[McheleM]

Originally Posted by Yorkiemom1

THIS is the behavior you are looking for from her! You do not want her putting YOU or anyone else ahead of her babies....you may have to hand feed her in the box while she nurses her babies. Now you can offer that whelping pudding or the cottage cheese to keep her calcium levels up....she is only nursing 4 babies so this should not be a major issue....make sure she is getting a highly nutritious puppy food....did they happen to get blood chemistries done and also hemoglobin/hematacrit levels so you would have a base line of where she stands...is she boderline anemic and possibly need blood ? You would have an idea if she is barely normal with her calcium levels, or is she solidly in the normal range? Spend the time stroking her, talking to her, soothing her, singing to her.....all the time observing everything she is doing, as well as how the babies are doing.

She is on puppy food, wet and kibble. Vet suggested wet for the moisture. I also have a whelping pudding recipe I got off the sticky in the breeder section. I've been offering it to her as well. She's eating good, not as much drinking, so I'm really pushing the water.
I do have her labs. Her hCt was a little low, but just barely. (36.7) All others were WNL.
Her BUN was toward the lower end of the normal range, same with creatine and her HGB.
Calcium shows 11. (With normal between 9.5-12 according to the labs I'm looking at). The only thing that flagged was the hematocrit.

I keep telling her how pretty she is and what a good momma she is and how pretty her babies are going to be.