The American Beagler Forum

What can I put on my dogs teats to dry them up quick?

coolbrze wrote:What can I put on my dogs teats to dry them up quick?

Whats the rush? Just let her dry up normally at her own pace. A couple weeks is usually what it takes and then a while for the breasts to tuck back up.

Leah

coolbrze wrote:What can I put on my dogs teats to dry them up quick?

The following comes from my web site:
Drying Up Mama:
As the pups get older they will be eating more and more from the pan and will not need to nurse as much. The last few days the pups are with the mama, they may be down to nursing just once or twice a day. As the pressure comes off the amount of feed offered to the mama dog can be reduced back to a normal level.

1: The first day the pups are gone, the mama hound will have a hard time. Her bag will be full of milk. To start her drying up, this day she will get no food or water. She will cry all day but she will live.

2: On the second day, she gets the water back and 1/4 her normal feed.

3: On day three, she gets 1/2 her feed.

4: On day four, she gets 3/4 her feed.

5: On day five, she gets her full feed ration.

At the end of five days her bag will be down and in a few more days she will be dry

I see no reason to withold food and water from a bitch. I 2 litters of puppies right now 6 weeks old. The bitches have been away now for almost 3 says. I did reduce their food some but, never will I take away water as its vital for them. They do get full bags but, as long as you keep an eye on them and feel for heat they will be fine in about 2 or 3 days. One of my bitches was real thin. No matter what I feed her she is thin and I just couldn't feel good taking away her meals. She has stopped producing milk already.

Leah

her body will absorb the un used milk. this is what i do as i was taught by a old friend. in his 40 years of breeding he has never had a issue with this and i can tell u all his gips look like they have never had a litter.

Caincutters response is what is in my vet book on dog care. I have use this method a number of times with excellent results

If it would make u feel better. lol rub camphorated oil..spelling suks..however i do as others have said...we did horses this way years ago.

I just did as Caincutter said and never had a problem.

Huh, never heard of that. Think I'll let her dry up naturally...

I have had luck with just cutting the food back to half for a few days. Never thought about not giving them water, but it makes sense that reabsorbing the milk would give them needed fluid. I wonder if there is an absolute solution on this one or if it best to treat each dog as an individual. If the female has lots of weight on and has lots of milk then use Caincutters method. If the female is thin and does not have much milk and outdoor temperatures are high don't cut the food back as much and give her a little water on her food. Cutting back food and water does help to dry them up. How much you need to cut back depends on the individual dog and the situation.

Canecutters formula works
dont have to worry about a dog starving to death or dying from thirst in a day and the bitch dries up tighter most times than if left to nature particularily if you leave the pups on til 6 weeks old
John O

I'm only mentioning this because nobody else did, but I like to start getting the girl in shape with some short walks around the block as soon as the pups are slowing down on the nursing. Then gradually built up to short brisk longer walks, and then everything go's back where its surposed to go. I'm in that process now trying to get my girl dryed up for some bunny chasing before the season runs out on us.
I'm still trying to get my belly back where its supposed to be!
I always heard that If somebody needs to lose some weight, that means your dogs are not getting enough exercise.

Some years ago my vet gave me the same theory as Caincutter has mentioned and it has worked for me. Not going to hurt them to go without water for one day. Substitute ice cubes instead that is the only difference with what I do.