mother of 2 month old pups,spine showing

hi
i have a female staff that gave birth to a successful litter of 10! pups doing fine but the mum is looking really drained, and has lost alot of weight after having the pups, shes eating an drinking fine but ive noticed that her spine is really showing quite badly, i think its where she has lost weight from the pups, does anyone have any ideas on what i could feed her so she can get all the nutrients needed to get her fit an healthy again, its her first litter and now i look at her im thinking i should never have put her through it all, many thanks.

What are you feeding her and how many meals a day did you have her on before during and after her pups? Did you increase her food to cope with it all?
Mums often look a bit poor afterwards but it sounds like your girly has really had it taken out of her. 10 pups is a lot for her to rear as well.
Can I ask why you bred her? Did you have all the relevant health checks done first?

I would give her good quality meat and mixer split into several meals a day, if she's not used to meat introduce it gradually, or at least increase whatever you do feed and split into several meals.

Its not easy rearing a litter, and draining on the bitch, did you increase her feed when she was feeding the pups? I would have thought that she should have put on weight by now.

I don't remember Fiji ever looking thin but she did only have four pups.

When did you last worm her? Just another thought, I hope she improves soon.

I remember reading on another forum that bitches feeding pups should be fed on puppy food. She may also need increased amounts or number of feeds to help her produce enough milk for all those pups!

I would have both bitch and pups checked by the vet. The bitch may need help to recover - feeding can even leech calcium from teeth etc. if there is not enough to replace the bitch`s own supplies. And the pups may not be getting enough nutrients. If it`s the spine showing, rather than a general loss of condition, I would suspect muscle loss because she has exhausted her fat supplies.

10 pups, poor lady
yup get her to the vets and make sure there is nothing else wrong

My Krystal had pups in December (only 2 tho). They are 11 weeks tomorrow. She is now half a pound heavier than she was before she was preggers, so I am pleased with her. My breeding Mentor said that I must make sure I feed Krystal loads when she was feeding the pups and I really did. She was having dry JW puppy for brekkie, scrambled egg for lunch, steak for tea and a whole pack of wet JW late evening, as well as the odd piece of cheese on toast (not particularly healthy but she loved it so a bit of a treat for her) and rice or pasta mixed in with all meals for energy. She is a Chihuahua and I never imagined she could eat this amount of food but she ate every meal, cleaned the plate, so that just shows how many calories they need to feed the pups. Just two pups in her case.

If I were you I'd give her her normal dog food but like someone else said, Puppy variety and I'd supplement with meat, eggs, fish and maybe some rice/pasta, to help build her up.

Also, like someone else said, have you had her checked over by the Vet. I took Mum and pups to the Vets three times to be checked over, even though they appeared fine but it was worth a consultation fee each time to make sure that there was no meds or anything needed to help them on their way.

I'm sure she'll soon be back to her normal weight, just got to pack in some extra calories using healthy foods and she'll get there. Obviously, if she has food allergies or problems with anything other than dog food, you will need to get advice from your Vet.

Best of luck with her

10 pups is taxing to the body ,she is depleated and it would be a good idea to seek a vets advice ,its normal but should be checked,dehydration will bring a mom down quikley,the pups will suffer if mom is low on nutients...good luck....pics please!!!!!