I hope you don't mind but I'd like a little advice.I have a bitch that had pups recently with no probs.Well she's having problems feeding all of them as her milk doesn't seem to be in plentiful supply.When hubby went to see her at 7am this morning she had pushed away the smallest 2 and even though they are under the lamp they had become cold and dehydrated.Not a problem in itself ...I've hand reared before and I set to work with my hot waterbottle and a hairdryer to warm them,then a couple of drops of rescue remedy in boiled and cooled water to get them started.I then pipette fed them with Welpi and let them rest a while rubbing them at intervals to get their circulation going.
They've now pinked up lovely and are warm and actually trying to suckle.I've stimulated them to go to the toilet,one is a bit constipated but they are weeing ok.Thing is how much should they be taking in.They are only managing about 5ml every hour so far.Is that ok to start???also obviously I cant put them back with mum until they are suckling properly but how long can I leave them away???
Next problem as I we don't have enough...How can I increase the bitches milk yield quickly.She's being a right pain with this litter (her 3rd).She won't come out of the welping box for food or water .I have to take it to her.She's on 4 meals a day .welpi with a raw egg and vit powder with calcium supp first thing,then tripe with complete dry,then later on a bit of minced chicken and bisc and last thing complete dry with tripe .I'm not overfeeding ,In total she's having about 50% more than her normal intake plus her calcium,egg and welpi.
She's not drinking enough water though ,that's why I'm giving her the welpi as it encourages her to drink.It's not full strength just enough to flavour the water so that she'll drink.Her toileting seem to be ok she's going normally.Motions blackish but I'd expect that after the afterbirth she's consumed.
Any tips gratefully accepted.I know If I can get her milk production back on line Then she'll be ok.You'd think after all these years of breeding I'd know what to expect but then nature always seems to throw a spanner in the works when you least expect it.Hope someone can give me a few pointers

Lorraine

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Hi,
All I can suggest is getting the pups to suckle as much as they can - the more they suckle, the more milk she should produce. If they can't/won't suckle, you'll have to try to strip her out to get her to produce more milk.
Sorry I can't help any more than that.
Good luck.
:)

Hi,
sent you a e-mail,hope you dont mind

My only suggestion for increasing the milk supply is raw beef in place of one or both tripe meals. I've always found it really good for keeping milk flowing :-)
Good luck, it's such a worry when things don't go right ....

I had the same problem myself and drank plenty of Fennel tea - its wonderful for increasing the milk supply :)
perhaps you could disguise it with whelpi :)
Hope this helps,
Good Luck

Milk supply is in abundance now.I think it may have had something to do with her being 3 days early.She's never had problems before but has usually been a couple of days over her dates.The 2 pups she pushed away,....well they sense something don't they and she obviously thought they wern't viable.Despite lots of TLC they have both now gone to rainbow bridge .Remaining 6 are all happy and healthy though so that's something.Just put it down to one of those things,my daughter though is inconsolable and sobbed herself to sleep last night.I suppose I'm lucky in all the years I've been breeding I've not lost pups like that before.