helping mother produce milk - Page 1

Is there anything I can do to help the mother produce more milk??? What can I feed her to help produce more milk?? She seems real picky also --the pups are 6 days old. Thanks

You can give her fenugreek (an herb) to help with milk production. The first dose you give about 10 capsules. You can divide this up into two doses in the same day. Then I give a couple caps twice a day if I am having a problem. It will take a couple of days to really get the milk up. It smells pretty good so I usually dump the capsules in a bowl and add yogurt or something and the bitch just licks it right up. Bitches are often picky for a week or two after pups. Just depends on the mom and you may have to play around with what she will eat. If she does not drink enough she won't make enough milk. I have that problem right now.

Here is a mix you can also give her to drink that will help. I got this from one of the Ian Billingshurst books and always give it to my girls. He says give them all they want but my girls sometimes get diarrhea if I do that so I tend to do one pitcher a day. I buy powdered milk to use and I mix up four cups worth, so four batches of this and they LOVE it! Hope this helps!! Fortified milk mix .. 1 cup milk 1 teaspoon honey 1-2 teaspoons flax oil (I use salmon oil caps) 1 raw egg 1-2 junket tablets (in store with ice cream toppings) I put the milk powder in the pitcher and crush the junket tabs and add those. then the other ingredients. You have to mix it really well so use a whisk (or shake) and add a little of the water at a time (if you use a milk powder you'll have to add water in). You then want to warm it like you would a baby bottle in water, not the microwave. If the water is boiling hot the junket won't set up and it won't be thick. I sit the pitcher in pretty darn hot water for ten minutes, drain the sink and do it again and there it is. I feed the one pitcher of 4 cups over a 24 hour period. Good luck

Making sure she has all the water she wants is one thing. You can also try to encourage the pups the nurse more often if you can,this will increase her milk. I assume she is on puppy food if not,she should be. I would try waking the pups and encouraging them to suckle more often for 24 hrs and see if that helps. It did with my bitch when her milk supply dwindled briefly.

frequency of nursing will bring her into more milk, I agree with gsdlvr2, Encourage those pups, be vigilant, go in every 30 minute sir them pups up and get em plugged in do that for at least 16 hours, then wake yourself every hour during the night to stir them up, You will see an increase the next day.

I think evey 2 hours is plenty

Corieone, I like your formula, but I suggest possibly one (1) change. For your suggestion of using powdered milk, you did not say, but I think you are suggesting to use cow's milk, which is the most common. This is hard for any animal other than a calf to digest. You can find powdered goat's milk, which is much more digestable and very close to the dam's milk. A bit pungent, I agree. But the dam will love it and it will help keep her hydrated. Later during the weaning process, the pups can have some of this without problems if it is mixed with their kibble and/or wet food. Bob-O

yes,no cow's milk,goat's milk. Good pick up Bob-O

Thanks everyone for your help--I will try the formula--and I have been encouraging pups to nurse more.

Bob-O, Yes, I was talking about using powdered cow's milk. I did not know that you could get powdered goat's milk and would prefer to use that. I use goat's milk (canned) for my pups when weaning also. I have never had my bitches have a problem using the powdered milk but I sure wouldn't try regular cow's milk. I am not sure what the difference is as far as their system goes but the girls seem fine with it. I will look for the goat's milk now though. Thanks!