Feeding the new Mama

[novemberstorms]

I would love to know what everyone feeds their new Mama's.
Marlee is normally 5.4lbs, she got up to 8.8 lbs and had a litter of 4, I am worried about her sustaining 5 bodies.

Prior to giving birth, she was eating Nature's Balance dry dog food (Sweet Potato & Bison formula, 'For Puppy to Adult') with a boiled egg in the AM and a cooked chicken liver at night. She got pretty bony feeling, so I bought Wellness One High Performance canned food and mixed it with her egg and chicken. She is not crazy about whelping pudding!

Since Marlee gave birth, I have added a can of Wellness Puppy Formula 1:1 with High Performance and will gradually add more of the Puppy Formula. I then mix it with her dry food. I have been giving her some chicken breast, too.

Puppies are all eating well, and that is a huge relief

Thoughts? Advise?

I appreciate your help!

[kjcmsw]

Originally Posted by novemberstorms

I would love to know what everyone feeds their new Mama's.
Marlee is normally 5.4lbs, she got up to 8.8 lbs and had a litter of 4, I am worried about her sustaining 5 bodies.

Prior to giving birth, she was eating Nature's Balance dry dog food (Sweet Potato & Bison formula, 'For Puppy to Adult') with a boiled egg in the AM and a cooked chicken liver at night. She got pretty bony feeling, so I bought Wellness One High Performance canned food and mixed it with her egg and chicken. She is not crazy about whelping pudding!

Since Marlee gave birth, I have added a can of Wellness Puppy Formula 1:1 with High Performance and will gradually add more of the Puppy Formula. I then mix it with her dry food. I have been giving her some chicken breast, too.

Puppies are all eating well, and that is a huge relief

Thoughts? Advise?

I appreciate your help!

When mine had her first litter, while nursing she lost weight (dropped to 4.5# and was skin & bones) I supplemented her food with a hi-calorie supplement (4000 calories/serving) and a cup of the whelping pudding morning and night ---she gained her weight back plus another # (which she never lost) - I'd say yours has enough extra weight on her now to get her through nursing.
I had to wean her off the whelping pudding, she loved it and would bark at the 'fridge wanting more!

[Buster Brown]

Wishing the little mama all the best. I can't wait to see more picture of the puppies.

[novemberstorms]

Oh thank you!
They are such little porkers...
Uno (light blue ribbon)weighed 6.42 at birth, yesterday (day 4) weighed 8.65
Dexter (red ribbon) weighed 6.32 at birth, yesterday weighed 8.65
Thor (orange ribbon) weighed 5.29 at birth, yesterday weighed 7.23
Lucy (lavender ribbon) weighed 5.65 at birth, yesterday weighed 8.01


Marlee was having rapid breathing and panting, I had the vet look at her at the pup's tail docking (5/11-day 3), he said to incorporate some cottage cheese in her diet. I also weighed her and she is 6.7 lbs now. No more panting, etc. The cottage cheese worked!

I couldn't be more pleased with how well she is doing with these puppies! I have moved her bed back into 'the nursery'. She really wanted to still sleep with us and it was a huge problem, the last two nights she comes to visit for about 2 minutes for loves and then goes back across the hall to the nursery, it's cute.

[luckylady]

When my girls have their litters, they are fed pretty much whatever they want and as much as they want. I ALWAYS leave a bowl of their dry kibble (puppy food) in the nursery with them, and usually morning, noon(if I am at home), and definitely before bed I give them either a scrambled egg, and or some kind of wet or canned puppy food too. They also get 1/2 tablet of Doc Roys Healthy Bones (found on Revival Animal Health.com) to keep up with their calcium needs with nursing puppies. Also, during whelp I use the whelping recipe on the sticky here in the breeders section and for at least 2 weeks after, I add some of the whelping pudding to their meals.

Knock on wood, so far I have never had any eclampsia or poor milk supply problems with either of my girls & their litters.

Congrats on you puppies, by the way!!! On an added note, mom really needs to be with her pups & I guess as long as she's got access to them at night what you're doing is okay. But for me, the puppy nursery (spare bedroom) becomes my bedroom too for a while, not only to keep mom happy because I am near, but so that I can keep an eye on the pups and mom through the night in case there's a problem. (oops.....I just now see that you've moved mom back; that's good)

[novemberstorms]

Originally Posted by luckylady

When my girls have their litters, they are fed pretty much whatever they want and as much as they want. I ALWAYS leave a bowl of their dry kibble (puppy food) in the nursery with them, and usually morning, noon(if I am at home), and definitely before bed I give them either a scrambled egg, and or some kind of wet or canned puppy food too. They also get 1/2 tablet of Doc Roys Healthy Bones (found on Revival Animal Health.com) to keep up with their calcium needs with nursing puppies. Also, during whelp I use the whelping recipe on the sticky here in the breeders section and for at least 2 weeks after, I add some of the whelping pudding to their meals.

Knock on wood, so far I have never had any eclampsia or poor milk supply problems with either of my girls & their litters.

Congrats on you puppies, by the way!!! On an added note, mom really needs to be with her pups & I guess as long as she's got access to them at night what you're doing is okay. But for me, the puppy nursery (spare bedroom) becomes my bedroom too for a while, not only to keep mom happy because I am near, but so that I can keep an eye on the pups and mom through the night in case there's a problem. (oops.....I just now see that you've moved mom back; that's good)

I have their basket still with me, but not sure what I will do when they are more mobile. I stick pretty close to the nursery during the day, but at night I keep everyone next to our bed, I just tuck Marlee in with the babies and she seems to be happy.

Saturday was my first outing since their birth, hubby babysat for me!

[jerseyhairball]

Just spoil her! l give my girls chicken with chicken soup. whelping pudding , scrambled egg with gravy, cottage cheese, cheese. vitamins

[carmen in nj]

My girl gets 5 meals a day from the day she whelps until she weans the puppies, breakfast she gets a scrambled egg with calcium tablet, for lunch she gets one spoon full of whelping pudding mix with her kibble, midday snack she gets kibble with cottage cheese, dinner she gets her kibble mix with some soft food, and before bed kibble mix with whelping pudding with calcium tablet, I breed silky terriers so my girl is a bit bigger she is 11 pounds pre pregnant weight, with he first litter she only lost 2 pounds.

[Sookie]

I wish my girl would eat, but she doesn't have much of an appetite. She will eat a lkttle bit of puppy food in the morning with half an oxymama. Mid morning I make her a cheesy scrambled egg and I'm lucky if she eats half. Her afternoon meal she usually turns up her nose but will have a little more puppy food for her evening meal amd her calcium. Every time she eats I am so thankful. Pre whelp she ate like a little piggie.

[carmen in nj]

I had a girl like that, what I did was I got some lil cesar cheap soft food and mix it with the kibble, i think is the smell, my son said is like taking a kid to Mcdonalds..LOL
and she ate everything as long as that cheap food was mix with the good one..LOL
my Chanel is a piggy before and after whelping.