My dog stopped nursing 5-week-old pups, her milk glands are huge. Why?

Poor mama dog! Don't worry--her lactation will stop as soon as her hormones realize there is no more nursing going on. She will gradually stop lactating and her mammary glands will dry up in a few days. This is a normal process with weaning and no cause for concern.

Once the puppies stop nursing, the milk production will stop and the mammary gland will slowly decrease in size. The fact that all the puppies died might indicate the mother is not in good health, I would recommend taking her to the vet nd get her checked, I would also recommend having her spayed in a couple months from now.

Nursing dogs can be prone to an infection of the mammary glands called mastitis. It causes the gland to become swollen and hard, and it makes the dog very sick. Mastitis can be fatal if not treated, and it's concerning as well that Chapa doesn't want to nurse her puppies. They are close to being able to be weaned, so I would start weaning them now. I will put a method below on how to do this. As for Chapa, because mastitis is fatal if untreated, she needs to see a vet now. Please take her into an ER vet clinic; if there isn't one in your area, there will be a vet on call for emergencies. The information to reach that vet is found on a clinic's answering machine or website. Best of luck, I hope this helps! Weaning puppies: To help them wean and to get used to dry food, I would soak a high quality puppy formulated dry food in warm water until soft. Then mix that with puppy formula such as KMR to make a mush the consistency of oatmeal. Over the next two weeks, gradually increase the amount of dry puppy food and decrease the amount of water and KMR you use until they are eating the dry puppy food only.

If she had puppy recently and she was feeding them, is normal to produce milk for few days after stopping the activity. Without puppies stimulating milk production by suckling, Gracie will stop the milk production soon. Do not squeeze the milk out otherwise she will continue to produce it and monitor the mammary gland. If the glands become painful/red/inflammed, please seek veterinarian attention. Please post again on the forum if you would like to discuss it further. I hope my answer was helpful.

At 3.5weeks pups would be expected to suckle less frequently but in larger volumes. If she appears unwell or feverish or the pups are crying and hungry you should have her checked by your vet to rule out infections such as mastitis. I would recommend gradually weaning pups onto semi solid food immediately in order to reduce the demand on stella

Engorgement is the previous stage to mastitis, so if you manage to get the milk flowing, you will be safe. If not, the mammary gland will progressively become harder and more painful, progressing to infection that will require medical treatment. If in doubt best to have her checked over, as mastitis can be quite serious. Hope she gets better soon !

I agree, Mazi's mammary glands do look quite swollen. This can be a sign of mastitis, which is an infection of the mammary glands. Mastitis is very serious. I would take her into a vet asap to get this checked out. As for bottle feeding the puppies, weigh them daily and if they aren't gaining weight, they do need to be bottle fed. The vet can advise on this as well. I hope this helps!