I am worried that My bitch still has lots of milk.  Her 3 pups at 5 1/2 weeks are eating 4 meals a day and doing well. My concern is that idealy I would like to let her be with her pups as often as posible but if I dont keep her out they fill up on that lovely milk nd do not want their food.  How do others manage this time when wanting to wean the pups.  I have cut her food back to maintainence levels for the last two days. Any advice would be welcome and yes I'm sure some of you are going to think I'm very silly not knowing how to manage this. 

By 5 weeks my mums usually won't stand still long enough to let the pups feed........all those lovely sharp teeth 'ouch!'

Not really sure what to suggest, other than keeping mum away for a while before feed times

Start to cut back on mums food - not so much high protein, so she still eats plenty but hopefully doesnt convert it so quickly. Keep her away from the pups before they are fed, and just let her in for a "top up" when they are reasonably full. If they dont take it, she wont make it.

P.S. Are you letting them out to play? Could be that in an enclosed space of puppy pen or whatever, mum feels she has no option but to feed them, but with more room will "dance" out of the way.

Yes I am Letting them out to play she can get away if she wants to. I am feeding her low amounts of her compleat food with rice added so she feels full. still the milk flows!!. I have this terrible thought that when the new owners arrive to collect their 7 1/2 week old labradors ,  i will have to say excuse me while i detatch the pup from it's mum.  No realy I know it wont come to that. And lets face it the milk is doing them so much good, I just think Mum could be enjoying her pups much more if they could do more playing and less hanging on with thoes needle teeth.  thanks for your thoughts!

There is nothing that beats mothers milk so if she still wants to fed them then let her.  Feed them their meal first and then let her in to feed them, that way they won;t take more than they need, adn she will dry up naturally.

My girl's pups are 6 weeks and they still feed occasionally.  Mum stands for a little while and then walks away, I have cut down the high protein food for her and everything seems to be going back to normal gradually.  They don't feed for long and eat their solid food well.

Mine gave each one a "top up" before they went to their new homes. Once there is no-one to take it she will stop producing it.

Thanks everyone for your help, I am much more relaxed about it now.

My bitches pups are 5 1/2 weeks old ,she still has milk ,puppies are eating well 5 /6 times daily- mum still wants to feed them but she is so thin-what can I do, vet says she won't put weight on till she stops feeding pups.
Do I stop her feeding top up last thing at night,pups don't seem to mind but she wants to be with them, I'm just worried about her weight.

hiya everyone,
i had the same problem with my very first litter. Mom getting thinner and still producing milk when the litter was 5 weeks old. i went and saw my vet, and he advised me to starve my bitch for 24 hrs ,and to only let her see the puppies through the safety gate for a further 24 hrs, and as sure has he said she stopped producing milk, and all went very well.
i also remember him telling me about an infection that she could get in her teats,but cannot remember what he called it...lol
all the best
kind regards
mark

Hi Mark,

I'm with Brainless on this one - although some bitches may not permit pups to feed off them because of the little sharp teeth and claws so "nature" basically dictates the final stage of the weaning process anyway - but some bitches will continue longer than others and I think we owners should go with the bitch on it :) 

Not all vets know much about the actual ins and outs (totally unintentional pun) of mating, never mind normal whelping, rearing and weaning of puppies other than what they've been taught in a lecture hall, from books etc and then make a giant leap from that to the medical cases when things go wrong that actually require their intervention.

If you're lucky enough to have a breeder vet great - you'll get first hand knowledge based on practical experience and that's worth it's weight in gold ;)

Regards, Teri
ps. I'd imagine your vet was referring to mastitis  :)

I wouldnt dream of starving a bitch with 5 or 6 week old puppies, nor would I stop them being with her for 48 hours. If my vet suggested that it would be last time I saw him :(

Good grief! :( I'd change my vet if he suggested such a thing.

many thanks for everyones response.Mum is back with pups for topups as often as she wants they don't actually take much off her now because they are basically full.Her milk yield has gone down too-her teats are not as full, i'll see how the weight goes back on but am feeding her puppy food as well as everything else.