I have a question for you all, my friends bitch gave birth to 4 healthy pups on Valentines day (a very long day) they seam to be thriving have put on 40grms each in 2 days but looking at the bitch it doesn't look like she has much milk.  Can a bitches milk dry up? I have only bred large breed and the milk sacks hung so not used to a small breed.  Any advce welcome.  By the way the pups cry they seam to feed and then they settle but they cry alot more than my labs did or am i just fussing she is new to this so to a degree i have taken over.

Hi Linda,

As long as the pups are thriving and not crying constantly I wouldn't worry too much. I have a golden bitch whose teats swing from side to side when she walks an another that you wouldn't know was feeding pups. All bitches are different.
Good luck with the pups

As you know, the amount of milk produced is determined by demand. The more the pups suckle, the more milk is produced. But it doesn't happen instantly - as the pups grow the bitch produces more and more milk so that at about 3 weeks she needs to eat and drink a phenomenal amount to cope.

If the pups are gaining weight and not crying all the time she's making them enough milk.

thank you so much for your help, as i said I am only used to large breeds.  She is having a weetabix in a morning with puppy milk, 1/4 can of wet food plus complete biscuits at lunch, same again at tea,then weetabix with puppy milk again for supper. do you that is enough for a small breed?

all answers greatly appreciated as the original breeder of the bitch doesn't want to know.  Thanks

Linda

She doesn't need weetabix - she needs protein rather than carbohydrate, so I'd ditch that. She'd be better off being given a good-quality puppy food (the one she'll be weaning the pups on to when they're old enough), soaked with water if necessary to give the necessary liquid, or the puppy milk.

Thanks I will pass it on

Four meals a day wouldn't be enough for my toy breed.  My current nursing bitch is on 7 meals a day!

Mine are fed virtually adlib.  I soak one lot of food while the other is eaten and will keep replenishing whenever the bowl is empty. 

By the time the pups are on solids then the bitch is on four meals a day a nd as the pups eat more a meal at a time is dropped once they are feeding less from the bitch. 

I like my bitches a bit plump at weaning as they will then go on to loose their coats and tend to use up the surplus during the moult and getting a new one.  I keep them on puppy or energy dense food until they are back in coat.