I am not a breeder, but I am trying to help a nursing mother that I am fostering for rescue. I have had her for almost a week. She is a 13 pound daschund mix with one 4-week-old baby. She's a great mom and her baby is fat as a tick having the whole milk bar to himself.

Yesterday, another mom we have in rescue, with 7 1-week-old puppies, stopped producing milk. Since I have a lactating mother, I was asked to take 2 of the puppies and see if she would feed them. Penny took to them immediately and she's doing wonderfully with them.

However, this morning, I took her outside and she has liquid diarrhea. She is still eating. She's not like a lab, she doesn't eat all of her food at once, so I leave some in her bowl at all times. She ate about 3/4 of 1.5 cups overnight. I also gave her some yogurt this morning and she ate that.

What can I do to help her tummy? Also, should I supplement the new pups with goat's milk or is that counterproductive? I hope she will produce more milk to meet the increased demand, but I don't want to delay that process. Her puppy is getting to the point that I can start him on gruel, maybe sometime later this week. His teeth have just poked through the gums, but they're not really in quite yet. TIA for any help!

I am sorry that no one else has answered you. How is the girl with the diarrhea doing today? Really entice her to drink fluids, so she doesn't get dehydrated at all, even if you have to force some liquids. Does your rescue have a vet you can speak to for advice? If all else is well, her milk supply should increase with the demand of the one week old puppies rapidly, as long as she isn't sick. Bless you for helping the puppies and the momma rescue, you are an angel from above.

Please let us know how she is doing, and hopefully her diarrhea is resolved now. I try not to give much to nursing moms, but maybe you could try a little pepto bismol, or some pumpkin, but I would really ask the vet first. I wonder if her diarrhea is from stimulating the new puppies to urinate/defecate, because they came from a rescue situation, if they have been exposed to something? Do the new puppies seem vigorous and well?

She is still drinking water. She's also still active and acting normally. I did speak to our vet and gave her some Pepto to help settle her belly. I will go to the store later and buy some pumpkin as well. She isn't sick, but she was on the thin side when I first got her. I just don't want her to get even thinner with the extra work.

The new puppies are doing well. They seem content, they are not crying at all. They are warm and just sleep curled up with the older puppy when they are not nursing.

I am wondering if the additional "cleaning" she is doing of the puppies poo/pee might be upsetting her tummy. Maybe you can try to get in there and clean up the puppies for her and see if that helps.

Also maybe a little yogurt and some cooked rice might help with milk production and help bind her.

Just a thought.

I give my nursing moms real canned pumpkin throughout the nursing period. It helps give the stools form and it's also good for them. They eat so much puppy poop that it makes for yucky stools for awhile.

Take Mom's stool sample in ... my lab had the same symptoms and she had C-difficile .... required antibiotics .. gave her canned pumpkin and a special raw recipe which helped but the antibiotics saved her life ..

Breeder, I emailed Melissa private and maybe others did as well. Thanks for answering her also.

If she was rescued as a stray, her tummy is so messed up from eating God knows what and then they get into our loving homes and are fed good, quality dog/puppy food and that messes them up even more!!

I give my stray moms who are having trouble keeping food solid a mixture of cottage cheese, chicken and rice mixed with LOTS of warm water. Give her a tiny bit(that size dog, maybe 1/4 cup to start) EVERY hour for a few days, might even take a week or so for her to get her stools back to normal. Then GRADUALLY add back the kibble you were giving her.

Make sure that everyone is kept wormed. Good luck, God bless you for taking her in and for helping with the other little ones.

Thank you to all who responded here and emailed me privately. Penny is doing much better today. Her stool is still soft, but not liquid. I am giving her yogurt and pumpkin, she really likes both. She was never anywhere near lethargic, but she definitely has more pep in her step.

She seemed full of milk this morning, much more so than normal. So I think her body is responding to the increased demand. The puppies are content and doing well.

I found out last night that the reason the other mother's milk dried up is because her foster mom gave her Metronidazole for runny stools, without asking anyone if it was OK. Apparently, a side effect of that drug is that it dries up milk! A hard lesson learned. I just hope the 5 she is bottle feeding will make it. We have put the word out to see if any other rescues have lactating mothers, so hopefully we can find one for them too.

Just a quick update and another question. Last Friday, I took a stool sample in to the vet to be tested because Penny's poo went back to liquid and the puppies were having green mucousy stools. She has hookworms.

I did 3 days of Panacur on her and her puppy. I gave the 2 younger puppies Pyrantel once. On the 3rd day (Monday), her puppy started expelling roundworms. Last night, Penny's stools were gross again and she didn't eat much of her food yesterday. Her puppy was still pooping roundworms. So I did them both again with Panacur last night. The other puppies are fine after one dose of Pyrantel. Their poo looks normal. Should I keep deworming if I still see worms? I was told to wait 2 weeks and repeat the 3 days, but Penny was obviously feeling sick again and the puppy's poop was loose and foamy, with roundworms.

Unless the mother were, with vet's guidance, being treated for Giardia, you would NOT give it for more than 3 days, especially to the nursing pup. You can OD a little pup with wormers. I could see maybe following pyrantel's label directions and worming after about 10 days. The little pups don't even have worms and they may OD from mom's treatment. Hookworms mess up the system. Rescues often come in with multiple parasites and other opportunistic infections. I think you said the second litter's dam had giardia? Please check with the vet--in complicated situations, I write it all down in a list of events and questions then hand carry it in or fax it in. Otherwise it is like playing a bad telephone game through the front desk. Having two litters on one dam is complicating this. You may be told to continue Panacur on the nursing mom, but you may be told something else. When the hookworms let go after worming, the intestinal walls often bleed. I have seen horrendously bloody runs after worming. Worming was indicated, but these litters are young.

Also, consider supplementing the dam and older pup with probiotics such as that from Purina (expensive) or a combination of probiotics and kaolin/pectin solution. Check with the vet on that. If you are using milk to supplement the nursing dam, consider using lactose-free milk or yogurt or kefir.

Good luck.