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My dog had calcium issues. Is it safe for her to nurse puppies?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | unspayed | 2 years and 11 months old

hi precious almost lost her life when she had her 1st litter. this is her 4th litter can we let her breast feed the puppies theres 2 that was born yesterday 6 and 10 0clock pm a little we was told not to cause she dont produce enough calcium we been giving the newborn and her goats milk.shes so precious to us.hummer is 5 months thats precious son how to we relate him w/his new sisters?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Sara Farmer, DVM

Answered By Sara Farmer, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on July 19th, 2017

If she developed hypocalcemia with previous litters I would recommend giving the puppies a milk replacer formula like Esbilac. Goats milk is not as ideal for puppies. You also may want to consider having her spayed since this is her fourth litter and as you will find out bottle feeding puppies is a lot of work!

I would not recommend introducing Hummer to the puppies until they are around 8 weeks old - older dogs often can be rough with very young puppies.

This link has good info on orphan puppy care, and you can follow the information on bottle feeding. You can give the puppies back to mom after feeding as long as you supervise them to make sure they don't nurse.
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