New Yorkie Mom and now have 5 puppies - need advice!
 

Hi, I am a proud new owner of my very first Yorkie. Molly showed up at our house about 4 weeks ago, very underweight and full of porcupine quills, she was in awful condition. The vet believes she may have been a [COLOR=green ! important][COLOR=green ! important]puppy[/COLOR][/COLOR] mill breeder and she is about 4-5 years old. Took her to the vet and found out she was pregnant. So now I have Molly and 5 health puppies that were born last Thursday. My question is - Molly will not leave her puppies to eat so I am hand feeding her 3 - 4 times a day. I leave fresh water and [COLOR=green ! important][COLOR=green ! important]dry [COLOR=green ! important]food[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] out for her all of the time and then mix wet and dry 3-4 times a day. This is my very first experience with puppies and I was wondering if it is normal for the mom to not leave them even to eat?? Any advice on this or Yorkies in general would be greatly appreciated. Also what to expect as the babies get older. I am in a new situation and would appreciate any advice!! thanks..shelley

I am sure someone will come on and post answers based on years of experience. I can only help with what I have encountered with my new little girl that just had puppies. She did not want to leave the puppies at first either. I would put her dish inside the box to let her eat several times a day. I would just hold it and the water bowl so she did not have to move. I would also take her out of the box so she could go potty. After a few days she would start to get out of the box some and then would go eat. Now that the puppies are 3 weeks old she is only in there to nurse and gets back out. I have heard some people say their dogs stayed in there the whole time while other said they would come and go. As long as you are feeding her then there should not be a problem. She has to eat 4-5 times a day just to keep up her milk supply. Do you have her on calcium supplements? She will need those also. My vet had us get a regular calcium pill and give her half of that a day. Bella will only eat the canned food right now so I crush the pill and mix it into her food. Make sure pups are eating enough. If they are crying then something is wrong.....still hungry, hot, cold, need potting, burp, etc. I check the puppies tummies after they nurse and see if they are still soft or if they have some firmness to them. You can also weigh them before and after they nurse to make sure they are getting something. They should be eating about every 2 hours. My experience is if they were searching for food after an hour from their last feeding then they were not getting enough. I have to bottle feed also since mom was a late starter on nursing and runs out of milk before the babies are done. Best to have a bottle and supplemental milk on hand just in case. I am using a canned formula but I hear the goats milk is better so I would have that. Keep track of the puppies daily weight. They should be gaining some daily after the first few days.

How old are the puppies? How much did they weigh? 5 is a good size litter so keep a close eye on them to make sure all are getting their fair share at nursing. We have 4 and there always seems to be 1 that doesn't fill up at each feeding. I sometimes had to pull one off to let the smaller ones eat first.

Hope I have helped some.

Bless you for taking her in, you are her guardian angel, she is very lucky to have found you.

It is normal for them not to leave the pups for the first couple weeks. After the pups are a little older and start moving around more they will start to leave the puppies for a period of time. As the pups get older the mother will spend more time away from them.
You might want to get a small kitchen scale to weigh the pups. They should be gaining weight just about every day. Make sure each pup is nursing and getting their fill. This is why a scale is handy to keep track of their progress.

Make sure you are feeding the mom a good quality puppy food, she will need the extra protein. You can also give her some calcium as well since she has 5 pups to care for. I'm glad you are hand feeding her as she really needs to be eating for her body to keep up with the pups. I would say in about a week or two she will leave the pups to eat on her own.

At 2 weeks old the pups start to open their eyes. They still aren't moving around much at this point (they crawl all over the place but not walkingin yet). Around 3 or 4 weeks old you can start the puppies on some puppy mush (puppy food the is watered down and smashed up). They still need to nurse often but this introduces them to the food. Don't force it on them though, when they are ready they will want it, some earlier than others. At this time they are starting to walk around and become active, I love this stage.

Once they start eating the puppy mush on a regular basis you can gradually increase the hardness of the food. Usually around 6 to 7 weeks old they are starting on the hard kibble, they are pretty active by now. By 10 weeks old they should be weaned off of nursing and eating hard kibble. This is just a general time line. Some pups nurse longer and others are weaned much earlier. It also depends on the mother and when she decides she wants to wean them.
One of my girls weans her pups completely by 6 weeks old while another one would never wean her pups if I didn't step in.

Also at 8 weeks old they should be getting their first shots. Second shots at 12 weeks old and this is usually when most pups are ready to go to a new home.

It sounds like you are on the right track and Molly and the pups are in good hands. Enjoy the pups, they grow up so fast.

Welcome to YorkieTalk. Wow, talk about instant family. Sounds like you got a houseful all at once.

Bless you for taking in Molly and helping her and the pups survive. I don't know a darn thing about breeding, so am not much help. But, I'm sure tomorrow lots of knowledgeable people will be on here to help you out. Good luck.

Thank you so much for the advice!! Molly is on a calcium supplement but I think I need to add one more feeding to her daily to bring her up to 5!! All of the pups weighed between 4 - 5 ounces and were born last Thursday, February 24. On Monday they all weighed between 6.5 - 7.5 ounces. Their crying has really calmed down - I have one that always seems to get "lost" and just have to move her back and she calms right down. Molly is on a calcium supplement daily. I was reading some earlier posts and saw some whelping pudding does anyone know if that is something I should make and try??

This has been such an eye opener and I am really going to enjoy these puppies but this will be the last litter Molly will ever have to have - as soon as the vet OKs it we are getting spayed, teeth cleaned and microchipped!!!

These puppies are great and I have such a respect for people that do this the right way - I have not been this stressed out in a long time!! Can't wait to watch the puppies grow and get them into a very loving home.

One more question - I already had one dog when Molly came to us - a miniature schnauzer about 4 years old. He has been very welcoming to Molly and accepting of the puppies. Is it crazy to want to keep one puppy and have 3 dogs? Financially I can afford to keep 3 and keep up with all vet, food, etc. expenses. I work but my husband is retired and home with them all day.

I haven't seen this posted yet soooooooooooo, if the puppiies are still crying, or even if they aren't, you need to make sure they are warm. Most of us use a heat lamp or heating pad turned on low under the pups. I use one for about the first three weeks or so. Once they are good and warm and bellies are full, they will calm down. Just make sure they don't get so warm that they dehydrate. Congratualtionss on your new babies. You have done great so far.

Congratulations on your puppies and thank you for taking in Molly. If you want to keep a puppy you should. You sound like you have a house full of love and Molly is a lucky pup to have found you.

Congrats on a house full... my little girl gave birth 10 days ago to what should of been 5 puppies, but we did lose one... she has turned out to be amazing & the 1st week or so Yalee would not leave their side & I started to get worried about her not eating or even wanting to eat, so i did bring the food/ water into her cage to feed her, now after 10 days she is out fo the cage ALOT more, she'll go in there every hour or so to feed them or check on them, as long as they are quiet she doesnt bother but the minute one of them makes a beep, she'll fly over there... so as far as I know the whole "not coming out of her box to eat" is normal... shes a new mom & trying to be the best at it, specially when they cry & she doesnt know what the difference is, mine like to make noise when they are dreaming, sounds like they are barking or growling. I am now waiting for the eyes to open by this weekend. Gd Luck & keep posting if you have questions, were all here for you.

There is nothing crazy about having 3 dogs; if you look around YorkieTalk a bit you will see that many of us have multiples. I also have a schnauzer boy, a Yorkie girl, and 3 Morkie girls.... total of 5, and doing just fine. As long as you are up the the expenses of the additions, why not? You sound like a true dog loving person, who would get a lot of joy out of more doggies and give them a good home.

Well, welcome to YT and congratulations on your little ones.

Everyone here will give you very good advice, I hope you take them to heart. SARAH1130 has also given you sound advice as it is so fresh in her mind!!

I am sure if you can afford to keep one then by all means do so. Well, if you have any more questions then shoot away. We up here just love to help out in any way that we can. Best of luck to you.............:)

Your worried about having 3 dogs lol I have 2 dogs, 6 cats and tons of fish. I have my own personal zoo

Where do I buy a ticket?...LOL

I feel like I should be selling tickets lol. Its nonstop goings on around here thats for sure

Thank you all soooo much for all of the advice. Everyone seems to be doing really well - the puppies are gaining weight and they are not crying near as much. We have decided to keep a puppy!!! YAY!! Thank you all again, you have no idea how much all of the advice has helped....shelley

Why has no one mentioned that you found her, and maybe there is someone else out there looking for her? She may have gotten out of someone's yard a while ago, and that is why she looked like a cast off from a puppy mill? If she were pregnant at the time, no puppy mill would have let her go before giving birth...$$$$$ is all they care about.
I would be posting fliers for a found dog.