Ending Lactation

Question
Hi Dr Christina,  Thanks for your previous responses and guidance.  Things have been great.  Today is puppy B-Day, week 5.  Mom is a very reluctant nurser at this point, we almost need to force her to remain still and lay down to allow pups to suckle.  We thing she's done.  Pups are eating soaked puppy food augmented with Puppy-Bak and continue to grow.  Average litter weight is 97ozs with the range of 117ozs to a low of 86ozs.  Again, 8 healthy Doberman puppies.  So now our concern is the proper way to stop the mom's lactation process.  The puppies are not nursing so mom just walks around dripping from her teets. Is there anything we should do to help this process along?  We have begun cutting back on her food intake and within a few more days plan on being back to her normal food intake, assuming this is a correct part of the process.  Unfortunately our Vet is not much help in this area...  Thanks again,

Dan C.

Answer
Moms usually take care of drying up. Returning to normal diet is perfect. Put the pups on a raw food diet, not processed, for the very best. Wait until pups are 8-10 weeks old before vaccinating, if you plan to.

Be sure to find, now, an integrative veterinarian with whom to work. There are a lot in CA, and at www.theAVH.org you can find one who can consult by phone with you.