dry as best they can, a process which
invariably ends in their developing a kind of infantile skin complaint,
which appears like a scab of cheesy substance attached to the roots of
the hair. It grows away with the hair by degrees, and gets well without
treatment, but is ugly and disfiguring for the time being, and a sad
evidence of incompetence on the part of the mother.
When the family have settled down, and the puppies are dry and
comfortable, it is time to give them a little attention. Have a saucer
full of nice, warm milk-gruel, made with patent groats as daintily as
for an invalid, and let the mother drink it, which she will be sure to
do with gratitude; she may have more at intervals during the first day.
Then roll away the soiled folds of sheet from under her and the litter,
which can now be done without disturbing them, and leave them cosily
ensconced on the clean, warm blanket, which has been all the time
underneath.
A little later the mother may be put out into the garden for a few
minutes, not more than two or three; but she must not be allowed to get
chilled. After the first day she should go out for a little walk morning
and afternoon, the time of her absence to be gradually lengthened as the
puppies grow older.
Until they begin to crawl, valuable toy puppies are much safer and
better upstairs in a big chair as described, or in a flat basket with a
folded blanket at the bottom set upon the chair, than they can possibly
be in any stable or in the kitchen premises, for, no matter how warm,
such places are draughty too. There is absolutely nothing about a
litter of little toys, if healthy, to be in the least offensive
anywhere, and a good mother will keep them in the very pink of
perfection for nearly a month under such circumstances.
Where a poor or weakly mother is concerned, and where the puppies are
restless, squall, and seem damp and comfortless, it is another matter.
By constant attention as to the changing of the bed, partial
hand-feeding from a small old silver spoon with cream and hot water, and
Plasmon or Lactol, half and half (better than milk, though _warm_ milk
will do), and a great deal of patience, the mother may be helped out and
the puppies saved; but where they are not valuable it is better to
destroy all but one or two; and where they are so, a good foster-mother
offers them by far the best chance of life and health. There are people
who make it their business to supply fosters, and one of these should be
applied to as soon as possible; taking pains to ensure, by careful
examination on arrival, that the stranger has no skin disease and is
free from objectionable insects.
Small toy bitches sometimes have but little milk at first, but by giving
warm food only for the first few days, and plenty of milk to drink, it
generally comes all right, and so long as the pups seem fairly content,
all is well; the flow is sure to increase. Both before and after pupping
there is generally a little diarrhoea, which is of no consequence; but
if it goes on beyond the second day after pupping, get the bitch on to
her usual diet, with a little cold milk to drink, and stop all sloppy
foods. Oatmeal, as gruel or otherwise, should never be given after the
second day. A discharge, of mucus mixed with blood, is usual after
pupping, and may continue for several weeks in gradually lessening
amount.