Quoted by Medicus, 'Notes for Novices: Feeding Hints', Our Dogs 48 (4th June 1920), p. 847.
Description:

'It sometimes happens that a bitch has a large litter of valuable puppies, which she is not strong enough to rear herself, and so it becomes necessary to “foster” them. On this topic I was reading recently some practical hints in a book by Edward Mayhew, which are well worth reproducing. He says that the pups want to be fed early and late, consequently they must be taken into the bedroom, and when the feeding time arrives the soundest sleeper will be reminded of his duty. “A bottle, such as is used for infants of the human kind, must have a sort of nipple made of wash-leather fitted to it. The leather is to be pricked all over with a fine needle, and within it is to be placed a small piece of sponge, to give substance and form to it... Each pup occupies from ten to fifteen minutes at a meal, and they may be allowed to decide the quantity that will do them good, unless they should be obsessively gluttonous, when the indulgence of its appetite should be retained.”’

 

Relevant passage from Mayhew:

'Hand-rearing 'is more troublesome than difficult to do. The pups want to be fed early and late; consequently, they must be taken into the bed-room; and when the feeding time arrives, the soundest sleeper will be reminded of his duty. A bottle, such as is used for infants of the human kind, must have a sort of nipple made of wash-leather fitted to it. The leather is to be pricked all over with a fine needle, and within it is to be placed a small piece of sponge to give substance and form to it. There is need to do that, because the pup when it licks wraps the tongue round the teat; and unless the body thus grasps has bulk, it cannot extract the liquid. This, therefore, being attended to, the little creatures very soon learn their lesson, and all that is subsequently to be done will be to hold them to the bottle, and the bottle to them. Each pup occupies from ten to fifteen minutes at a meal; and they may be allowed to decide the quantity that will do them good unless one should obviously be morbidly gluttonous, when the indulgence of its appetite should be restrained.

During the night the bitch must be kept away from her hungry tormentors; but in the day-time she may be allowed to go to them every time after they have been fed; and she may remain to enjoy their society for half-an-hour on each occasion. The small gluttons, though full of cow juice, will nevertheless find appetite for such a luxury as mother’s milk; but their energies being blunted, they will have power to do no more than to prevent an accumulation within the glands. The little, however, which they can swallow seems to do them much good; for after this manner have brought up many pups, though, when I have attempte to rear them wholly upon cow’s milk, success has not alway rewarded my care.' (221-222)

Quoted by Medicus, 'Notes for Novices: The Hand-Rearing of Puppies', Our Dogs 84 (19th June 1931), p. 879.
Description:

‘I made a promise recently that I would write on the subject of hand-rearing of puppies. The matter is one of perpetual interest to novices, and if I repeat now a good deal of what I have previously said on the subject, regular readers of this column must forgive me, and bear in mind that there is a constant stream of newcomers into the fancy, and therefore, of new readers of Our Dogs who had probably not been reading these “Notes” for any considerable time.

Now, in the first place, let it be clearly understood that almost everything about the future welfare of a puppy depends upon it having a good start in life. If this is to be insured he must not be a member of too large a family. Many dog owners make the mistake of allowing a bitch to rear, or attempt to rear, too many puppies, with the result that if they do not actually lose some portion of them, some are sure to be delicate, and if so, will remain a source of trouble and expense for a long time, and perhaps do no good at the finish. When puppies are expected, therefore, arrangements should be made to have a foster mother available, which can take over a share of the maternal responsibilities. There is usually not much difficulty in arranging this, as the advertising columns of Our Dogs will abundantly testify. The important thing is to get matters fixed up early, and when the exchange is effected, it should be done with care and prudence, so that the foster mother upon which the trick is being played does not have her suspicions aroused. Now there will often be one or more whelps that do not thrive like the rest, however well their own mother or their foster mother may look after them. In some cases it may be desirable, even if not actually necessary, to adopt a preliminary system of what may be called preliminary hand-feeding. This can be done on ordinary hand-feeding methods, which are sometimes desirable to adopt long before the puppies are actually weaned, and just merely by way of relieving a bitch which is struggling to provide for the needs of a big family.

...

 

The best advice I ever remember to have come across in regard to the hand-rearing of puppies was written many years ago by Edward Mayhew – a famous authority a generation ago. I think I have quoted his advice before in this column, but no apology is needed for repeating it. He says:-

A bottle such as is used for infants of the human kind, must have a sort of nipple made of wash-leather fitted to it. The leather is to be pricked all over with a tiny needle, and within it is to be placed a small piece of sponge, to give substance and form to it. There is need to do that because the pup, when it sucks, wraps its tongue round the teat, and unless the body it so grasps has bulk, it cannot extract the liquid.

This, therefore, being attended to, the little creatures very soon learn their lesson, and all that is subsequently to be done will be to hold them to the bottle, and the bottle to them.

Again, advocating the feeding of voracious puppies separately from the bitch in order to relieve her, he says:-

The small gluttons, though full of cow’s juice, will nevertheless find appetite for such a luxury as mother’s milk; but their energies being blunted, they will have power to do no more than prevent an accumulation within the glands. The little, however, they swallow, seems to do them much good, for after this manner I have brought up many pups, though when I have attempted to rear them wholly on cow’s milk success has not always been rewarded my care.

The explanation which probably lies in the fact that cow’s milk differs somewhat in composition from bitches’ milk... If to cow’s milk be added a small quantity of orange juice and a few drops of cod-liver oil, excellent results will generally be obtained, and motherless whelps can be reared quite easily – use being made of the ingenious feeding-bottle arrangement suggested by Mayhew.’

 

Relevant passage from Mayhew:

Hand-rearing 'is more troublesome than difficult to do. The pups want to be fed early and late; consequently, they must be taken into the bed-room; and when the feeding time arrives, the soundest sleeper will be reminded of his duty. A bottle, such as is used for infants of the human kind, must have a sort of nipple made of wash-leather fitted to it. The leather is to be pricked all over with a fine needle, and within it is to be placed a small piece of sponge to give substance and form to it. There is need to do that, because the pup when it licks wraps the tongue round the teat; and unless the body thus grasps has bulk, it cannot extract the liquid. This, therefore, being attended to, the little creatures very soon learn their lesson, and all that is subsequently to be done will be to hold them to the bottle, and the bottle to them. Each pup occupies from ten to fifteen minutes at a meal; and they may be allowed to decide the quantity that will do them good unless one should obviously be morbidly gluttonous, when the indulgence of its appetite should be restrained.

During the night the bitch must be kept away from her hungry tormentors; but in the day-time she may be allowed to go to them every time after they have been fed; and she may remain to enjoy their society for half-an-hour on each occasion. The small gluttons, though full of cow juice, will nevertheless find appetite for such a luxury as mother’s milk; but their energies being blunted, they will have power to do no more than to prevent an accumulation within the glands. The little, however, which they can swallow seems to do them much good; for after this manner have brought up many pups, though, when I have attempte to rear them wholly upon cow’s milk, success has not alway rewarded my care.' (221-222)

Quoted by T. Quick, 'Puppy Love: Domestic Science, “Women's Work,” and Canine Care,' Journal of British Studies 58 (2) (2019), pp. 289-314.
Description:

'Dog breeders had long been aware that a mother bitch’s milk wasnot always sufficient to raise a litter of puppies, especially when that litter was large.As moral and medical concerns about wet-nursing had not crossed over to dog breeding, nineteenth-century breeders of pedigree dogs would keep another (usually less “well-bred”) bitch on standby in case the valued mother could not provide adequately for her young... There was some experimentation with other possibilities. For example, in his 1854 treatise on canine management, Edward Mayhew (brother of the renowned journalist Henry) recommended that bottles intended for human infants be adapted for puppies. Mayhew admitted, however, that in attempting to substitute cow’s milk for that of dogs, “success has not always rewarded my care.” [note: 'Edward Mayhew, Dogs: Their Management, Being a Plan for the Treatment of the Animal (London,1854), 222.']' (294-295)