The Dog's Medical Dictionary / An encyclopædia of the diseases, their diagnosis & treatment, and the physical development of the dog

by Alfred Joseph Sewell

If a bitch has been in the habit of being regularly washed, this may be continued as usual, when the heat has passed, until about the seventh week, when it is not advisable to put the bitch right into warm water in case abortion might be induced.

While on the subject of abortion, I may mention that a bitch ought never to be sent on a journey by train during the last two weeks, for a shaking of this kind is more likely to cause premature confinement than anything else I know.

It is very important that the bitch should be quite clean at the time of parturition, and it is a good plan to wash the stomach and breast, also the vulva and surrounding parts, with a strong warm solution of Pearson’s fluid, about one in forty. Some treatment of this kind is more likely to prevent young puppies from having worms soon after birth than anything else. It is a common custom, and I think a very good one, to give a bitch in pup a dose of castor oil about three days before she is due. In many cases, especially when the bitch is a bit gross, it is advisable to give a dose of the oil a week before her time is up, and again in three or four days.

Bitches, as a rule, have their puppies on the sixty-second or sixty-third day, the day of service being included; but some will pup on the sixtieth day, or even a day or so earlier, and the puppies may be fairly strong; but when born before the fifty-seventh day they seldom live. On the other hand, many, especially those of the larger breeds, will go two or three days over the specified time without inconvenience; and I have known one to go as long as seventy-three days, and then to have a litter of strong, healthy puppies, but this does not often occur when there is a large litter.

One who is accustomed to dogs can tell within a few hours when a bitch is going to pup. There is disinclination for food, the vulva is swollen, and there is a discharge of thick mucus from the vagina, and, as a rule, she seeks a quiet spot to be alone.

At this time, after making the bitch comfortable with a nice clean straw bed—there is nothing better than straw, which should not be supplied too plentifully—she should be left by herself for a time. As the labour pains come on, she becomes restless, and pants; is frequently looking around, and licking herself. When such occurs, labour in earnest may be considered to have commenced; and if all is going well, one or more puppies should be born in the course of an hour or so. If after two hours there are no signs of a puppy appearing, it is well to examine the bitch; but if a bladder (fœtal membrane) is protruding from the vagina, there is no hurry to interfere, as this is a sign, as a rule, that matters are taking a normal course, and that more time is required; and the bitch, after being offered some milk, may be left again for another hour or two. Bitches at their first pupping should always be given more time than one which has had two or three litters, and this is more especially the case when she is three or four years old, or even older. I have known bitches when over nine years of age to have a litter of puppies for the first time, and, as may be expected, it often goes very hard with them, though with care they may live through it. Once the membrane protrudes, which the bitch generally ruptures by biting, the first puppy, if everything is all right, soon makes its appearance; and, as a rule, by the time the cord is divided, and she has attended to the young arrival’s toilet, another youngster is nearly born, and in the course of an hour the bitch may have given birth to three or four puppies; then, perhaps, if there are any more, there is an interval of two or three hours, which gives the bitch time to recover her strength, and take some refreshment in the way of thin oatmeal gruel or plain milk, and in most cases this is quite sufficient; but if there are signs of exhaustion, some Brand’s essence, or the white of an egg beaten up with milk, and a small quantity of brandy, may be given. After this, in cases of the smaller breeds, when the average number is four or five, the last of the puppies soon makes its appearance; this also refers to terriers, though they may have five or six, or even more puppies, as they are such strong dogs compared to toy spaniels, pugs, etc.

Very often a bitch will have all her puppies but one with the greatest ease (for it is seldom a bitch cries out whilst pupping after the first litter), when the pains seem to cease altogether, and do not return for many hours afterwards, perhaps not until the next day. In such cases, a dose of some medicine to excite the action of the uterus is necessary, but this will be dealt with later on.

Bitches of the larger breeds which have big litters of twelve, fourteen, sixteen, and more puppies, invariably take all day, even in normal cases; but after twelve some assistance and great care are required, for by this time the mother is getting exhausted. Good gruel should be offered, and about every three hours the white of an egg beaten up with a teacupful of milk and a dessertspoonful of brandy should be given.

Bitches that have had their puppies easily do not require much food during the next twenty-four hours, the fœtal envelopes, which are always eaten, affording a certain amount of nourishment; therefore, if some thin oatmeal gruel or Benger’s food made with milk be offered, it is sufficient. Plain milk may also be given to drink. The same diet does for the following two days, with the addition of some soup or sheep’s-head broth with bread or crushed dog biscuits, a small quantity twice a day. After the third day a more liberal diet may be allowed; boiled fish, as fresh haddock, with bread, also the meat from a sheep’s head, and bread or broken biscuit soaked soft in the soup. By degrees the quantity and quality of the food may be increased, for after a fortnight, when there is a large litter, a good deal of nourishment is required, if the bitch is to be kept strong and the puppies fat.

Very often, two or three days after parturition, the bitch has diarrhœa. As a rule, it is not severe, and passes off in the course of twenty-four hours. Should it continue after this time, a dose of castor oil and laudanum may be given. In small bitches, as toys, a teaspoonful of the oil with three drops of laudanum; for terriers, a dessertspoonful of the former and five drops of the latter; collies, etc., a tablespoonful, and ten drops of tincture of opium; and large bitches, two tablespoonfuls and ten drops. The dose should be repeated in six hours. If the diarrhœa continues after the oil has worked off, from five[1] to twenty grains of bismuth may be given three or four times a day, shaken dry on the tongue. During the diarrhœa, the milk should be thickened with arrowroot, and the soup be given with rice instead of bread or biscuit.