Background: My maiden bitch had nine puppies over the course of eight hours on Wednesday. The last two were born after administering oxytocin and a calcium drip at my vet's office. Forty-eight hours later she suddenly had a lump the size of a robin's egg appear between her left rear teats. By morning her temp was up to 103 so my vet put her on Cephalexin. I've been kneading the lump, and the pups are able to nurse off the teats before and after it. It feels a tiny bit looser than it did last night.
I took her to the vet's this morning for a check up and, except for the temp (now 102.7) and the mastitis, she's okay. She IS panting a lot though.
As if that isn't bad enough, my girl's appetite also began declining around midnight last night. This began before she started on the medication, although the Cephalexin is probably compounding her lack of appetite. The only thing that interests her at all is lots of peanut butter slathered on bread. This morning I also got her to eat about a pound of hamburger but she turned her nose up at it tonight. I hand fed her a little of it, then gave her a couple of peanut butter sandwiches - which she devoured greedily. I even tempted her with an ice cream sandwich but she only ate half, and that was without any relish. Do any of you have any ideas about what to do to get her to eat? I'm really scared she won't get the proper nutrition for her large brood!
FWIW, she turned her nose up at a can of Science Diet a/d Critical Care at my vet's office but did eat it when I made it part of her peanut butter sandwich. I only took one can of it because she refused to eat it at the office but will try to get more. She almost wouldn't eat the PB sandwich when she smelled the canned food on it but finally decided to try it.
What worked for me was baby food chicken or turkey(early stage) mixed with Gerber baby rice cereal and warmed up chicken broth. Multiple meals per day. And plain vanilla ice cream.
I had a first time mom of 10 do the same thing - not eating after giving birth. I tried canned food, cooked chicken, peanut butter - anything I could think of. I talked to my vet and ended up taking in and they tested her for chlostridium (sp??). Sure enough that's what she had. They said it was brought on by the stress of having the pups. After putting her on antibiotics, she was back to eating normal within a few days. You might want to check this.
Good luck.
Question- how warm do you have the whelping box? It should be 70-72 degrees. She may just feel awful. If the pups are getting their fill once every two hours, get her to a cool comfortable place for some rest between feedings Make sure she's taking enough water.
