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ForumsGerman Shepherd Dog > Anything thing I can put on Rose's teets so they are not so tender? (9 replies)
Anything thing I can put on Rose's teets so they are not so tender? by fawndallas on 29 April 2012 - 02:43 |
| Rose is just getting over a breast infection on the back 2 breast (see post "Rose does not want to nurse today"). I have been supplimenting the puppies with a bottle for a week now. Rose is still not really wanting to feed the puppies (I actually had to put her in a crate with the puppies this afternoon). I suspect some of it is because the puppies maybe be knawing on her; this is based on how they are acting with the bottle. The puppies are 12 days old today. Rose's teets look to be in good health; no dryness, cracking, or bleeding. Anything I can do for Rose? Could it be that she is trying to ween them (they seem awful young for this though)? She does not seem to be drying up..there is still a lot of milk coming out. Maybe Rose is too smart for her own good and has figured out that I will feed them and she does not have too? Rose is not yet to the point in getting her full health back to being able to feed the puppies 100% her self. I hate to force her to feed, but if I have to for the puppies sack, I can. I looked a "Utter Butter" but it says to wash off before nursing. Seems kind of pointless to use. |
fawndallas by SitasMom on 29 April 2012 - 02:49 |
limit her time with the puppies to 15 mintes ever few hours, than put her in a crate next to the pups. |
by fawndallas on 29 April 2012 - 02:56 |
| Ahhhh. The nails maybe it. They are scratching me some too. Thanks SitasMom. The vet gave me the go ahead yesterday to letting the puppies feed more from Rose now. Should I quit feeding completely and monitor for the results? |
by TingiesandTails on 29 April 2012 - 06:00 |
| Use anything that is sold for nursing human mothers....there are lots of creams and gels in the drug stores over the counter. Other than those you could use a soothing Calendula gel, available in the First Aid aisle in the drugstores or in the "organic" aisle in the bigger supermarkets. |
TingiesandTails by fawndallas on 29 April 2012 - 06:21 |
Thank you. So if these are ok for human babies to ingest, it is ok for the puppies, right? |
by Conspicuous on 29 April 2012 - 12:19 |
| What about something like Anbesol for teething babies? Check with your vet, but it might help. Good luck, poor Rose, she's a trooper |
Conspicuous by mirasmom on 29 April 2012 - 13:14 |
| Trim the pups nails......use small sized people toenail clippers, that should make mom feel more comfortable, let Rose do all of the feeding or she will expect you to feed her pups. Good luck |
mirasmom by gsd39mr on 29 April 2012 - 13:36 |
| I don't know if putting her in a crate with the puppies is such a good idea-it gives her no way to get away from them if she is in pain from the nursing, she could get snappy at them and injure one easily. I don't know how large your whelping box is but I found that sitting with mom and calmly encouraging her worked wonders. As a previous poster stated, 15 min is more than enough time for a litter of nine to drain mom. As the babies are a little bigger now I also found that taking mom for little outings such as walks (not just to go potty) or car trips to the store etc helped. She gets to spend time with me and also was very eager to be with her babies when she returned and was willing to spend more time with them. |
by Penny on 29 April 2012 - 15:38 |
| My idea would be this. Breast infection or not - it would have been best to leave them to suckle whilst she was taking her medication - the medication your vet gave you should have been ok for lactating females. This is also the correct management for humans. Then the milk flow would not have "curdled". Also, she would not have gotten used to them not sucking, and her nipples begun to get back to being used to no puppies sucking i.e. the tiny little glands in the end of the nipple began to swell and quell the milk flow if there is no pups on them constantly. So - milk curdles with no use and an infection, fronts glands begin to swell, and get back to normal, mum decides she doesnt have to feed any more - and with all those things going on, if you have ever breast fed (erm sorry) you will know how alien the first few feeds feel - but its only the first few feeds ! Go into the area with her, take her in some lovely cooked chicken pieces, get a little help from some-one she trusts also, so that you don`t hassle her or have to manhandle her or the puppies. Sit with her whilst she feeds them, on the condition that you are also slowly feeding her the chicken pieces. Feed them slowly to give time to the pups to suckle. Praise her calmly, and spend time making her feel she is doing good - She will do lots of licking of your closed hand, and searching for her piece of chicken, the puppies will feed quite frantically I would imagine - and the little glands at the nipple edges will start to open quickly, bringing back a hormone surge that will make her want to feed and be with them. Give her enough space to escape them after a full feed, and return to her every couple of hours and do the same - after 5 or 6 feeds or even less, you will see that the flow has returned to normal, the mum is now wanting her pups, and the pups are happy and more content. Remember that they have had "false milk" so their suck at first is much harder than it would normally be too. I hope you don`t mind me writing such a long post on this, but its so easy to put right, and with a little good advice from your vet, you would have been saved all this heartache. I was a midwife when working, and specialised on the SCBU with breast feeding mums that had to leave their prem babies and still maintain breast feeding naturally too so that they could keep their baby sucking whilst supplementing by tube too ! (I was so proud of the achievements we got to, I was dubbed "The Titty Queen" ha ha) Sorry for boring you. Mo |
by fawndallas on 30 April 2012 - 03:41 |
| Thank you all. Thank you Mo. This was most helpful. I started doing this today. (As, the puppies made their first jail break last night and mom had no where to go to hide.  Rose gave me the dirtiest look when I came to get her this morning. It was so hard not to laugh at her. ) I am going to work on this again tomorrow, as I really do not want to put anything on Rose that is not 100% needed. Rose also got a "spa" day today. I gave her a warm bath and a good brushing. She so enjoyed it. She also got to go play in the water hose. She loves to do this and this is the first time this year she has been able to. I think letting her do most of the feeding is going to be best. I work from my home, so I will be able to monitor her closely. Thank you again. |
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