Feeding puppies and Mum

[Sophie]

Hi

Sophie had a great bunch of 7 pups 10 weeks ago. Everything went well and all the pups have now been re-homed.  All except the two little darlings we are keeping (Sasha and Millie).  We are feeding the pups 4 times a day and they are doing great.  However, Sophie is often regurgitating her food for them!  I have tried keeping them seperate at meal times but sometimes it can be an hour later we will find the pups tucking into a pile of mums food!!

Any advice?  I know it is  normal and quite instinctive behaviour for  Sophie but I am worried that she will suffer and of course the puppies eating the wrong type of food etc etc.

Steve                    

[Jane S]

There's no easy way to stop this I'm afraid - as you say, it's just a natural instinct that makes Sophie do this, although its quite unusual for a bitch to still be regurgitating when her babies are 10 weeks old. All you can do is keep Sophie away from her pups for at least a couple of hours after she has eaten - not easy I know but its the only method I've found that works                    

[jakieboy]

Ebony did this as well for Finn - probably upto about 12 weeks old, and considering she didn't like him most of the time it surprised me that she would still try and feed him, we used to keep her away after her food, feed him whilst she ate so that he wasn't hungry when she brought it up and kept a close eye so that we could pick it up before finn - it stopped pretty quickly after that.

Nikki x                    

[Sophie]

Thanks for your comments and reassurances.

I will keep you posted !!

Steve