Notwithstanding this lessened digestibility of the meat, dogs are capable of disposing of these soups to good advantage if the quantity is properly restricted, but if in excess much of them is unaffected during their journey through the body, and is therefore wasted; and, besides, the digestive organs are very likely to rebel and become deranged in consequence of the imposition.

As for fresh meats cooked for the table, unless of course a perfect contempt for culinary laws is exhibited, they can safely be regarded as quite well suited to the digestion of dogs, also, as containing the most of the nutritive properties of these foods. And where dogs share the diet of their masters, or in other words are fed on scraps from the table, and the quantity of meat given them is ample, it is scarcely necessary to consider the question of quality or that of cooking.

But considering the popular method of cooking meat specially for dogs and the want of care which so many exhibit in its application, the conclusion is inevitable that under certain conditions of life they should be fed on raw meat while those conditions last.

That this may be accepted the fact is urged that no matter how scientific the process of cooking, alterations of a chemical nature are induced in meat and some of its nutritive elements are wasted. Were man perfectly familiar with all the inner workings of the dog's mechanism, the demands in the way of food and the peculiarities of his organs concerned in digestion, then the problem of supply required for the growth and health of the body and to renew the loss from wear and tear, etc., might possibly be worked out. But the dietician has yet to enter this province, and at present only rough estimates can be made, and a very wide margin must be left to cover the many conditions, fixed or accidental, of which little or nothing is known.

Thus far experience has shown the writer that bitches in-pup which are occasionally allowed raw meat during the periods of gestation and nursing are stronger and healthier, give whelp to more vigorous puppies and prove better support for the same, than bitches fed entirely on cooked meat during these periods - that is, on meat cooked specially for them. The reason for the superior qualities is of course problematical, but it would seem that either raw meat was more easily digested by them and more readily converted with less waste into materials for building, for renovation of the body, etc., than cooked meat, or that raw meat contained highly important elements in better forms or more correct proportions for the work in which they were engaged, and to support them while doing it, than cooked meat.

Experience has also shown that in many morbid states of the system not only is raw meat more acceptable to the digestive organs, but recovery takes place much more rapidly under its use than it does under the use of cooked meat. And another product of experience is the fact that puppies to which raw meat is given often and judiciously, thrive better, grow in structure with greater rapidity, assume more massive proportions and are less frequently ailing than those given cooked meat only, although the quantity of meat is the same in both instances.

But there is a bitter prejudice against the giving of uncooked meat to dogs because of the parasites which it sometimes contains. Beyond doubt this danger exists, for nations habituated to the use of raw meat are notorious harborers of tapeworms; but still the writer believes that much greater alarm is felt than is justifiable. Man is as easily infected as dogs, yet among people of civilized countries cases of tapeworms are never frequent, - in fact they are rare except in imagination, in which pictures of them are drawn by pretenders to medical skill, who have methods of their own for deluding their patients. And considering this rarity, also that cooking as often applied will not destroy the vitality of these parasites, raw meat cannot be nearly as fierce a menace as generally reputed.

This is true of the kinds of meat which appear on the table while yet partially cooked, or "done rare," as commonly expressed, but there are evidently animal substances -some of them are occasionally eaten by man often fed out to dogs, from which far greater danger is to be apprehended unless they are first submitted to a boiling temperature. Among such are the hearts, livers, lungs - called "lights" by many - paunches and other internal organs. Even greater danger lurks in the entrails of many animals; and these, whether from sheep, cattle, horses or game, should be given to dogs only after they have been thoroughly boiled for the purpose of destroying what parasites are present. The brains of certain animals, especially the sheep, are also a source of danger, which must exclude them from the diet until they have been treated in the same way as the entrails.

These dangers from so many different sources can, however, be easily obviated by observing the simple rule, to feed to dogs, while yet in the raw state, only good, sound and wholesome beef or mutton, and thoroughly cook all other flesh foods allowed them. This religiously adhered to, the danger of parasites from animal foods will be very slight indeed and need not occasion any uneasiness.

Breeders generally are much prejudiced against pork, and rightly so, for it is rich and burdensome to the digestive organs - in fact of all meats it is the most difficult of digestion. At the same time to what are called "scraps" by some and "cracklings" by others, which are the refuse of melting or refining, there can be no valid objection as an occasional ingredient of the diet of hardy dogs. But instead of giving them, as is sometimes the custom, as they are broken from the cakes, much the better way is to make soups of them and thicken the same with vegetable foods.

Although liver is nearly as deserving of prejudice as pork it frequently appears before dogs, and doubtless it is accountable for many mysterious attacks of diarrhoea, for it is one of the richest of foods and as difficult of digestion as it is rich. Considering which only an occasional and sparing use should be the rule.