hi, advice needed please !! my daughters little dog had 3 puppies yesterday morning , it was her first litter. my daughter just called me to go & have a look at mum as she was worried that she was swollen underneth.  i rushed round to check & its her mammarys  that are huge  hard & full of milk .! should we milk her to release some milk or leave alone. never had this with my girls , so any advice much appreciated, :)thanks
Caron

Soak some flannels with hot water and hold them against the swollen mammaries to get the milk flowing. Left alone she could easily end up with mastitis and the puppies beiing hand-reared.

thanks JG, off to do it now !! :)

Certainly do as JG said, but if you DON'T get the milk flowing you Mum's bitch needs to see a vet.

The other thing you have to do and do it until they are weaned is rotate the puppies when feeding, when it is small litters like 2-3 the milk can build up in some teats more than others. if you rotate them and check every couple hours this will help.

One of my bitches had loads and loads of milk but 3 pups and the rotating them worked for me.

thankyou for all replies !! passed all info to my daughter . the  pups only weigh 5 oz each &  are tiny , she is following all advice &  i will go & check mum in the morning & if no change , will take her to our vets straight away .:)

I have a friend who breeds the same as me (australian red cattle ) and her cattle once only had 1 pup which is very unusual in cattles anyway she had the put the pup on one teatg and when it was time to feed again she would have to swich the pup to a different teat . When a teat was to hard she would hold a warm face washer to it and gently express some of the milk out until it was soft enough for the pup to latch on

well just checked on mum & advice has worked :) hardness has gone , and all as it should be . taken "book of the bitch " round after retrieving it from a friend !! thanks to all for advice
caron :)