Ok Tarro doesnt like the puppy food ive been giving her and will onli eat it mixed with other stuff but will eat her normal food !
The problem is i want to leave food down for her while i'm @ work and dont wanna mix stuff in cohe will either eat it all in one go or leave it and it will stink so would you give her just the normal food
She gets Raw for @ least one meal a day ? she is getting abit skinny due to not eatting the puppy food

Give it time as this happened with one of my puppies previously, I just had patience and kept trying to give the puppy food. Not sure how your will be, but mine finally adjusted.

Each dog is unique, which is good.

AniGamer

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When my bitch is nursing I give her whatever food she will eat that is high in protein, put mixer down for carbs content and make sure water is always available. If yours doesn't want the puppy food but will eat her normal stuff, give her that, and as much as she will eat at one session - she needs the calories. At least when you come to wean the pups you won't have the problem of keeping the bitch off the puppy food. And as she is losing weight, wean the pups as early as possible - mine go on to a little raw mince at just over three weeks and a chicken wing at eight weeks is their idea of heaven.

Sgurr

yep gunna start weanin them next week as there 3 weeks then weaning them on raw then moving on to kibble wen they're bigger so will be fun
shes still eattin her raw so gettin lots of protein from that will put her back on normal kibble i tink and c if she gains weight thanx

iv been giving my maggie hills ad precription food for dogs that are recovering from illness and chicken n rice as she gone off her puppy food and as she is nursing as well it is a high calorie food recommended by my vet and she loves it , it looks a bit like patexxxx hope this helps

I wouldn't worry too much about her as long as she is eating something. Tegan didn't eat for the last 2 weeks before she whelped a nd for the first week afterwards and I mean didn't eat anything. I too was very worried but she nursed 9 pups and is now as fat as a pig the pups are 4 1/2 months old. As soon as the pups start to eat solids she will pick up again.
I was very worried about Tegan as she'd never been like that before she normally became greedy when she had pups and so I took a lot of advise of people on a couple of other sites and they all said don't worry about her.

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Sammy you may be gone but your sprit will always live on in the sunbeams R I P Sammy

William- 6/11/03 - 24/3/10
Midge - 8/2/11 - 10-2-11

I wasn't going to say anything last night, as I didn't feel it was helpful, but i can't help it.


How many hours a day are you working? How are you going to allow your bitch free access to your pups but not risk the pups coming to any harm? Or allow her access tothem but still be able to get away from them if she wants to? If you leave food down, how are you going to preventt he puppies eating this and poentially choking or something else? How are you going to keep the area where the puppies live clean? Especially once they get older? How are you going to manage to feed the pups 4 times a day when the time comes?

Ignore me if you're only working a couple of hours a day, but if this is the case, there would be no need to leave food down. Yes, I am totally paranoid, but I do not leave my pups at all when I have a litter. I am concerned in case you haven't thought of the above.

Just on the practicalities you mention Jackson, this is how I mange my bitch when she has pups.
I've moved the text to the How do you manage your bitch thread started today by Jackson.
Yes you are right, should not hijack a thread, apologies

Sgurr

i onli work 5 hours 2 days a week i like to leave her food so she can eat when she wants as she is skinnyer than i would like ! the puppies are 2 weeks old and left in there secure area that they cant get out off but Tarro can get out and in freely ! my o/h check them on his lunch hour so they arent left to long but i cant afford not to work ! every one does things differently and i feel the best person to take care off her pups is there mother ! I didnt work for the 1st week and a half but have now had to go back to work !
Wen they need feeding four times a day they will be feed before i leave for work, when hubby comes in at lunch, when i get in from work and then once more ! i have raised puppies before and this has worked for me all my puppies have been healthy and i havent lost a single puppy using my ways thanx
And thanx freyja for your advice

our lab had pups last november, and the vet recomended giving her 3 times as much as normal once the pups arrived,there is specialist diets around for mums, but we just kept our dog on her normal diet of meat and mixer , however we did change the mixer to complete, she stayed really healthy during and after pregnancy,and maintained a good weight, 3 days after the pups were born she was happy to go for short walks, i think this gave her a break we would not of dreamed of taking her if she hadnt of wanted to leave her pups, our previous dog would barely leave her pups sides for the first 3 weeks!our lab got sick of them at 3 weeks so we had to wean them a little earlier than planed. she had 9 pups so we constantly cleaned up after them it was hard work but worth it, however our lab has now been spayed!