Nursing mom with Diarrhea

Question
i have a 3 year old boxer who gave birth to 7 puppies 12/03 all are fat and thriving. But she is having diarrhea, I am just scared that she will become dehydrated or that the pups are taking a toll on her. i took her to the vet on friday but then she didnt have this problem, they only gave her a shot of oxytocin? (I think thats what is called?). I have read that this can be caused by her eating the placentas or cleaning after the babies? I been feeding her some dry puppy food with wet and one egg yolk and some cottage cheese. Now Im thinking that maybe this is what is causing the problem, but she wont eat anything else. Can you recomend some can food that I can give her, or something that I can make for her? Everytime I feed her it seems that it gets her energy up. Ive tried giving her only the dry food but she doesn't eat it unless she is really hungry but I really dont want to do that to her she needs her strenght for all her pups. I know that most dogs become skinny but she was skinny as it is.

sorry so long  

Answer
Hi Leilani,

Loose/liquid stool is not uncommon after whelping, especially if the bitch did eat the placentas, in which case it should clear up in a few days.  It might also be due to the switch to puppy food - you don't say when you switched her, or if you did it gradually.  Assuming she's been eating kibble, puppy food is the best for her right now and the cottage cheese is a good add-in - it provides calcium to help prevent eclampsia.  You can add a couple of tablespoons of canned pumpkin to her food, to help firm up the stool.  

She needs to eat, so add whatever you need to get her to do so; scrambled eggs, macaroni and cheese, or vanilla ice cream are popular add-ins for many newly-whelped bitches.  She'll require much more than her usual intake of food; with seven puppies, by peak lactation (when the puppies are three-four weeks of age) she'll be eating 3-4x her normal amount (over several small meals per day, of course).  You can also give her a fortified milk mix, aside from her regular meals, for the extra "groceries" - there are a couple of recipes here (the main diet suggestion is for a raw-fed bitch, but the milk mixes would work for kibble-fed bitches, too).  I would add 500 mg of vitamin C and a B-complex tablet (crushed to a fine powder) to these mixes.  (These are water-soluble vitamins so any excess will be excreted.)

Good luck - and if the loose stool doesn't clear up by the end of the week, or if she is vomiting, lethargic, won't eat anything, has a fever, etc., a vet visit is in order.
http://www.dearjubilee.com/supporting_pages/whelpdiet.htm