Snickers had her first litter Oct25,1999 She had 10 beautiful
pups. My
question is How often should she be nursing her pups? She seems
to have
lost her desire to stay with them. I have to make her go to her
pups
about every two hours. She wants to always be with us. My husband
made
her a wooden bed in the garage with a heat lamp set at 70%. I am overwhelmed
trying to
make sure they are fed . This is our first time as breeders and I want
to
do what is right and have healthy pups. Also do you recomend a certian
book that might help us? Thank you for your help.
Dr. DeMichael:Most nursing mothers spend a large
amount of time with their young ones for the first week
or so. After that, it's variable from one to another, but
they'll usually get over the intense initial protective
period and begin to "loosen up". By that I mean they want
to go back to what they used to do on a regular basis.
It's not too uncommon when the pups first get their teeth
in for the new mother to get a bit tender and spend less
time nursing. But I don't think your pups will have their
teeth coming in quite yet.
One possibility is that she gets too hot in the nursing
box if the heat lamp is too close to her. You might try
adjusting it's direction and be sure it isn't pointing
too close to her. I don't know what part of the US you're
in so it's possible you may not even need the lamp.
As long as she is not dripping milk - a sign that she
is not nursing enough - and the pups get enough to eat,
you may have to continue bringing her out to them on a
regular basis. She probably gets bored being alone with
the pups after she is used to being with you all day. I
don't find this too unusual as long as the pups are getting
as much as they want to eat.
Beginning over the next week or so, the pups demand for
milk will increase and her production should correspondingly
increase. You'll need to be sure that she gets as much
as she wants to eat.
Very soon it would be a good time to deworm the pups and
Mom as well. At this young age, I use a product called
pyrantel, which one company labels as Nemex. I highly advise
you to get the pups on a regular deworming program soon.
Call your vet and ask him for the above mentioned product.
You don't need a stool sample, but perhaps he/she might
require one before dispensing the medicine. In any case
they need it regardless of a stool sample. Just do it!
as the commercial says. It'll save you and the pups a lot
of grief and discomfort before they get diarrhea. You can
visit our website and refer to the preventive medicine
schedule that I use for further information.
Good Luck and if you have any other questions feel free
to ask.
As for referring you to a book, I don't know that I can.
I've been wanting to write one for a couple of years but
it's hard to devote the necessary time to writing along
with everything else I have to do. Hopefully I'll get to
write it one day. It's long been something that I have
wanted to do.
