Nursing mom with infection/ told to wean now WHY??

Question
nursing mom doggie and abx. I saw your post re: safety of abx with nursing. You suggested covering the affected teat. Why??  In humans we encouraged moms to keep nursing, flush out the infection. the milk doesn't hurt newborn humans and the abx (amoxicillin) is considered safe. My neighbor just got the same info. on abx for a uterine infection. pups 3 weeks but.. 11 of them.. mom just wants to nurse and is miserable.. I'm afraid she'll end up with mastitis or an abscess to boot!!  I'd think the artificial milk mush they're giving would be more harmful??

Answer
Hi Gail

If humans and canine's were built the same, but alas it is not so.

The milk becomes infected and sour in dogs, and in fact is toxic and lethal to the pup.

The soured milk causes diarrhea which in turn can cause the pups to dehydrate. The nipple can "explode" or break open which is a hot bed for infection and extremely painful, the list is endless.    

Depending on the dose, Amoxicillin will cause the dam's milk to dry up and can cause constipation in both the dam and the pups.

You can express the milk to ease the dam's comfort by placing her in a bath tub full of warm water.  Gently massaging her teat until the milk expresses itself.  In all likelihood, the teat will not be able to produce milk in the future.

You don't have to feed milk mush, and cow's milk is never recommend it's too hard for pups to digest. Goat's milk is the best.   You can start with a broth of organ meat (heart, kidney, liver, etc) and pour it over a good kibble to soften it up. The pups will lap it up and once they get the hang of it, you can add vitamins and oils to help boost the immune system.