By Lynneb
Date 17.11.15 16:30 UTC
My girl had a section yesterday morning. She wants nothing to do with the pups, quite normal under the circumstances. I am bottle feeding 2hourly. This is not the problem. My girl is really withdrawn, will only eat if hand fed, shy away from her food dish as if she is scared of it. She has always been a total foodie. Taking a little interest in the pups but only if I cover them with butter which she licks off and walks away. She does not seem to have much milk. Not her first litter and she is normally a brilliant mum. This her last litter.
Hi Lynn, congratulations on your new babies. Not sure if you are feeding her normal food but when our girls have first delivered we tend to make up some gruel with porridge oats, egg, honey and glucose, calcium can be added if you feel necessary, I feel this is lighter on the stomach, more tempting and restores some energy. In the few days following delivery we reintroduce her normal food along with scrambled egg. With regards to the feeding, after a section the milk is not as plentiful as after a normal delivery, it is important to keep putting the pups on to feed (this may require an extra pair of hands) this will ensure they get the antibodies they need from the colostrum. When one of ours was sectioned last year, she was terrified of the pups, if was her first litter. She had little milk and initially had to be held down to get the pups feeding, they fed round the clock for around the first 24 hours, we did not see the usual, feed then sleep routine that you would normally see. It was hard work but it paid off when several hours later (around 10 hours after delivery) she started to show proper interest in them, chewing cords and licking them like you would normally see. By the time they were 24 hours old, she had a better supply of milk.

The colostrum is only available for a short time, so pups need to be placed on Mum to feed even if you have to hold her.
If you bottle feed then she wont' get milk, as it's the almost constant suckling in the first three days that brings the milk on-line.
I have always found the bitch is groggy so quite easy to get pups on without her really knowing what's what at first.