My girl had her pups last Thursday (my first litter), all are healthy and doing really well.  I am feeding my girl about four times a day, a mixture of fish, scrambled egg and her normal dry food.  She is drinking well too. The problem I have is she has runny poo and is going quite frequently, could I simply be over feeding her? or is it normal to be runny after having pups?  Any help/advise appreciated, thank you. Sorry another question, after a litter do girls urinate all over the place (in the house)? is guess she is marking but it is not like her?

It could be overfeeding -I had a big problem with this with this litter (this bitch's first) as once it started it was hard to stop. I found you need a LOT of really tiny meals rather than the 6 I was giving a day. (Even down to offering something tiny once an hour rather than any normal sized meal.) Her pups are now 6 weeks old and she's only just starting to get back to something resembling normal although she still needs to gain back something like 3-4 kgs in weight. Also cleaning up after the pups, and of course having eaten the afterbirths, doesn't help as it causes diarrhoea in many bitches. I used charcoal tablets mixed in the food, that helped a LOT to firm her up.

after a litter do girls urinate all over the place (in the house)? is guess she is marking but it is not like her?

Never had that or witnessed it from other breeders I learnt from. Can your girl get outside, does she let you know when she needs to go? The bladder may be weaker after whelping, but she should not be peeing in the house if she never has before.

Perhaps she is afraid to leave her pups, many Dam's like to not go far, have you tried popping her collar and lead on and making her go outside every few hours. Dam's quite frequently will hold their pee if they do not wish to leave their pups, perhaps she is just expelling in the house so as not to leave them, so lead her take her outside and she should go quickly so that she can get back to her pups.

As for food my own routine is. Scrambled egg in the morning with a bowl of goats milk, (on it's own this could cause the runs) next course is soaked puppy food with added mince, fish, chicken, next course meat/chicken/fish of the day with rice, then more soaked puppy food, rice will bind so I would put that in her diet somewhere throughout the day too, and then another bowl of goats milk.  Bitches can be loose for the first couple of days with all the afterbirths eaten, but she should be solid again now.

Keep an eye on her, if she gets worse consult your vet.

Good luck with the litter.

Thank you both. Going to sound thick now, why goats milk and not cows?

Sorry brown or white rice? Thanks again

my bitch had diarrhoea for a week after both litters-its normal and you cant overfeed-she needs all she can eat to feed the pups!

> you cant overfeed-she needs all she can eat to feed the pups!

Not quite so tina s  

We can overfeed, just as any other time the system can only cope with so much at a time.  Yes, the bitch will need more food than usual BUT just because she will eat all put down in front of her (one of mine would) doesn't mean she will have time to digest it.  If it's scooting out the other end it's not benefitting her or the pups so it's important to find a balance between the quantity needing to be fed and the number of meals and spaces in between them.

regards, Teri

Goats milk is gentler on the system - many dogs (and people for that matter) can have sensitivity issues with cows milk

could the weeing all over the house be a sign of a urinary infection?? My girl did this when she had cystitis, kept weein small amounts.
With all the trauma that can be caused, such as bruising of soft tissues around the urethra, when they have pups this can cause problems with urinating. Muscles are a little slacker also, so control may not be as good.

Remember trying to do your pelvic floor exercises after the birth of a baby perhaps - you didnt have clue if they were working or not!!!

My bitch was very loose after her litter for the first week.  I treated her with protexin and it cleared up.  I checked with the vets that it was okay to give her this whilst she was feeding her pups.  I find it cheaper to buy on line than from the vets but you have to wait out for delivery.  Good luck with your puppies.

http://www.vet-medic.com/pd_Protexin+Pro+Kolin+Cat+Dog+30ml_PROT12.htm

has lorripop as said ,could be a urinary infection ?
if your girls not used to the foods u are now giving her its going to caurse the runs and over feeding will too   but my girl had the runs when she had her 2nd litter as she eat all the sacks but the last litter she only had 4 out of 12 so she was ok this time

Hi Crofty, my girl had an upset tum for nearly 2 weeks after her litter, but other than that she was absolutely fine & well.  You could try feeding your girl with chicken & rice or white fish & rice and just keep her food very plain for a few days, this definetely helped here.  It is not that you are overfeeding her as mine ate 6 meals a day, so maybe she needs more food??  The mums often don't like to leave their litter for several days after the birth so it could be the case with your's urinating everywhere.
Good Luck and hope all goes well.