Hi all

A friend of mine has had a disaster with her bitch. She had to have an emergency c section and spay 10 days ago. Now the bitch's milk has dried up. My friend is at breaking point, going without sleep for several nights now. The one remaining puppy is taking some Lactol but doesn't seem to be pooing, no matter how much he is wiped with damp cotton wool. Would it be better to look for a foster mum or should she persevere with the exhaustion of hand rearing. She is a devoted owner and will do whatever it takes, but I am seriously worried about her. She admits to being at her wits end and close to breaking point. Any help would be grately appreciated.

I am not a breeder, but I wonder, is she still putting pup onto mum?

Is mum still looking after the puppy despite having no milk ? She may be dealing with his poos ? I would give him the Lactol and then give him to mum to toilet , as they are so much better at it. I think your friend should persevere with him , as soon as he opens his eyes she can start to wean him , which will be any day now.

Persevere with the bottle feeding. Puppies can start on solid food from about 10 days whether they have their eyes open or not. Just put the mashed liquidy food in your hand and the puppy will take it after a few goes. Don't know what breed but have done this with labs who were very hungry at 7 days.
Any rearing of a litter is exhausting but hand rearing is particularly hard but very very rewarding, although that is hard to see at the moment. Is your friend on her own or does she have a partner / children to help?
If she is on her own or has no one to help the best thing you can do is go over at least once a day if you can and look after the puppy whilst she has 2 - 3 hrs of sleep. This helped me so much when I was hand rearing a litter.  With no help the early hours are the hardest so it is nice to have a few hours sleep with help from a friend around the 7pm mark so that you can make it emotionally and mentally through the night. If you can't be there to help then be on the end of the phone.
The best advice I had from a friend who does not breed but has a lot of common sense 2 years ago when I was handrearing was.............go to bed and set your alarm for 4 hours time, the puppy will be fine. It was easy to sleep cos of exhaustion and that 4 hours made it possible to cope with the puppies and everything else the next day and for the week after. PLEASE DON'T DO THIS FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER WEEK THOUGH, MINE WERE 2 WEEKS OLD. No harm came to the pups they were a bit grumpy when i got up BUT I was able to cope. I'm sure others wouldn't recommend this but your friend needs care as well as the puppies and she is no good ill.
In a few weeks she will have started to get some sleep and will see the rewarding side of the puppy. Puppies who are hand raised are very people orientated and extremely cuddley. If your friend keeps the puppy as the pup goes she will be proud of rearing him / her herself.

The puppy is still being "put onto" Mum, but doesn't appear to be getting any milk, she doesn't seem too worried about him at all. She is encouraged to lick him to toilet him but that is not having the desired affect. She has taken him to the Vets this morning, as he seems a bit unwell. The Vet didn't seem to be much help be all accounts.
I wish I could help her more, but I live on the Isle of Wight and she doesn't, so cost is also an issue as well as the fact that I work part time.

If he is unwell has the vet not given her some antibiotics for him. Usually they hand out synulox drops.
It could well be something else...........is she making sure he now gets lots of fluids?

Is this her first litter?

ETA: If your friends shows then she must know other breeders close by who could offer support and help

Puppies can become constipated when fed replacement milk. A couple of drops of caster oil on the tongue usually does the trick. If the constipation is very bad then the caster oil can be administered directly into the anus with a syringe (very carefully).
I handreared a litter of 12 some years ago when mum had no milk and it is very exhausting. I changed the feeding from lactol to life aid and carnation milk which stopped the pups getting constipated.

Thanks for that Freya. Puppy has actually done a poo this afternoon!! He is on a bottle now instead of an eye dropper. Trouble now is that he guzzles so fast, he nearly chokes himself. He needs a teat that lets less milk out. My friend has been and got a selection but the one that he likes seems to flow too easily. He won't entertain any of the others. He is 2 weeks old tomorrow, he has had his first bit if baby rice which was messy but went down well, I think.

Hi Freya , A few years ago I reared a litter on Life Aid and Carnation too , it's brilliant stuff ! But I can't remember where you can get it from , do you have any info ?

Liquid Life aid

> Puppies can become constipated when fed replacement milk. A couple of drops of caster oil on the tongue usually does the trick. If the constipation is very bad then the caster oil can be administered directly into the anus with a syringe (very carefully).
> I handreared a litter of 12 some years ago when mum had no milk and it is very exhausting. I changed the feeding from lactol to life aid and carnation milk which stopped the pups getting constipated.

Hi,
First I think your friend should be praised for getting the pup to two weeks. :-)

When I had to have an emergency C section on my girl last year, I asked if she could be spayed at the same time. My vet who is (good or bad) very very old fashioned said if you spay at the same time as C section her milk will probably dry up or stop completely. I have no idea if this is true or not!

The advice from Freya is very good, I have used caster oil for puppies with constipation and it worked well. :-)
Hope someone local can help your friend, but again she has got puppy this far and she could wean early.
Good Luck To Her. :-)

Tiva had a section and had no milk for 48hrs- my vet just gave her a smell of oxytosin and funny she started to produce milk- She said if that didn't work then she would give her a jab of it- was the worst tiring 48hrs ever :(

I've had one of my girls have a c-section and no milk, I had to hand rear 8 pups, but recently had a c-section and spay at the same time and mum was absolutely full of milk,  Oxytocin can work as a temporary measure but it doesn't always work unfortunately.

I had a spay following a C section for one of my girls last litters and no problems with milk other than the usual slow start after a C section which resulted in a weak pup not making it.

I guess I should of added Tiva was a section and spay.

This reply is nothing to do with the question but I don't know anyone to send a message to.
Which is what seems to be required here.
Can anyone help me found out the size and weight that an 8 week old Border Terrier bitch puppy would be approximately.