Breeding

Feeding the puppies and the matron

Feeding the puppies and the matron

During the first few hours after delivery, check to see that the matron has a sufficient milk supply for the puppies. The nursing period starts with the secretion of a watery milky fluid called colostrums. During the first twenty-four hours of life, newborn puppies receive antibodies from their mother’s colostrums which protect them against certain diseases for the first few weeks of life. If the mother does not have enough milk, or if there is too large a litter for her to take care of, then you must give extra bottle feedings. 

You may use a commercial bitch’s milk replacer such as Esbilac, or you can make your own formula with two teaspoons Karo Syrup, two cups whole milk, and two egg yolks. Or use two parts of evaporated milk to one of water, adding a small amount of Karo Syrup and the yolk of an egg. Mix thoroughly and keep the formula in the refrigerator, warming whatever amount is used at each feeding. A puppy nursing bottle or small doll’s nursing bottle can be used for hand=feeding. A baby lamb nipple or the anticolic nipple used for premature babies is the best type for puppies. Make sure that the hole allows the formula to pass through readily but not too fast. For puppies raised solely by hand, the feedings should be given every four to five hours around the clock. 
For hand-fed puppies, it is important after each nursing to take a swab of cotton, dip it in warm water, and massage the puppy between its hind legs until it has urinated and had a bowel movement. This takes the place of the mother’s washing, which keeps the pup clean and the bowels open. 

Living bodies are composed of cells and within each cell lies a nucleus. The nucleus contains, among other things, a number of structures called chromosomes. These resemble microscopic strings of beads, the beads being called genes. Each gene on a chromosome strings carries details of the design, size or function of some particular part of the body. Printed in the form of a remarkable chemical called DNA, physical characteristics, such as eye colour, ear shape, and coat length, are determined by genes. The genes are arranged in a certain order along the length of the chromosomes, which together form a blue print of the total make-up of an individual creature. The chromosomes are arranged in pairs in the nucleus. Each cell nucleus contains the same set of chromosome blue prints. So that, whether it be a cell from the liver, a tooth, or a paw pad, it has within it a complete plan of the whole body. Domestic dogs carry seventy-eight chromosomes arranged in pairs of thirty-nine, compared with pairs of nineteen chromosomes in the cat and pairs of twenty-three in the human. When dog cells multiply by splitting into two, the seventy-eight chromosomes produce seventy-eight identical copies of themselves by diving length ways. Thus, the genetic information is passed on from generation to generation. Thirty-eight of the thirty-nine pairs of chromosomes in a cell nucleus are virtually identical pairs, but one may differ slightly. This is the pair that determines the sex of the individual. Females carry a pair of “XX” chromosomes, while males carry one pair of “X” and one “Y” chromosomes. The reproductive germ cells of the body containing the eggs in the female and the spermatozoa in the male are unique among all the cells of the body in having only one set of chromosomes ( thirty-nine) instead of 38 pairs. This means that when they fuse together at the moment of conception, standard chromosome pairs are formed each pair consisting of one chromosome from the male and one from the female. All the sex chromosomes of a female are “ X” whereas the sex chromosomes of a male can be “X” or “Y”. thus, the sex of a puppy is dependent on whether an “X” or “Y” sperm is the first to penetrate the egg of the female. The fertilized egg contains the genes of both mother and father in equal amounts but arranged in a slightly different order along the chromosome string.