My girl had her pups a week ago, and she's been fine with eating her food up until yesterday, where she seems to have gone off it.

We've been giving her 4 meals a day, usually just AG puppy food, with a spoonful or so of minced tripe, and occasionally a little bit of puppy milk just to soften the kibble a little. This has been eaten so far, but she's now started nosing it round the bowl, having a mouthful of so, and leaving it. I've tried adding scrambled egg or natural yoghurt, but she just doesn't seem interested. Her drinking habits are fine, she's having plenty of fluids, is it normal for bitches to go off their food at times? Just to add, I feed her outside the whelping box, and she's not worried about leaving the pups, so I don't think she's not eating cos she's worried about being parted from her

She also seems a bit lethargic towards the evening, so obviously I want to make sure she's eating enough so she has enough energy. I was advised to give her a drink of some puppy milk which has a spoonful of honey and glucose powder in it, but she turns her nose up at this aswell..

If she's still like this this afternoon, I think I'll book her in at the vets for a check anyway, but at the moment I'm just going to keep a close eye on her

It's not uncommon. I feed IN the welping box and often hand feed yummy tit bits for the first week or two, once the pups get a little bigger and start to draw on her reserves you will find her appetite spirals... I offer the water bowl IN the box and often put in a drop of milk to encourage drinking. I find that cooked chicken breasts are favoured and you could shred them into the kibble, boil them and pour the water over the kibble to soak all the goodness up.
If she is content and feeding not hot or too resless, no vomiting, and her toilet is OK I would not be taking her to the vet. I always ask the vet to call if I am worried may cost a bit more but less risk of infections !
Aileen

Am going to try some chicken breasts, fingers crossed

My bitches wouldn't be interested in the kibble with just a bit of mince.  They totally go off kibble, so they get on a normal day - one feed of minced steak, one feed of chicken breasts, and one feed of poached fish.  I buy the value packs of white fish from Sainsburys, a bag usually gives me 2 meals.  Normally they get scrambled egg at bedtime.  I do leave puppy kibble available, but it rarely gets touched.  I feed to appetite at this time, as their bodies are working so hard, and they need the nutrition, but often have sore mouths, so soft food goes down well. 

Thx JeanSW, she has had two chicken breasts for lunch with a tiny amount of mushy puppy kibble, infact she wolfed it down. So I shall go and invest in some more chicken breasts, fish and other meats. I guess it's ok to feed according to appetite at present, but is there anything I perhaps shouldn't give her or not much of?

We've had the same problems. Couldn't get anything down her at all. We put it down to the antibiotics my girl is on. It seems her milk is disappearing too :( I'm having to top up with Lactol on the 2 smallest pups....I'm not sure how much longer her milk will last. At this rate I'll be bottle feeding the whole litter. I''m wondering what I'm doing wrong. She's eating little & often, but today had her 1st proper meal since last week when pups arrived. When they were 2 days old she had lots of milk, then her boobs went like saggy sacks :(

angel are u weighing the pups and their not gaining?? im wondering if the pups are just feeding well and draining her, ive had mum look like theres been NO milk at all and shes fed 8 pups with good weigh gain.

edit to say good food makes the milk nice and rich ,and plenty to drink makes plenty of milk (well with most bitches that are doing well after having her pups).

Yes, when Ellie had puppies I gave her chicken & kibble, fish & kibble, and beef mince & kibble. Hubby complained that the dog was eating better than him! :-D Don't give her too much rich fatty stuff, eg pork / turkey, stick to white fish / chicken etc. :-)

Yes White Lily I'm weighing pups & yesterday there was a gain of 6 oz which would be an ounce per day, except the smaller 2. 1 has gained 4oz, but smallest gained only 2 oz since birth (vet said 'be prepared to lose him'!) Yeh right...I'm not giving up on him, he's been on Lactol, so we didn't weigh today, we're hoping for a good difference tomorrow. As long as he gains something, I'll be happy. Mum is on soaked puppy kibble, goats milk, chicken, & anything she'll eat (within reason) I rang the vet to ask if the antibiotics were the cause of the huge udders vanishing almost overnight, but he said 'No, but she may go off her food' Seems I can't win...but I'll try the white fish tomorrow. :)