Nursing a large litter - Page 1

Bella's gang is my 8th litter in 30 years, but it's my only large litter. I have a question for those who have had large litters: do you clip the puppies' toenails? Bella's skin is getting mighty raw, and it's making her reluctant to feed. Is there any kind of preparation one could put on a nursing bitch's belly to relieve the sting? 

Also, I have the litter divided in half now, the 5 bi-colors and the 5 sables. The Out group goes to a crate with a heating pad until it's time for them to become Ins. Bella definitely likes that better, and there's WAAAY less screaming about being stepped on.

They sell "utter balm" and creams at most walmarts . It seems like I am constantly clipping nails on puppies. They are growing so fast, and this give you a chance to handle them alot more- touching toes and legs all over. At least once a week over 2 weeks old.

It seems like you have a good idea about moving the puppies about. I like to do a tummy check and pull the puppies off that already have large tummys and put those on with the softer tummys.

I can't wait to see some baby pictures :) 

Whisper

The sable puppies just look like small hairy footballs. There ain't much to them at this stage! Will definitely post photos when eyes start opening, which will probably happen this coming weekend. 

That udder balm is really greasy; don't think I want to use it or I'll have little greasy footballs....HAHAHAHA! Or boobs that are too slippery to latch onto?

I don't remember what your final count was. The only thing I did for Capri's 9 was clip their nails.  9 isn't huge, but it's plenty, and it was her first. To do it again, I'd file them a bit- just a few brushes with an emery board will get rid of the jagged edge from cutting.

I find that using a soft emery board to file the nails down helps as it removes the sharp points, It is also safer than using a cutting device as the pups wriggle so much.

10 puppies drink a lot of milk so to reduce the need for pups to press their paws to pump milk and pull on the nipples I feed additional meals of cereal soaked in goats milk, it helps produce milk quicker than digesting meat or kibble. I use wheatabix but if your bitch has a wheat intolerance then cornflakes is just as good.

Good luck with them.

Shonnag

We've had litters up to 13, We trim nails weekly, we also use bag balm on the udder of the dam if necessary. To date we have never divided up the pups. We will put the littler ones on more often, the fight for a teat is survival instinct.

We will feed a large litter @ 3 weeks of age, baby rice & goat milk once a day moving to 2 times a day at 4 to 4.5 weeks of age.

You don't put the bag balm on the teats just the udder.

Yes, the commercial name for the udder salve is Bag Balm. It's supposed to be good to soothe dry, irritated skin on humans, too.

www.bagbalm.ca/

I would help you mama dog by supplementing the puppies with some baby rice and goats milk, takes the pressure off her a bit and gives them a little extra.  They will seem more satisfied and give her tits a little rest.  Also I trim puppy nails with our finger nail clippers, less chance of nipping a quick and then run a little emery board across for sharp edges.  Helps mama dog with the scratching part.  So does she have a lot of milk or are they sucking her dry every feeding?

I also use a recipe of what I call mama's cocktail to help produce more milk and makes it a little richer:  Chicken broth (homemade if you can do it) it not used low sodium chicken broth canned;  use a raw egg (yolk only) and give her that mixture several times a day, maybe l-2 cups 3 or 4 times per day.  They love it and it helps milk production.  You can also add some dry milk to her food, just sprinkle it on top just dry on her meat or whatever you feed, extra calcium for her and also helps with her milk production.  May be start with a tablespoon and increase as the need increases for milk production for the puppies increases.  Good luck, it a lot of puppies to feed for any bitch.  Also raw liver.  Ground up works best if she will eat it.

Poor little Bella! I have been feeding her four full meals a day, two of which are supplemented with Puppy Gold (sort of a milk replacer but supposedly good for the mom too). Yes, I have been giving a little raw liver.  Jyl said her bitch who had 11 ate 20 cups of food per day. Bella eats raw, and I'm stuffing as much of it as possible into her. Will try that cocktail recipe, Nans.

OK, I guess I can try that nasty Bag Balm (I hate the smell!) and I will definitely hit the old nails today.

Yes good advice from everyone so far...Bag Balm, nail trimming, extra goodie  food rations...I just leave out a bowl of dry food ALL the time for the mom so she can get out and eat any time day or night.

I used to teach breast feeding classes and human moms too would get sore area, abrasions/etc and a good thing I recommended was actually using some breast milk to rub on the affected area...it helps to heal...bag balm works too but mother's milk has amazing properties to heal.

If puppies are really squiggly it's best to enlist a helper for nail trimming...I just use fingernail clippers , a strong light source, and my strongest reading glasses.  If they squirm too much the helper can put a little something tasty on their finger and puppy will suckle it long enough to get at least 1 foot done,  and repeat....

Have fun , it's 12 right?  so that is 12 x 4 x 4 = 192  TEENY TINY TOENAILS  HAHAHAHAH