Our beautiful dog Claudia had 9 pup's on 4/06/08,then sadly passed away on 7/06/08. We have managed to get a surrogate Springer spaniel who has 6 week old pup's,who we are having from 8am-6pm every day,she is doing a wonderful job with them she is heaven sent.We are still feeding some every 2 hours because they are quite small still but are putting weight on,then we are feeding every 2 hours from 8pm onwards.The thing is we are worried about them going to the toilet after every feed we are using wet cotton wool to encourage them,we are getting them to wee but not to go toilet,not sure what to do?Also how much should we be feeding them?Any advice would be great thanks

Cant give you any advice reference the pups but a friend of mine did have to do the same. I think she may have called you earlier in the week. Maybe mail her on pglassey@aol.com and she ,might be able to give you some more info. Good luck with it all and im so sorry you lost your girl.
mel.

Not sure as to quantities to feed. I'm sure others or vet can advise. You should use the one that is the best feeder as a guide. What I do know is that you want to be able to identify individuals with paper collars or the like and weigh them every day. I built a simple Excel spreadsheet with a graph to display the weight of our pups. You need to be able to see plateaus in weight gain, which will give you an early indication of any problems before there is actual weight loss. As to the toilet. Rub the tummy for wees with cotton wool balls and around the sphincter for poos with damp cotton buds

Good luck

Have no advice as I haven't been through this, but so sorry for the loss of Claudia and hope all goes well with the pups.

Thank you very much for your advice x

Don't know how old the pups are and where you are, my girl stopped feeding hers just a week ago and may be still able to bring up a couple of pups if necessary.  She was a brilliant mum if you want to have a word you can PM me but I'm in the South Manchester area.

So sorry to hear about your bitch, you must be devastated in amongst all the pups and worry.
Some lovely suggestions of help on here, I hope you get on ok.

I am so sorry about your loss, cant give any expert advice, but my girl had 11 on saturday and we sadly lost 4, but they were not doing wellat first, as mum didnt really want them.  My vet advised me to mix 1 pint of water 1 level desert spoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and i must admit they have certainly picked up. "dont no if because of this" We to are also hand feeding some as they are very small and have to supplement with whelpie and like you were wiping tummy with cotton wool to make go to the toilet.
I truly hope all goes well for you.

sam3,

What are you feeding the pups with?

If this was 3 years ago I could happily tell you the exact amounts as I had to do the same myself, but I have now forgotten sorry! I know I got the measurements from the guidelines on the Whelpi can, I think at 2 weeks it went to a larger feed every 3 hours, so that will be better for you, but have a look on whatever milk substitute you are feeding them it should give amounts on there. I always added a little bit more to account for any spillage as I am sure you have found the pups need a bib like a babe. ;-)

How great that you have the Springer, just let her give a feed to half, you feed half then swap for the next feed.

From almost 3 weeks the pups were happy to begin lapping up milk from a large bowl I would put down, I then gave the pups luke warm goats milk with egg yolk along with their weaning foods, they were very nice stocky pups and thrived so well on this.

Very best of luck it is very tireing, I was like a walking zombie :-D even with a little night feed help.

So very, very sorry about Claudia, how utterly heartbreaking. You are doing a grand job with her pups,

At least in keeping a pup you will still have a part of her.

Would a bitch having a phantom be able to rear the pups? Isn't that why they have phantoms, so they could feed orphaned pups in the wild? (Hoping I don't look too silly!)

no advise for you, but i wish you the very best of luck and i'm so so sorry about your girl.

Not silly at all, Jackson - it's a very good idea. When my bitches had phantoms I used to tell the vet so that if anyone needed a foster mum they knew where to come.

Sam3, do any of your local vets know of a bitch having a phantom?

My bitch is at the tail end of a phantom, so if you're anywhere near me (I fear not!) in Northern Ireland, maybe she can help? She is also a Golden.

Asking your vet is a good idea, it never occured to me to mention it to them in case her 'services' were needed! I will do so if it happens again.

could the surragate bitch be doing this already

so very sorry to hear about your girl and i hope all goes well from now

sorry for your loss i have pm you with offer of help

Thank you to everyone who has sent me a message i have been touched by all the offers to help,will keep you updated how the pups are going,thank you again x