Mum rejecting pup

patmac

My friends Peckenise has just had pups prematurly after surgery at around 6pm. The vet kept 3 and allowed the biggest home with the mother but she had no milk. My wife got some kitten milk and has fed the pup who seems happy now. What to do next. Do we bring the pup home and feed it every few hours or chance leaving him with a very weak mother?

TooManyDogs

Where is the mother now? Firstly I'd ring the vet for advise if the mother has no milk, such young pups need to be fed every few hours and really need to be fed puppy replacement milk rather than kitten milk if possible. I reckon ring vet straight away

patmac

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Where is the mother now? Firstly I'd ring the vet for advise if the mother has no milk, such young pups need to be fed every few hours and really need to be fed puppy replacement milk rather than kitten milk if possible. I reckon ring vet straight away

The mother is here asleep, sleeping off the effects of the anesthetic, the vet isn't answering but the pup is lapping up the kitten milk now so we might try putting the pup back with the mother, who the vet said earlier might have milk. My friend is going to feed him intermittently. He seems strong.

patmac

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Where is the mother now? Firstly I'd ring the vet for advise if the mother has no milk, such young pups need to be fed every few hours and really need to be fed puppy replacement milk rather than kitten milk if possible. I reckon ring vet straight away

The mother is here asleep, sleeping off the effects of the anesthetic, the vet isn't answering but the pup is lapping up the kitten milk now so we might try putting the pup back with the mother, who the vet said earlier might have milk. My friend is going to feed him intermittently. He seems strong.

TooManyDogs

I would put him back with his mother as long as his presence isn't upsetting her, her physical presence will help and comfort him and may help bring in her milk. The pup will need to be fed every 2 hours through the night and I'd keep trying the vet. You could try other vets to find out whether it would be possible to get puppy replacement milk at this time of night and if not what fluids would be best.

MoonDancer

Well breastfeeding animals can't be much different from breastfeeding humans. A womans milk doesn't come in until 3-7 days, until that the baby drinks colostrum. And the amount of milk a mother produces depends on how often she feeds.
I would keep the pup with the mother all the time, it will latch on whenever it wants & this will stimulate more milk production.

Zapperzy

Presumably the vet is handrearing the other 3? Also presuming the emergency surgery was a c-section? Would keep trying the vet and maybe try another vet if he's not answering.

Do you by any chance know of any other bitches who gave birth recently? You could foster him onto her.

patmac

Sorry for the delay in responding but I did the the thread from my android phone in a panic. Went to visit my friend (west of Ireland batchelor!) last night and the pup had a c-section all right and noticed the pup was hungry. Anyway the mother was sick from the operation so after hand feeding the pup we put him back with the mother and according to my friend they didn't bond last night, so after feeding him every 2 hours the good news is that they are starting to bond now and both are doing well, thanks for all the help.