How to raise dogs during lactation is a concern for many people, as it affects not only the health of the mother dog but also has a great impact on the puppies' physical health. The mother dog eats food, then transforms nutrients into milk to feed the puppies, meeting their growth needs. So, how to raise dogs during lactation? What precautions should be taken when raising lactating dogs?

How to Raise Dogs During Lactation

Whether the feeding of lactating female dogs is reasonable is best judged by observing their milk secretion. The mother dog must consume and digest a large amount of food to produce sufficient milk with appropriate nutritional components to meet the growth and development needs of the entire litter. The energy requirement depends on the mother's normal energy intake and the size and age of the puppies.

Assuming a female dog weighs 28 kilograms and is nursing 6 puppies each 4 weeks old with an average weight of 2.5 kilograms, each puppy needs to get 2100 kilojoules of energy daily from the mother's milk. Since each liter of milk contains 5650 kilojoules of energy, at least 2.3 liters of milk are needed. During milk production, there is energy loss in the mother's body, for example, if 75% of the energy is converted into milk, then to produce 12,600 kilojoules of milk, the mother must obtain 12,600/0.75, i.e., 16,800 kilojoules of energy from the bloodstream.

Additionally, the mother dog requires about 6,400 kilojoules daily to maintain her body weight and health status. Thus, the total energy requirement for the mother dog is 23,200 kilojoules or about 4 times the normal maintenance amount.

It is clear that providing the mother dog with highly palatable and easily digestible, highly nutritious daily feed in small amounts multiple times a day (more than 4 times daily) is extremely beneficial. If the mother dog cannot produce enough milk, or does not consume the required amount of food, early artificial supplementation for the puppies is essential.

During lactation, the protein and fat content in the mother dog’s diet can be increased to 30% and 50%, respectively, which effectively promotes milk secretion and normal puppy growth.

Specific feeding methods are:

Generally, do not feed the mother dog within a few hours after giving birth, only provide clean, warm water. Within 3 days postpartum, feed liquid or semi-liquid food such as milk, fish broth, meat bone broth, soy milk, etc., then gradually add cooked rice and boiled vegetable leaves according to the situation, starting with small amounts and gradually increasing. The feeding amount should increase by 0.5 times compared to usual after 1 week postpartum, approximately double by the 2nd week, and 2 to 3 times by the 3rd week, then decrease afterwards.

Feed generally more than 4 times per day. Maintain fixed times, fixed quality, and fixed quantity, and ensure a supply of clean drinking water. Do not change the feed arbitrarily to avoid digestive disorders. The mother dog’s afterbirth and any dirty matter should be immediately cleaned to ensure a quiet and clean resting environment, preventing disturbance by strangers or foreign dogs, which might cause the mother dog to rage and trample or eat the puppies. The newborn puppies should promptly suckle the mother dog’s first milk, which has been cleaned and disinfected, to strengthen their immunity. If the litter is small and milk production is excessive, and the puppies cannot consume all the milk, manual milk expression can be done while appropriately lowering the feeding standard, to prevent mastitis. Also, clean and disinfect the mammary glands once daily.

Once the mother dog’s physical strength basically recovers, appropriate exercise can be given to promote uterine recovery and discharge of lochia. For mothers with little or no milk, besides enhanced feeding management and increasing digestible protein feed, prolactin or other lactation-promoting drugs and massage stimulation of the breasts may be applied to promote mammary gland development. For newborn puppies, foster mothers or milk substitutes can be found. Attention must also be paid to vitamin supply. Prolonged feed storage reduces vitamin content, which can cause bleeding around the puppies’ mouth and nose.

If the puppies’ muscle strength declines or anemia appears, increase the vitamin E content in their feed. When B vitamin deficiency occurs, puppies often bark, indicating a lack of vitamin B1 in the mother’s diet; therefore, feeding liver 2-3 times weekly can improve the vitamin deficiency condition.