The American Beagler Forum

I have a 2.5 yr old femalle just had nine pups and very little milk. Her bag is almost not noticeable. This is her first litter and she is very healthy otherwise. I fed her Purina Hi-pro her entire pregnancy up to two weeks ago, when i started mixing puppy chow in her hi-pro. What did i do wrong????

It's nothing you did, I've had the same thing happen before. Very little milk or even bad milk sometimes. It might be the female herself, it might be b/c its her 1st time. Get you some Esbilac milk supplement/replacer and give her a couple heaping scoops each time you feed her and watch and see if she starts producing more milk. If the pups are getting skinny, you should start feeding them either via bottle or tube.

I think her milk production will go up as the pups start sucking. Some dont come to milk until Labor anyhow.

Give 2/10 cc oxcitocin,right down the nostril(of course take the needle of the syringe) will get in the blood quicker and make her milk drop faster.Also will help clean the womb out and have her ready for future litters.

Thanks guys, I got some milk replacer, and started putting it in her feed. We will see how it goes.

In order to get her to produce enough milk, she's going to need some supplementing with highly digestable calcium. Feed her *raw* chicken parts - the backs especially have a good amount of bone. I hack up chicken quarters which is the drumstick, thigh & back and feed this to my brood bitches. They milk like cows Another supplement you can give her is evaporated milk mixed in with an egg yolk, plain yogurt, and a small amount of boiling water to thin the mixture out.

Hi Pro (and actually, ALL Purina products, IMHO) is pretty low in calcium - 1.0% calcium 0.8% phosphorous

Compare that to Ol' Roy, which is 1.39% calcium 0.90% phosphorous!!!!!

If you can, get her on a better feed made for pups that preferably has a 30/20 ratio of protein to fat. It should be animal based protein. As a rule of thumb 3 of the first 5 ingredients should be meat based, and the #1 should be a specific type of meat or meat meal.

For the quickest milk production you may want to try the oxytocin that Lynn mentioned. Also add some cottage cheese to her feed. It's full of calcium

Thanks for the replys, very helpful. I lost four of the nine pups. But the remaining five seem to be content. Her bag seems to be more fuller, but not by much. Thanks again

The size of a bitches bag or breasts doesn't indicate the amount of milk she is making. Here is a recipe for milk pudding that helps to bring down milk.


Pudding Recipe for Nursing Mother
one package Vanilla Pudding (cooked kind)
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups milk
4 egg yolks
The only difference I note is that my recipe says you use 1 can evaporated milk and mix enough water to make a full 4 cups.

Leah

The pups are four days old, would it help feeding the bitch the pudding recipe now?

kennethgreene wrote:The pups are four days old, would it help feeding the bitch the pudding recipe now?

Only if you feel she still doesn't have enough milk?? If your puppies are full and not crying then most likely she is fine. Like I said before the size of her bags are no indication of the amount of milk she is making.

Leah

The pups have plump bellies and are not crying, so i guess they are getting enough.