Why is my nursing dog losing weight and fur after puppies?

Hello, congratulations on your new puppies. Pregnant bitches and those who have just birthed puppies will have a substantially higher calorie demand. Most of the time, we even recommend switching mothers to puppy food (richer in calories) to keep up with there caloric demand. Alternatively, at four weeks you may wean the puppies off from nursing an onto wet/canned puppy food so that mom stops producing milk and her caloric demand returns to normal. You may feed her up to 4-6 times per day while she continues to nurse. Hope this helps and best of luck.

That's a good question. The hormonal changes, the energy drain of having puppies and nursing them and the additional stress are all reasons female dogs lose their coats after having puppies. This is normal and once the pups are done nursing and she starts relaxing and gaining back weight the fur will come back in. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Jimmy.

9 pups will take a lot from a mother at any age, they do tend to lose a lot of weight when nursing the puppies. She will gain it back after they are weaned, make sure to feed her as much as she wants and feed her puppy food instead of normal adult food.

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! Poor Betsy! She is very cute! Hormones from pregnancy and lactation can affect the skin and hair. If the puppies are all weaned and have new homes, then I would suggest full blood work. Low thyroid and Cushing's disease can cause thin hair coats and pigment changes in the skin. Starting an Omega 3 fish oil (http://vrshealth.com/canine-products/omegadog/) won't hurt. Be sure she is on a good balanced commercial diet and if she is still nursing be sure it is puppy food. She should also be dewormed, pregnancy and nursing activates "sleeping" round worms. Parasites can cause a dull, thin hair coat. I also suggest having Betsy spayed. At 7 years old I worry about being intact impacting her health (pyometra, mammary cancer) and that is a bit old to have puppies again. I hope this helps and I wish Betsy the very best!

Nursing puppies takes a lot of energy from a dog, and Angel should be fed a puppy formulated food to give her the increased calories, protein, and calcium she needs to be healthy. You don't want her to gain weight unless she is quite thin, bug she absolutely needs the puppy food. Make sure she is up to date on her deworming treatments as well, as that can cause weight loss in dogs.

Hello. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Yes, you can use this to deworm a nursing bitch. It is actually recommended that you deworm the nursing bitch and the puppies on the same schedule starting when the puppies are 2 weeks of age; then repeat at 4, 6, and 8 weeks of age and then monthly until 6 months of age. It often takes multiple dewormings to clear them of worms . If you just do it one time you are not likely to make a huge difference. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

I recommend getting her seen by your vet for an exam and bloodwork. She could have parasites, also, voracious appetite without weight gain or weight loss is a sign of diabetes. It could be that the pups have worn her out. She should have been eating puppy food the whole time she was pregnant and nursing. If she was not, this could be partly responsible for her thin condition. Your vet will give you a treatment plan, based on the findings.