May 23, 2011
My brood bitch has nine 3-week old pups and is losing her milk. What should I do?
Full Question:
Java's pups are 3 weeks old and it seems to me that she is losing her milk. Pups are crying. We forced her to lay down a couple times last night but after a couple of minutes she doesn?t want to feed them anymore. What should we do? Ella boiled some milk last night and gave them a little. We don't want to screw up anything. Please help if you can. I thought that I knew more about it than I really do. 
Cindy's Answer:
Clip the pups toe nails - they may be too sharp and many bitches will not like being poked. It may also be that she is sick of their teeth biting her nipples.
Make sure the bitch is getting plenty of good food. I often increase the amount of food she is getting. I will also offer her cans of chicken boulion or beef bullion. The more liquids she drinks the more milk she will make<
There has to be a reason why she is drying up. You need to figure this out. I assume you have increased her food as the litter grows. Go to Wal Mart and buy turkey burger (its not expensive) and give her an additional pound of that along with her normal feeding every day.
You have to be a a little aware of the fact that too much food will cause loose stool.
Do not feed puppies cows milk - cows milk will give the pup the diarrhea.
I have an excellent article on a puppy formula that produces 11 calories per CC of formula. It's easy to make. - I have started 3 week old puppies on this. I also make sure that the pups have water down so the option is there for them to try and drink. Many breeders screw up and don't offer water soon enough. If you touch their snout to the water some will figure out how to drink. Do the same for the formula.
I have started supplementing litters as early as 3 weeks. These were usually big litters and they needed more food than the mother could supply.
Make sure the bitch is getting plenty of good food. I often increase the amount of food she is getting. I will also offer her cans of chicken boulion or beef bullion. The more liquids she drinks the more milk she will make<
There has to be a reason why she is drying up. You need to figure this out. I assume you have increased her food as the litter grows. Go to Wal Mart and buy turkey burger (its not expensive) and give her an additional pound of that along with her normal feeding every day.
You have to be a a little aware of the fact that too much food will cause loose stool.
Do not feed puppies cows milk - cows milk will give the pup the diarrhea.
I have an excellent article on a puppy formula that produces 11 calories per CC of formula. It's easy to make. - I have started 3 week old puppies on this. I also make sure that the pups have water down so the option is there for them to try and drink. Many breeders screw up and don't offer water soon enough. If you touch their snout to the water some will figure out how to drink. Do the same for the formula.
I have started supplementing litters as early as 3 weeks. These were usually big litters and they needed more food than the mother could supply.
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