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.