My nursing dog isn't gaining weight after puppies. Is she healthy?

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.

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.

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.

Hello. Popcorn may have some underlying disease or parasites. Make sure you are feeding her a very high quality puppy diet, as pregnancy & now nursing can make tremendous demands on your pet. She needs all the calories she can take in to prevent further weight loss. It is also possible that her fur loss is also a normal consequence of her pregnancy. Many dogs will blow their coats at this time. Once she weans her puppies, her coat should return fully. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

It is normal for the mom to lose some weight during lactation, but if you are seeing ribs, then she is not eating enough calories. The best way to ensure she is getting all the necessary nutrients is to feed a formulated dog food; one that is made for lactating dogs is best. You can start weaning the pups from their mom now. Below are links to great articles that explains how to wean the pups and the nutritional needs of the mom and pups. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/breeding-for-dog-owners-caring-from-birth-to-weaning https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/feeding-the-nursing-dog https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/feeding-growing-puppies I hope that helps and all is well with Tofy and her pups.

Great question! Tofy should be dewormed now, then again in two weeks, and a third treatment two weeks after that. This will ensure all the worms are killed. After that, she should be dewormed every three months. When the puppies reach six months of age, they should also be dewormed every three months. I would also feed her a puppy formulated food while she is nursing her puppies. That will give her extra calories, calcium, and protein to support nursing them. Once the puppies are weaned, she can go back onto an adult dog food. Good luck, I hope this helps!

You should have Zena examined by your veterinarian to make sure she is healthy. At the same time you can get her wormed (worms could be a reason for not gaining weight), and vaccinated. You say her dam and sire did not look healthy....there could be a congenital problem that could keep her from gaining weight. Feed her a good quality complete puppy food for medium to large dogs and feed her according to the instructions on the bag.