Parturition
The pupping usually takes place from the sixty-second to the sixty-fourth day; and the process having commenced, from a quarter to three quarters of an hour generally takes place between the production of each puppy.
Great numbers of bitches are lost every year in the act of parturition: there seems to be a propensity in the females to associate with dogs larger than themselves, and they pay for it with their lives. The most neglected circumstance during the period of pregnancy is the little exercise which the mother is permitted to take, while, in point of fact, nothing tends more to safe and easy parturition than her being permitted or compelled to take a fair quantity of exercise.
When the time of parturition has arrived, and there is evident difficulty in producing the fœtus, recourse should be had to the ergot of rye, which should be given every hour or half hour, according to circumstances. If after a certain time some, although little, progress has been made, the ergot must be continued in smaller doses, or perhaps suspended for a while; but, if all progress is evidently suspended, recourse must be had to the hook or the forceps. By gentle but continued manipulation much may be done, especially when the muzzle of the puppy can be brought into the passage. As little force as possible must be used, and especially the fœtus little broken. Many a valuable animal is destroyed by the undue application of force.
If the animal seems to be losing strength, a small quantity of laudanum and ether may be administered.
"The patience of bitches in labour is extreme," says Mr. Blaine; "and their distress, if not removed, is most striking and affecting. Their look is at such time particularly expressive and apparently imploring."
When the pupping is protracted, and the young ones are evidently dead, the mother may be saved, if none of the puppies have been broken. In process of time the different puppies may, one after another, be extracted; but when violence has been used at the commencement, or almost at any part of the process, death will assuredly follow.
June 15, 1832.