A lot of happiness, joyfulness, excitement, and relief you will feel when your puppies delivered. You should get ready for extra care for the extra time to care for the mom and a litter of puppies. Here we are going to focus on the mom as it is written in the title, 3 Important tips to take care of a mother dog after giving birth.
Mother dog has fought bravely in delivering her puppies and she needs special treatment to remain healthy. She needs lots of high nutrition to nurse and care for her puppies. High-quality puppy foods are the correct choice to feed her as it contains high vitamins and high nutrients. You need to monitor her very closely to make sure she is resting and eating well.
During her pregnancy, mommy dog requires more amount of feed as they need it to feed her growing puppies inside her belly, and it will add to her weight gain. After delivering, mommy dog who is in distress or overactive may still need this lots of food to be consumed. She needs it to help her keep up with the demands of providing food and security for her puppies. Later on, when puppies grow and mommy dog back to normal, the overweight gained will be quickly disappeared. Regarding dog pregnancy, you might see from 7 Ways you need to know of how to Take Care a Pregnant dog.
Just like a human, mommy dog can also experience the post-partum condition. They are feeling exhausted physically. And this will lead them to post-partum panting for a few hours while their body adjusts into motherhood. However, you still need to monitor her closely. If you see her stress stays longer than a day or even worsen during nursing, please take action. Contact your vet and tell him about the situation. He will be able to know if something wrong is happening to your mommy dog.
During the initial few weeks, the puppies will rely on the mommy dog for their nutrition. This phase will be shown from the distended teats which are seen visibly. This allows the puppies to access the milk easily. And when they wean the size of the teats will be back to before she breastfeeds the puppies.
Here are 3 important tips to take care of mother dog after giving birth.
1. Care after birth
Clean your mommy dog with a warm, damp cloth. Do it very gently as she might still feel exhaustion and sensitive after delivering. Hygiene will reduce the risk of any infection which can happen after the birth. Ensure that mommy dog is clean from any mess happen during the birth, like blood, placental fluid or fecal matter.
If your dog doesn’t clean or lick her pups a few minutes after birth, then you should help her cleaning the puppies. Wipe the puppies’ face and nostrils with a damp clean cloth to get rid of any placental sac.
Once done, hand the puppy back to its mom. You might also need to help the puppies to stimulate breathing is their mom doesn’t clean her pups. Just rub them with a clean cloth as the breathing stimulation.
And if you are a full time worker, you will need this info 4 Tips To Take Care Of A Puppy When You’re Out To Work
Don’t forget to get rid all of the soiled bedding to make the mommy dog and her puppies a comfortable nest. You may want to take your dog outside for a pee and/or poop while another person helping you to clean the bedding with a dry and clean cloth. Keep cleaning the bedding regularly to ensure it remains hygiene.
Let mommy dog rest. She needs it after her battle. And she will need it to tend to her puppies. If you see the mom is not interested in taking care of the puppies, please check if there is a sign of infection. Check whether there are other signs of distress, like whining, dilated eyes, or any foul smell. Be sure you give enough liquid for the mommy dog. Water or chicken broth is even better.
2. Post-Partum Dog
Monitor your dog’s health during first weeks after giving birth. There might be some complications followed and she needs more rest than usual. Don’t forget to feed her more in a day. Rather than giving her one or two large portions, it is better to give smaller portions several times a day. Prior to the birth, she would eat a lot and please continue feeding her lots of food following birth.
Many vets would encourage to feed puppy food to mommy dogs as they need higher calorie and nutrients for breastfeeding period. Treat the mommy dog with special food like cheese, eggs, liver or other high nutrient treats
Another thing for your inspection is checking mommy dog’s mammary glands twice a day for healthy nursing glands. The normal nursing glands should be soft and enlarged from milk production. If it is shown red or hard, there is a possibility that there is an infection. You can check by squeezing the mommy dog’s glands. The milk should be white and smooth with no sign of clotting.
If the mommy dog cries with pain to your touch, check if the nipple is hard and/or hot to the touch. This is surely an indication of infection. Contact your vet for guidance.
Besides all the situations that needed for inspection, please also pay attention to the signs of metritis during the first 24-48 hours following birth. Metritis is an inflammation of the uterus which might be resulted of the undelivered placenta or an experience of trauma during delivery.
If you see any symptom include fever, foul-smelling discharge, loss of appetite or decrease interest in puppies, it might be the symptoms of metritis. This condition needs a vet’s action immediately.
A mommy dog could also experience eclampsia which is a result of depleted calcium. If that happens, your dog could have muscle spasms, seizures and might lead to her death. Get to know the symptom of it so you could take proper action. The signs of eclampsia include restlessness, muscle tremor, and weakness. You see these symptoms, take your dog to her vet immediately.
3. Be a Godmother
Yes……be a Godmother for the litter of puppies. Help the new mommy by sharing the responsibility of taking care of the puppies.
For the first week, the mommy dog will spend most of her time with them. A healthy mom will be interested in her puppies and will nurse them attentively. Your job is to make sure the bedding is clean, dry and safe for the mommy dog to take care of her puppies. Keep the bed warm. But If your house is very hot, place a fan to make them cool. If it is in cooler weather, place a heating unit nearby their bed.
When the puppies reach the third week, they will start to wean. Arrange milk replacement for one meal per day. This is to teach them to lap liquids. After teaching them to lap, you can start mixing puppy food with milk replacement to create a soft and mushy meal. There is a good info on how more care for a puppy. Here is where you can get further info. 3 Tips to Help A Malnourished Puppy to Gain Weight
Gradually increase the amount of solid food step by step. The texture of their food should go from soup to cream to oatmeal in about a week’s time. By the age of 6 weeks, they should be offered soft moist food as well as puppy kibble They will be completely weaned by week 8.
As a good Godmother, you should give your puppy presents. Buy them toys which can stimulate their growth. They will be increasingly aware of their surrounding starting in their third week. They develop their teeth and they need to chew. Provide them with toys which focus on this development and to stimulate their skills.
With these 3 important tips to take care of mother dog after giving birth, it’s not hard for you to help your mommy dog, right? Well, your happy dog means your happiness to as she is one of your family members.
You might want to know more about taking care of a pregnant dog which related to this article. Please click on the link below and become more expert in taking care of your loving dog.
Here is the related link: 7 Ways you need to know of how to Take Care a Pregnant dog.