Ravenous Mama Dog

Annie’s cold is getting better – finally. Have I mentioned that yet? She came to us with the beginnings of kennel cough and has been on antibiotics since. She has stopped coughing and now just sneezes huge amounts of snot everywhere. It’s gross but I’m glad she’s getting better.

She continues to gain weight. I was talking with a friend and when I mentioned how much she is eating she was shocked…so I thought I’d let you all know. Normally, a lactating female dog needs 3 to 4 times their regular food intake. Annie is eating the following each day – 2 cups puppy formula, 6 cups dry puppy food, and two cans of puppy food. I guess that is a lot. She is still ravenous at each feeding so I haven’t noticed how much she is actually eating until I listed it out. It is sort of crazy. But she is trying to make up for her lean times before coming to us and in addition she’s feeding 8 pups.

Annie nursing pups

Annie nursing pups

Nursing takes a lot out of a mama! It gives a lot too, though. The hormones, prolactin and oxytocin, that are released help mellow out the mama dog and make her more attached to her pups. And the immunity that is transferred during nursing is invaluable. Even though Annie is sneezing all over her pups (and then dutifully licking them clean) they are not getting her cold. The antibodies her body is creating to fight her cold are going directly to her pups as well, keeping them safe. And don’t think that because we have puppy formula we will be using it with the pups – it is simply a fast way to get a high quality balanced meal into Annie. I strongly believe in letting nature take its course and letting mama wean her pups. It happens easily enough because at 3 weeks the pups get their sharp little teeth and start using them on everything. That shortens the nursing sessions abruptly!

They are usually getting most of their nutrition from me by 6 weeks. But don’t think that just because they are basically weaned at that point that they can leave their mama. It is amazing but once they are weaned that’s when the work of socializing the pups starts for the mama. During our litter this summer, Sweetie (the mama) would enter the puppy play area and put each pup on its back with her teeth, firmly but gently. The pups would all stay in their submissive position until she finally went off sniffing somewhere else. In this way they learned the valuable lesson of how to communicate submission to a more dominant dog. It was amazing to see.

November 21, 2008 • Tags: , , , , , , • Posted in: Annie, nutrition, pups

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