Drying milk

[Teresa]

Help!
Pitanga still has lots of milk, but the puppies are tearing her nipples apart with their teeth!
I can't just take them of their mum, first because i don't want to, and second bacause she'd get mastitis.
She's already on antibiotics so i'd like to avoid drugs to dry her milk.
A friend told me a "great" way, that implies leaving the bitch without water or food for a whole day, wich I'd also like to avoid for obious reasons....
Does anyone has a way that does not use drugs or starvation tahat I could use?
Thank you all

[Angela Roberts]

You don't make it very clear if Pitanga is shut in with her puppies or can get away from them. My bitches always have free access to their puppies even from day 1. They are never shut in with them at all. They are able to jump in and out of the whelping box and either lie and sleep with them or as the puppies get older they just jump in and feed them standing up and jump out again. The time spent with them gets gradually less and less as the puppies become weaned. This way the bitch's milk gradually dries up naturally and they don't start regurgitating their food for the puppies. At this stage they need all they are eating to regain their own weight. I believe your puppies are about 3-4 weeks old now and the bitch should only be visiting them when she wants to and not be with them all the time. A big litter will be starting to eat solids quite well by now which will help the bitch enormously. My bitches like to relax away from the puppies with the other adult dogs and as long as the puppies are quiet the bitch will lie and relax in the room with us. If they hear any of them cry they get to them pretty quickly to see what's going on.

[ursula wilby]

I have the same system as Angela, never a bitch shut in with her puppies!

But to reduce the drinking at the age when the puppies have started eating proper food, I will shut the bitch out from her puppies so that the puppies are hungry when their own food is being served.
Only after the puppies have eaten do I let the bitch have access to her litter again.
That means that the puppies are not particually hungry and will not feed off the bitch with "full force".
It then becomes a very gradual reduction.

I have never heard of leaving a bitch without food and water for a day....utterly amazing the type of advice there seems to be about!

[Teresa]

Hi, thank you for your replies
Pitanga her has had free access to her puppies until yesterday, now i only allow her with them a few times per day.
The thing is, this is her first litter, so there were lots of things i did not know how would turn out...
The pups have their teeth out and are doing a lot of damage to Pitanga, but she still produces a lot of milk, quite engouh to get a nasty case of mastitis, so i wanted to find a way to help her reduce the milk production faster...Some of the niples even bleed!

[Margaret Sierakowski Dalriach IRWS]

Have you cut their nails? It's usually nails rather than teeth that make the bitch sore .

[Teresa]

I did... I had never seen anything like this actually... I think she is too kind to them, she never complains and they bite too hard!

[Dee Rance]

I have cut my puppies nails at least 6 times already, the teeth have only just come through, as for drying up the milk when you start to wean the puppies they don't take so much milk, and in any animal if you ''don't milk them out'' then they will produce less milk the next time, and if you keep on doing this, not allowing her to be 'milked out' then she will naturally start to dry up.. it is so rite that it is the nails that cause the scratching on the mums udder not teeth. And as for shutting her in with them Saffy has had the choice to go in or stay out, rite from the word go. Even now when the gate on the puppy pen is closed she knows that if she just taps on the gate she will be aloud in or out, it is cruel to make her stay in with them, they can grow into little monsters and I would not want to be in with them 24/7

[Susan Morriss]

Well said Dee...