I’m an experienced breeder , one of my girls has just had her first litter of 4 puppies whilst I’ve been out of the Country. She’s stayed at home with my daughter  so her usual routine hasn’t changed much. She went off her food about a week before whelping & she whelped 5 days early . She’s normally a good eater , not fussy . She had herpes injection after mating and before whelping and a calcium injection day after whelping ( I always do this ) . She’s proving to be attentive  mum but wants to hide her puppies . She’s only taking very small amounts of food when hand fed. Been to vets, temp is ok , bloods are all good, calcium levels are good but she’s drying up as she’s not eating enough. 3 of puppies are gaining weight. 4 th smaller pup is having additional hand fed milk but is still suckling from mum too. Vet gave her a number of B vitamin injections but has no idea why she’s not eating especially as they are usual ravenous by this stage .

My daughter has tried her with everything she can think of trying a variety of foods but thinks she’s pinning for me ( I’ve been away for 4 weeks - bad timing I know) I’m home in 3 days but would welcome any advise or experiences other breeders have had.

Many thanks

Fluid is more important than solid food at this stage; is your daughter offering her frequent drinks of soups?

Hi thanks for your prompt reply . Yes she’s got free access to water and goats milk and has been offered chicken broth. I’ve just checked in with my daughter as it’s 9:30am there in the UK  17;30 here in Singapore & she’s eaten better this morning so hopefully the B vitamin injections may be working & all puppies have gained weight. Fingers crossed she’ll improve daily now

It's not clear from your original message how long it's been since she whelped?  It is quite normal sometimes for bitches to be off their food for 48 hours after whelping, so I wouldn't worry if within that period. 

However, I would offer additional calcium to keep the calcium levels up - any time there is unsettled behaviour, this is just a good precaution to take. 

It takes a while for milk to come in after whelping - at first, there is only colostrum, which is low in caloric value and so it's normal for pups to lose weight in the first 24 hours after birth.  It can take 2-3 days for the milk to come in, but tiny pups can't drink much so she may not look like she has much milk - when she does indeed have enough.

You can also make some liver water - boil some liver in water and feed her the water it was boiled in.  That will help keep fluids up.  You can also pour that warm water over any food you want her to eat - which will make it very tasty...

Thank you for your reply . It’s 5 days now since she whelped and yes I agree with your comments above . She had a calcium injection day after whelping ( I always get this done ) and has been given calcium tabs daily since ( again my usual practise ) . She’s not eating anything on her own we’ve tried leaving food down so she can graze - no response . We’ve removed it and offered her fresh food at intervals so response. She will only occasionally take a ,title but if it’s hand fed to her.

Hand feeding my butches after whelping isn’t unusual for them, they are excellent mothers who don’t like to leave their babies but in 12 years of breeding this breed  I’ve never had a bitch who won’t eat before. At this stage they are usually ravenous & this particular bitch isn’t normally a fussy eater. I’m home tomorrow so hope seeing me will help, just in case she’s been pinning. All pups are gaining weight .

The only time I had this (unusual indeed with my main breed) was with my first bitch who only had one surviving puppy - there were two but due to my inexperience one was doa.   She really didn't want to eat and I was panicking, having boned-up on pregnancy and whelping and rearing the litter which said mum must eat = milk.   However, I came to the conclusion that she knew she only had one puppy to cater for and fact is, she didn't NEED loads of food to be able to provide for him.  Which was nature taking over or she'd have had loads too much milk.   Eventually she did eat

>All pups are gaining weight .

I think this is all that matters.  If the pups are gaining weight, assume that mum knows best and let her eat what she will.

Try her with some raw green tripe.