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05-15-2008, 09:32 PM | #1 |
YT Addict Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Michigan
Posts: 299
| Cookie's milk is drying up Cookie's baby is 6 days old. Her milk came in late the second day, but by today all her teats but one appear to be dried up and he doesn't seem to be getting much milk out of that. He really fights with it. He started out at 4.1 oz and his weight went down quite a lot before her milk came in. By today he finally weighed 4.2 oz, so I had the vet show me how to do tube feedings. After three tube feedings and about 5 1/2 mL of puppy formula, he is already up to 4.4 oz. I hope is weight keeps going up. I would hate to lose him. At one time he was down to 3.4 oz. He just seems so tiny. |
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05-16-2008, 10:39 AM | #2 |
YT Addict Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Michigan
Posts: 299
| Hero is up to 4.8 oz as of this morning, so is gaining from the tube feeding. I had hoped to breed Cookie again next year. Should I expect her milk to dry up again? I don't want to have to tube feed a whole litter. |
05-16-2008, 11:21 AM | #3 |
Mom to 6 Beautiful Furkids Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Ohio
Posts: 5,409
| Aw, I hope the little guy makes it. May I ask why you are tube feeding him? Is he not able to latch onto a nipple from a bottle? Just make sure he is kept warm and is gaining weight everyday. It may or may not happen again with her next litter. But there are supplements that you can give them that are suppose to aid in giving the mom a good milk production. J-B Wholsale Pet Supplies, Inc.
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05-16-2008, 11:31 AM | #4 |
Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Southeast Texas
Posts: 7,959
| When a puppy suckles on the momma that was what stimulates milk production. If she is only nursing one puppy then I would expect most of the milk to come from 1 nipple. If you are tube feeding the puppy then the momma will continue to dry up. When you tried to squeeze milk out of the nipple you may have done it after he had eaten. Have you tried giving the momma whelping pudding to increase the milk production? It is important that the momma eats 3 or 4 good meals a day. |
05-16-2008, 11:46 AM | #5 | |
YT Addict Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Michigan
Posts: 299
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I tried a bottle, but the nipples don't come with holes in them and my hand doesn't seem to be steady enough to make a small enough hole. I tried with multiple nipples, the milk is coming out so fast that I'm afraid I'll drown him. My vet seems to think that tube feeding is the only way to make sure he doesn't aspirate the formula. She showed me how to insert the tube correctly, which is much easier than I expected it to be. I didn't give any calcium supplements before whelping, as my vet recommended against it. She said that her body would get used to having the calcium and when she started nursing the puppies it would drain her calcium and she could get eclampsia. (That seems like close to what she said, anyway.) She started calcium supplements as soon as she started whelping. | |
05-16-2008, 11:56 AM | #6 | |
YT Addict Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Michigan
Posts: 299
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05-16-2008, 12:00 PM | #7 | |
YT Addict Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Michigan
Posts: 299
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Oh yeah! Whelping pudding. I thought it was for whelping and since the vet told me the puppies wouldn't be born before May 20th, I didn't get around to making it before the puppies were born. I don't know if it will help now? She eats well. There is dry puppy food out all the time, plus I feed her canned Chicken Soup for puppies and she gets her calcium supplement. Last edited by majic50; 05-16-2008 at 12:01 PM. | |
05-16-2008, 12:10 PM | #8 | |
Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Southeast Texas
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05-16-2008, 12:26 PM | #9 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: California
Posts: 1,778
| I fed all of that and also gave her a little whelping pudding as a snack between meals, and I also used cottage cheese as a snack between meals. It just gives them a little blood sugar bump, IMO. Good luck.
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05-16-2008, 12:27 PM | #10 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida
Posts: 1,455
| The puppies have their way of getting it out that's much more efficient than ours. Before tube feeding, I would put them on the teat first to nurse. I would also express milk....There is a way you can do it with a big syringe, using the plunger as suction. I'd also have her using two teats, but I've never had a singleton. Sounds like your doing a great job. Tube feeding is a great way to put on weight. I'd rather tube feed that bottle or syringe any day. The risks are actually less for aspiration. Good luck with him, I'm sure he'll keep gaining for you. Also, lots of water for mom helps with milk. |
05-16-2008, 12:28 PM | #11 |
YT Addict Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Michigan
Posts: 299
| Actually, I think Cookie knows she's not producing enough milk. She comes to get me. She won't leave me alone until I go check on her baby. Then she sits here on the arm of my chair and watches while I feed him. When I put him back she gets in the box with him and stays until the next time; unless she has to eat or go potty. |
05-16-2008, 12:54 PM | #12 |
YT Addict Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Michigan
Posts: 299
| He nurses from Mom off and on during the day, but you can tell by watching, that's he's fighting for every drop. He can nurse for 10 minutes and when he's done, I pick him up and he still acts like he's hungry. I keep dry puppy food and fresh water in the box for her all the time. |
05-16-2008, 02:50 PM | #13 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: California
Posts: 1,778
| Try the whelping pudding. Richer foods, high quality protein with a little fat, like a little scrambled egg, cottage cheese, these may make her milk richer. That's what my old Scottish grandmother used to tell me - why not with Yorkies too?? (LOL) Also, a little boiled chicken would be good for mom. My singleton nursed everywhere, not just on one or two teats. But if you have to choose, use the farthest back towards the tail, they hold the most milk and are usually easier to get the milk out of. That is so sweet that you mom comes to get you to feed her baby. She's a good little mommy.
__________________ LaVail Yorkshire Terriers |
05-16-2008, 04:06 PM | #14 | |
YT Addict Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Michigan
Posts: 299
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