is it normal for a welping bitch to smell strongly of milk, im not sure if its coming from her behind or her teats, also what can i do to help her not get suckling rash?
the problem i have is she wont have a bed in her welping box, she has a really thick polythene sheet, thats stapled halfway up her box to help keep it clean, im scared what to use to keep it clean, i dont want to fetch detergents in as i fear it may harm the babies, i use warm water on a cloth then dry with a dry clean cloth, i dont feel its clean enough

although you should have seen the cage when i picked my girl up when she was a puppy,

What do you mean "she won't have a bed in her whelping box"? What sort of bed? Pieces of vetbed (changed daily) are best, but newspaper's fine and she'll probably enjoy tearing it up.

anything, vetbed,  newspaper she,s very particular, she likes everything gone so she can ssee puppys, well i think thats why, i have tried everything, she just moves it into the corner, away from her,

great news, she finally accepted the vet bed and the babys love it, it took me ages to get her into the bed, i just sat in the welpng box for about an hour while she lay down to feed, the babies started suckling the bed lol, they seem more content in themselves, there not piled up on each other theyre in groups of two or three scattered around

thanks sami