Well it's been a rough day and it appears to be going into a rougher week.

I woke up this morning to my bitch who whelped a week ago doing a manic potty dance. No problem, I let her out for a soft serve turd. No biggie I thought and added a wee bit of pumpkin to her breakfast.

4 hours later she hurled what looked like the contents of the last two meals and was just acting like she didn't feel very well. I gave her a few hours, she drank some water, and I gave her a little rice with some chicken which she nibbled at but wasn't willing to really eat everything.

This afternoon water diarrea, again tried more pumpkin which she did not hurl, but she was totally unwilling to eat anything . Placed call to vet who didn't seem too concerned but suggested trying to bait her to drink more and "I'll see you in the morning if you need to come in." So far this evening one more bout of water poo with chunks of pudding (eww) and as of 7 pm her milk is gone. I began bottle feeding 4 puppies shortly after this.

She is not running a fever, has no odors or goo oozing from any pore, and has not eaten anything I'm not aware of. I've been home the last two days and she has either been in with the pups or not out of my sight. Frankly I'm at a loss as to the cause but the effect is what I'm stuck trying to figure out.

I will continue to bottle feed the puppies. That's a given. But should I seperate her from them at this point? Is there any chance she may get her milk back? She still shows interest in caring for them but not nearly the mom on a mission she was just 24 hrs ago. I figure this is because she doesn't feel well but I worry that this behavior may become more and more distancing between her and the pups and not improve.

I'm hoping the vet has actual information for me tomorrow morning but anyone with practical experience would be very appreciated.

she needs to see a good vet asap.

Debbie

As a quick follow up to this. We went to the vet who confirmed that she was a little dehydrated and would be very hungry once we took care of the dehydration issue. A little IV time and she was back to her normal peppy self within 12 hrs and was eating chicken and rice by hour 14.

The vet also suggested I bottle feed until I'm sure that she's feeding the wee ones enough so for now the four of them are sucking down two bottles a day in addition to feeding off of mom. I'm happy to continue this routine until we're in the land of weaning which is only 2 - 3 weeks away now.

Oh and eyes are starting to open as of today. It's so cool how fast they grow up.

I'm so glad to hear that mom and pups are doing well.

Glad you got it figured out. What a scary ordeal. Back to being the good mama you described.

Melissa, Great to hear everything has worked out okay! It is amazing how fast the little buggers grow up.

Regards,
Debbie