Hi
I hope you can help.
How much water is enough for a new mum to drink to ensure enough milk for her pups. It is a small breed, she is not drinking enough, the pups are doing ok.

Any help would be grate

She will only drink if she is thirsty, so dont worry to much.  But if its any comfort to you I found that one of my bitches, did not get out of the whelping box for food or water and if water was placed in to her she would sniff and ignore it.  Knowing that she liked the odd cup of tea :D I made her a pot of weak cool tea and she gulped down the whole lot. She also liked an oxo cube in her water occasionally.

One of mine loved Tea too & she drank anyone's cup she could get to Her son was the same & loved a dish of weak tea with goats milk every morning !

She will drink when she is thirsty if you have any concerns re dehydration you could give her some electrolyte dissolved in boiled water

Have just been in same position.

Mum would not drink or eat for first 2 days. (Tried everything under the sun!)

Then finally she would drink evaporated milk (Sshhh dont tell her but i diluted it with water :-)

Food wise she would only eat it if it was sardines in tomato sauce!

Pups are now 4 weeks and she is eating and drinking normaly. (Has been for last 2 weeks)

HTH

Hannah
who knows just how worrying it is, who at one point was syringing lectade every couple of hours.

I add water to the bitches complee food as much as it will hold so that there are about 3 cups of water to a cup of foode, this then swells up and it ensures the bitch gets the water she needs.  Also I often find the biches mouth can be sore from the effect of cleaning up after a litter and she pre4fers the food soaked and can tqake in more nuttrition this way, as well as liquid. Ifeed four times a day, 4 times their normal ration almost from the first couple of days (they don't eat a lot for their size normally, so are getting about 800g of dry food for a 20kg dog to their normal 200g).

I use a whelpy type drink ( in a very small quantity) and sit by the box hourly giving the bitch drinks.

They seem to like it warm also for some reason. None of mine will take a cold/cool drink for a couple of days.