Hi all, me again! You'll be getting fed up of hearing from me by now. Wanted to pick your brains again. So our pups are 3 days old today. And mam is doing well with their care & feeding them. My only worry is her food intake. She will feed from my hand in her bed & that's the only way which is fine. But she is turning her nose to everything apart from little bits of chicken. I'm mostly concerned about keeping her calcium up. My husband was in the supermarket at 1am this morn, buying oily fish, chicken, cod, cottage cheese, rusks, green beans, milk etc. We have tried so much because she won't entertain her puppy dry mix. I'm about to go to the pet shop to buy alternative puppy foods for her to try. Any tips? I took her for a walk this morn. She managed about her usual route and I thought she would be ready to eat afterwards but nothing... All 4 pups have gained weight & are doing well. Just wish mam would eat more! All advice hugely appreciated.

Well it is nothing unusual. She probably just does not fancy eating right now as not 100%.
Have you tried goats milk? But it may be that you will fo through this non eating period for a few more days.
What you are doing. Anything to tempt her is right. Providing she does not seem ill it normally passes.

Many thanks for your response. I'm pleased that it's not unusual. Yes we have goats milk but she wasn't fussed at all, but will have a rusk or two with cows milk. Although I know it isn't great for her poop I'd rather she got some of the calcium, vits & iron. She normally goes mad for cheese but won't entertain that either. She occasionally pops out into the living room (she's in the dining room with the pups) just to see what's going on. But her ears prick up after a few seconds and she runs back. She's such a good Mam. I just want her to eat some more as her waist is thin. All she has eaten in 18 hours is some chicken cooked it butter. A little beef mince with a tiny amount of dry mix. And a couple of rusks with milk. Just doesn't seem enough.

Ok ....the way I get my fussy mums to eat is to make balls of ground mince beef and squished up soaked kibble.about the size of a large grape.
I post the first few down like giving pills...this usually stimulates them to eat by choice.
You may need to do this a few times until the normal stimulus to eat clicks in. Some just lose this natural eating instinct for the first few days, normal.

Keep an eye out for a staring effect as could indicate a problem but if she is normal in other ways ................
she might not just be hungry. Did she eat any placentas as in the wild that would be there food for a few days while they could not access other food?

Try her with cream of chicken soup most bitches go for it.
Or try her with some puppy milk

Their mouths get very sore, so I soak any dry food with lots of water.

Mine normally would not like their food soaked but do when they are feeding pups, and ti keeps the water intake up too.

Did you get her checked after you thought she'd finished whelping?    I am concerned that this not wanting to eat could be because she has retained birthing material or even a dead puppy and has infection building up.   Obviously if she had a Section (?) that should have all been removed, but if not, then unless you are experienced, I'd always get a vet to check her, confirm empty and also check the puppies for any abnormality you might have missed.

Next how many puppies does she have to cater for because with a small number she may well know she has enough nourishment to cater for them.   And newborn puppies don't take much from mums in any case - and it is just colostrum initially.

Why is she being given puppy food?    She should be on her normal good quality food, plus perhaps with some extras like raw mince, cottage cheese, scrambled egg and so on (not all in the same meal!).    Puppy food may be way too rich for her at this moment.   We've never used this for our lactating bitches in any case.

The point about how many placenta she was allowed to eat is a good one - she may quite simply not be hungry!!

I have experienced some pregnancies where the bitch refused nearly all food starting around the end of week four.  No particular reason for this could be found.  I do what Tooolz does:  I soak the normal dry food (high quality, such as Orijen) and then put it in the food processor and make it into a fairly wet paste.  I then take the bitch, put her in the kitchen sink (mine is a small breed, as you can imgaine!), open her mouth, put the food into it and hold her mouth closed until she swallows.  She knows what it is all about and seems sometimes almost grateful that I am taking care that she gets nourished.  In a couple of cases, this had to be continued even after the birth for a week or so.  There was nothing unpleasant about it, no forcing, just gently insisting that she eat.  It worked just fine.

I had to do the same with a bitch I whelped for a friend.

She had Gastroenteritis. In mid pregnancy , and then refused to rat.

I had to continue to feed soft balls of mashed soaked dry food until pups were 6 weeks.