I'm a novice and this is my first litter of puppies.  Mum gave birth yesterday to 8 healthy puppies - she only ate one plasenta.  Everything went well and the pups are feeding off her.  I've read all my books and they do not cover if the bitch goes off her food.  She will eat plain boiled rice with scrambled egg/chicken but this doesnt seem very much and and I am not sure how often I should be feeding this to her.  Her normal diet is 3 meals of 150g Arden Grange + some Naturediet mixed in with daily supplements of 1 tsp SA37, 1 tsp CalciboostD and 6 tsp whelpi powder mixed up to liquid.  When I offered her some of her usual food this morning she refused to eat it so I made her some of the rice and scambled egg but am worried about her not getting enough calories/nutition to feed her puppies.  Please can someone advise me if this is usual.  Thanks

It's very usual for them to go off their food for a couple of days after giving birth. Their insides take a while to get back to their comfortable positions, and having had a baby myself I can assure you it's not comfortable! :D Her pups won't be very demanding of large quantities of milk straight away (not like at 3 weeks, when they're eating at least 4 times their 'normal' amount!!), and too much food straight after birth can lead to bad diarrhoea, whether or not they've eaten the afterbirths. Offer her lots to drink - watery milk and glucose, weak broth from boiled chicken, etc, and let her insides have a bit of a rest. After a couple of days offer easily digestible food - fish, chicken, rice, scrambled egg (no butter) etc and build up from there.

Make sure she goes out several times a day to wee and poo.
:)

Thanks for your reply it was very helpful - I think that I am doing the right thing - I'll just carry on with the rice, egg, chicken.  I've just given her some goats milk in her water and she has drunk quite a bit of that which is an improvement.  I am taking her out for a wee/ walk around the garden about every 2 1/2 hours.

A little at a time is best for the first couple of days.
:)

Are you offering her the food in the whelping box?  If not this may be why she is refusign food.

Thanks for your reply - yes I am feeding her in the whelping box - she will only eat if I hold the bowl between her front feet whilst she is nursing her puppies.