New Litter - Need Help
 

Our Yorkie gave birth to 5 "Morkies" on Oct. 13th. All has gone well until now. The puppies are almost 8 weeks old, all weigh around 1.8 - 2 pounds, and they are eating puppy food soaked in Esbilac. They are happy and healthy, but the mom is being weird. She has picked one female pup to roll around, growl at, bite at and aggrevate. The puppie doesnt seem to mind, but the mom is relentless. It's only this one puppy that she will even interact with and I'm afraid she will hurt the puppy. Mom nurses the puppies about 3 or 4 times a day for about 2 minutes and then picks on this one puppy.

I don't know what to do. Should I stop the behavior by removing the puppy, or just let the mom bother her endlessly? Any suggestions?

Help.

I wouldn't remove the pup from its littermates but would give Mom time away from the pups. I have a litter of 6 week olds now and they are eating plus nursing. Their mom spends a lot of time with them but is getting to be less. She usually nurses them,diapers them and then lays up away from them on a small couch I have in their room. She also is just coming out more and leaving them for longer periods. Maybe your mom needs more time away from the pups. The playing is normal but shouldn't be excessive. It's just a judgment call as to what you think is too much. Sometimes they can get a little carried away with it.

On a side note, there was link posted recently in the breeders' forum about Esbilac. Here's the link....

LA Animal Watch: Petag's Esbilac puppy milk contains heavy metal copper

Goat's milk would be a good safe choice for soaking their food in until you go to dry kibble.

Great post - very informative!

I should have added that, if you use the canned goat's milk, make sure to dilute it with equal parts water.

New Litter
 

Thank you so much for your information and thanks for the link to Esbilac. I hope I've not cause them too much harm!

Wow ... sorry I am just reading this ... Did the litter and the one puppy and Mom all survive? Your dog may have had a milk problem where she didn't have enough milk, or she also could have needed a calcium shot for preclampsia ... milk fever. The Mom can stagger around and look drunk and even die from this. She could have also needed more sugar. There is nutra-cal, nutra-stat and puppy nutra-cal out there that can help with this. It can be given right in the mouth or added to food. For a new puppy, put a very tiny drop, almost wiped all the way back off, and then put the tiny amount on the puppies toung. It can not be much on a new pup, just enough to color your finger or you can choke the pup. If the pup is starting to eat, a very small pea size might work. You can also add a drop of infant vitamins into pedialite, along with about 1 tablespoon of white karo syrup. You can use less karo if the water bowl is small, maybe a teaspoon. This should also be given to puppies as they grow to keep their sugar levels up. I hope this helps if it ever happens again. Patty YorkiesOfIreland.com

You can also add plain yogert, nutra-stat or karo syrup and an egg to the goats milk. Vanilla pudding can also be used in place of the yogert to make a health formula.

The mom had 5 puppies and all are fine. She spend very little time with them now as they are almost 8 weeks old. But when she does spend time, she picks on this one puppy. It's strange. I've never seen this behavior before. The puppies are eating solid food that has been soaked with the esbilac - which I will stop using. Can I just soak their food in water now that they are 8 weeks old? Most of the puppies have all of their teeth.

The mom had 5 puppies and all are fine. She spends very little time with them now as they are almost 8 weeks old. But when she does spend time, she picks on this one puppy. It's strange. I've never seen this behavior before.

yes You can just soak in water & everyone to their own way of doing things but i would not let mom have anymore contact with this pup, i seperate mom & pups once they don't want to feed them anymore

Morkies are so cute, do you have any pics? Would love to see :)

I usually wean my puppies by 6 weeks old and separate them from mom, i do keep her visiting the puppies with a "onesie" on to prevent nursing , she comes in 3 times a day to play and interact.
by 8 weeks old my puppies are eating the "mush" i make by putting the dry food on the blender, make a powder like , and mix it with water for them, more liquid and mush on the beginning and gradually making it more solid. introduce the dry kibles, usually by 9 to 10 weeks old my puppies are eating the dry food only.
Mom always comes in to play and interact with them but no nursing after 6 weeks.
The eclampsia and low calcium or milk fever can happen so you need to protect mom, specially in a larger litter like 5 puppies.
It is important that you give mom a resting time away from the puppies and prepare her for normal life after puppies are placed. Make sure to take her for walks, play time one on one away from the puppies. She did an awesome job, she deserves that too.
Low calcium can make females act weird.
Also it is nice to separate the puppies slow, not sudden. That is why we start with 3 visits, then 2 visits a day ... then 1 visit closed to the time the puppies are getting ready to go to new homes.
We make sure to also give moms plenty of attention as we wean puppies ... they deserve it !

XOXO

The pups are probally hurting mom nursing. My pups are 8 weeks and when they started getting teeth mom was done with them. They have been weaned for a couple weeks now. After she dried up she plays great with them.

New Litter
 

Thanks for the advice. Originally I posted their birth date as Oct. 13. Silly me, it was Nov. 13th. You all probably wondered why the mom would still be nursing. Just yesterday they turned 8 weeks old. Mom is still nursing once a day and next week or two they will begin leaving. So thank you for the advice, I will begin to slowly limit mom's visitation. She is really going after the one puppy and hurting her, so I've stopped any interaction except nursing.

Thanks to all of you for your advice. I am new at this and I need all the help I can get. :thumbs up

Porsche and Bentley's Mom.