d should be wholesome, and her exercise rather increased than
diminished. She should not be made fat, neither ought she to be suddenly
reduced.

The safest course is to take no notice of the particular condition of the
animal, but to let her ordinary treatment be continued without any change.
The bitch will return to her usual manners and appearance, nor will there
be for some time anything to denote her having conceived. In the middle of
the fourth week, however, the presence of the young within the abdomen
may, by skilful manipulation, be detected. I know of no one who has before
made the observation, but I am confident as to the correctness of the
statement; since I have frequently been enabled to inform parties that
their dogs were in pup, when the circumstance was not suspected. In many
instances, I have been able to ascertain before the expiration of the
first month the number of young that would be born; but of course these
matters are not always to be told with equal certainty. They can, however,
be generally ascertained with tolerable accuracy; but where there is only
one sense to guide the knowledge, and that one is not quite unobstructed,
the judgment is liable to be mistaken with regard to particulars, though
it may be assured concerning the main point.

To discover whether a bitch is in pup, let her be placed upon a table, and
her fears or excitability banished by caresses. Then lay her upon her
side, and with the fingers gently manipulate the intestines. If the womb
is impregnated, the person, directing his attention first to the situation
the uterus occupies, near to the rim of the pelvis, and inferior to the
rectum, will there detect round smooth bodies, like little eggs. These may
not be perceptible if the bladder be loaded; but if the catheter be
employed to draw off the urine, they will surely be felt. If the rectum be
full of foeces, it serves as an admirable guide to the position of the
uterus; though he who is acquainted with anatomy needs no such assistance.

Some globular substance being detected, the fingers are advanced, and if
more than one pup be conceived, another similar to it will speedily
impinge upon the touch; then another, and so on, until the whole of the
promised family have been thus announced. The last is the most difficult
to discover: for should there be more than two or three, it may, and will,
generally occupy the extremity of a horn; and, in that situation, may
escape observa