Hi everyone, I'm new to all this so sorry for the essay!!
my gsd had 7 pups last thursday and it's the first time for me & her! there always seems to be a mad rush for all the pups to find a teat when they're hunger with lots of moaning! so I didn't know if they were all getting enough. I already bought some welpi and little nursing bottle so I thought I'd help out the little ones but they don't seem to take it from me, most of the time them scream more! or aren't interested until I put them back with mum & they go mad again trying to find a teat, so I just wondered what's the best way to do it?
Also the last few days I'm having trouble getting her to stay with them after shes been to the loo! she's fine once I get her back in, licking them and all that! but she'd rather be out of the box! any ideas?
thanks Suzanne

They are not interested in the bottle because they want mums milk, and presumably are getting enough of that. They will only take the bottle if they are hungry. As long as they are all gaining weight, dont worry. Mum will spend short periods away from them now - they wont need her 24/7 and as long as she feeds and cleans them often regularly all will be fine! It is their natural instinct to "swarm" to her when she returns.

Hi Suzanne,

Fillis has it bang on :P  We had a litter of 8 last year and I was convinced they'd need bottle feeding - no way were they interested, Mum was far more appealing :)  If they are gaining weight then they are doing well.
My girl wanted to stay with her babies all the time and I struggled to get her out to the loo for almost two weeks (had to put her lead on :rolleyes: ) but she missed her *own time* spent with us too so we made a point of fussing her and cuddling her when we could get her away from the pups.  Perhaps your girl is like most new human mums - loves the pups but just wants a little "Me time" ;)

Congrats on their safe arrival, and good luck,
Teri  :)

thanks everyone for the advise, they are putting abit of weight on not sure if it's enough, I've been weighing them with my old food scales with lb's on it with 16 little lines in between each lb', not sure what these are, but they have been putting about 1 of the lines on a day so now they are 20 little lines, a quarter over 1lb,

There are 16 ounces in a pound. ;) A gain of an ounce a day is fine - that's what's recommended for human babies!

Just a thought.  You said you bought a nursing bottle.  A pup of the size of a German shepherd really needs a baby's bottle and teat.  The small size of the teat on the nursing bottles you get in pet shops would be useless.

An ounce a day is not much for a pup the size of a German Shepherd to increase.  At that rate, with a birth size of about a pound, the pups will only weigh 2 and a half pounds by the age of 3 weeks.  I would have thought they should ideally be about 4 pounds by 3 weeks.  Still, they are not my breed, but my breed is about the same adult size.  So I'm sure some German Shepherd breeders can answer you better.

so if my pups haven't been feeding enough for a week could something happen to them or will they just be small but alright? they started off between 13 & 16 ounces and today they are all around 25 ounces.

Angelsuz I dont breed GSDs but I dont think 7 is a excessive amount and the mother should be able to cope on her own.  My dalmatian which is a smaller breed managed to feed 11 of them on her own and my current one has managed 9 without any interference whatsoever.  Do they look like they are gaining weight?  Do they feel heavier? From what you are saying they have gained lots of weight.  When bottle feeding you do run more of a risk of fluid getting into their lungs and personally I would never do it unless I thought they were actually too weak to feed from the mum.

What did they weigh at birth and what do they weigh now?

Hi angelsuz

Congratulations to you and mum.......well done all.

I use to breed Geramn Shephers about 3 Years ago and we use to help mum out sometimes.

Mums milk is best but what we did find was that we used a Lambs Milk....trying to think very hard what we called it.

Lamlick ..........well I never must be old age creeping in.

It was brilliant and we use to get it from the farmer but you can get it from places like central wool growers farm accesories place.

Also as they weaned of mum and as they get a little bigger we use to put a saucer in the welping box and you should see them dive in for it.

****THINK THIS IS A TOP TIP**** Just warm it slightly.It comes in powder Form by the way and you mix with water.

As well as give this on its own we also use to mix it with the wheatabix so it was more milky than wheatabix they loved it.

Messy but what the hell as long as they liked it we would do the clearing up.

Remember angelsuz its very important to give them as much as they can eat......they use to have milky chops and mum had great pleasure cleaning them as she liked the milk as well.

We gave here some as well other wise she would drink the pups befor they got it and bear in mind she is taking a bashing with all that feeding.

Reference the bottles from the pet shops if I remember are very very small and we use to get the ones they feed the k lambs with the black teet ones.

The other thing is that there is always one or two that never seem to get onto mum.

You will see which ones if you watch them and mum.

So although not very nice we use to pull the fatty ones off and offer the weaker ones to mums teet.
Make sure you put the fatty one the other end of the welping box so it takes a while to get back.They find there way soon enough.

If I can be of any more help then please ask.

We spent a fortune on our pups because we looked on it that when they go unless you keeping one or two the at least we have done the best for them.Its down to the new owners from then on.

Another tip is we use to offfer free insurance for I think and dont quote me 6 to 8 weeks with one of the insurers.
It is called a puppy pack.After the 6 to 8 weeks then its upto the new owners to continue with the company or find another insurer.

COoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooor and you say your doing an essay!!!!!!!!

Well only too pleased to help if I can.
Alexis

Hi angelsuz

Reference the name of the milk if needed: OVERLACK Its a lamb replacement Milk.

Alexis

Mate used to use Lamblack for her litters.

Hi Lea

Yes it is good.We was breeding for years and out of the 100 we bred they all had the very best start with it.

Not cheap but well worth it.

It mixes well with all the feed we gave as it made the food a lot easier for the pups to digest.
We took a good puppy food and put it through the liquidiser and then added the Overlack to this to get the right mix for a puppy of only weeks old to be able to digest.

They love it.

Alexis

And boy didnt it smell good :D

Me Again angelsuz.

Could have written a book by this time.

Also and I hope Iam not going on too much thionk some will say Iam or giving away too much but hey WHY NOT.

When it is time for the pups to go.

We always use to put together a going away goody bag for the new owners.

They will do whatever they are going to do and feed.BUT

At least you have done your bit for the pups.

Goody bag.

Food that it has been use to.
The special powder milk enough for a couple of pints to wean them off it.
A toy well it was just a comforter for him/her as she goes off on here expedition.Don't forget she or he will have been use to his or her brothers and sisters around.Its a big World out there.

Feeding times or they may have there own ideas.Personaly we always had food for the pups available all the time.They need a good start and they got it.

Any other tips you may have found work.

They like to chew so if the new owners dont want there new dresser chewed I suggest they listern.

***Top Tip*** losing count

Vic yes vic the smelly stuff you put on your chest use to work for us the vapour keeps them away providing you can put up with the smell.
Better than having a £400-£800 dresser chewed.

The next one is well against everything I would not normaly mention..
Germoline not sure on spelling terrible at spelling me.......Its the pink stuff with antiseptic/very mild local anasthetic

If pup should get into a scrape or even your own dogs.
I will add this that if you are not sure then always consult or take to a vet.
Just very minor cut or scrape simply smear the whole area if clean with geramoline.This will sooth the cut or scrape and also keep it free from infection.
We had a dog catch its belly and we done this and just to make sure a few days later we took her to the vets and it had completly healed he wondered why we had took her in.(Better safe than Sorry)

This worked for us like all the Herbal & Homeopathic products we use.

Hope this has helped some more and if you need to know anything else then don't be afraid to ask.
I don't now everthing but what we have learnt I am happy to help where I can.

ALL THE BEST TO YOU AND YOUR NEWCOMERS>
Alexis.

thanks so much for all you info. my pups are still putting abit on each day and they seem alright, some still abit lighter than others & they never seen to have hugely full bellies after feeds but they're still here, they are a week & 3 days now & weigh around 29 ounces, still not got their eyes open yet & i'm still sleeping on the settee cause mum tends to end up sitting on one when she gets back in the box with them!
I think it's the most stressful thing I've ever done (& my 17 month old daughter is no angel!) but she's nothing compared to all the worring I've done for the past week and a half over my puppies!

thanks again for all the help & advise

Suzanne