mother not bonding with pups

pat d plumber

I have a boxer who had 12 pups on friday by section,unfortunateley only 4 have survived till now,they were very small and vet thinks they may have been a bit premature.THe mother hasnt really bonded with them,if you put her lying down with them she will stay there and will let you put the pups on her to feed but if not she would just lie off a bit away from them,Is there any way of trying to help her bond with them?

mary123

So sorry to hear this. How old is mummy . Is this her first litter. Was the father a boxer, that seems a awfully lot of pups for a boxer.

BlackCat2008

Hate to say it but my advice is to start to hand rear them asap if they can't feed when they want too, things will only get worse, she lets them feed when your there because you are there for your benefit not there's if this is her first she would probably struggle to care for them even with out the op. Don't force her, this will not help her or the pups it will just stress her out more, I had one years ago that couldn't coup with six so I put them in two different beds so she didn't feel over whelmed feeding all six at once but she still got stressed and tryed to berry them in the washing at the machine one day and I nearly stepped on them to put on the kettle. I found her then trying to bring them out the back to do the same, so I just tuck them away and hand reared them, she was much better after that and played with them when they were older so don't stress her out. If you need help to do this I will talk you thought it. Just post.

pat d plumber

mary123 wrote: »

So sorry to hear this. How old is mummy . Is this her first litter. Was the father a boxer, that seems a awfully lot of pups for a boxer.

she is 2 and a half,this is her first litter.yeah the father is a boxer pup. my boxer was one of ten pups.

pat d plumber

BlackCat2008 wrote: »

Hate to say it but my advice is to start to hand rear them asap if they can't feed when they want too, things will only get worse, she lets them feed when your there because you are there for your benefit not there's if this is her first she would probably struggle to care for them even with out the op. Don't force her, this will not help her or the pups it will just stress her out more, I had one years ago that couldn't coup with six so I put them in two different beds so she didn't feel over whelmed feeding all six at once but she still got stressed and tryed to berry them in the washing at the machine one day and I nearly stepped on them to put on the kettle. I found her then trying to bring them out the back to do the same, so I just tuck them away and hand reared them, she was much better after that and played with them when they were older so don't stress her out. If you need help to do this I will talk you thought it. Just post.

we have the colostrum mix and the welpi mix,we are feeding them this aswell as trying to get them to feed off the mother.any advice on hand rearing them would be appreciated.

BlackCat2008

This is one I wrote about Kittens change the word to pups and the same applies it's alot to write back out again but same rulers apply.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055361643

Just scroll down a bit to find it.

~Thalia~

So you bred the dog with the congenital eye problem after receiving such good advice on why you shouldn't?

This makes me very sad. Are you going to sellon the pups if they make it through? Will you inform any prospective buyers that the mother has an eye defect?

I don't understand why you bred from her, the country is over run with boxers as it is.

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear so many of the pups died and I hope the remainder pull through and more importanly, are healthy.

lostinnappies

I think by the sounds of it she is still in shock. It is a very strange thing to go through for a first time litter for any dog. Had she been in the wild she would have experienced having a ltter with other companions around her and probably would not have been so shocked. Domesticated pets can often reject puppys from a first litter simply because they have no idea what just happened. Also because it was a section this further reinforces negitive feelings towards the pups. Normally within about 3 days they snap out of it and begin to feed pups. If this hasnt happened Im afraid it will be a case of hand feeding these puppies. Could the others have died because she wasnt feeding them or are you at home all day? I would also be checking her for post operative infections.

lostinnappies

pat d plumber wrote: »

we have the colostrum mix and the welpi mix,we are feeding them this aswell as trying to get them to feed off the mother.any advice on hand rearing them would be appreciated.

feed every 2/3 hours ... this includes night time feeds until they are old enough to have solids.

pat d plumber

lostinnappies wrote: »

I think by the sounds of it she is still in shock. It is a very strange thing to go through for a first time litter for any dog. Had she been in the wild she would have experienced having a ltter with other companions around her and probably would not have been so shocked. Domesticated pets can often reject puppys from a first litter simply because they have no idea what just happened. Also because it was a section this further reinforces negitive feelings towards the pups. Normally within about 3 days they snap out of it and begin to feed pups. If this hasnt happened Im afraid it will be a case of hand feeding these puppies. Could the others have died because she wasnt feeding them or are you at home all day? I would also be checking her for post operative infections.

i have taken today off work and my girlfriend has taken the rest off week off from tomorrow,there has been someone at home since they have been born,we have been hand feeding them every 2 hours or so and also trying to get them to drink some of the mothers milk too.

Glowing

I remember you!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055295284

You came looking for advice on whether to breed your boxer (who had an eye condition) and pretty much most people advised against it?

So do you stand by your decision or are you starting to regret it?

I hope your pups survive.

Edit: Sorry Thalia, I just realised you got in there before me

lostinnappies

Glowing wrote: »

I remember you!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055295284

You came looking for advice on whether to breed your boxer (who had an eye condition) and pretty much most people advised against it?

So do you stand by your decision or are you starting to regret it?

I hope your pups survive.

Edit: Sorry Thalia, I just realised you got in there before me

To be honest, diamond eye is a very VERY common condition in boxers and if you were to exclude all boxers with this condition, the breed would probably die out. I have only seen one boxer without this condition (out of hundereds) and even his mother and other litter mates had it, so chances are that if you bread him you would have puppies with this condition.

kerrysgold

lostinnappies wrote: »

To be honest, diamond eye is a very VERY common condition in boxers and if you were to exclude all boxers with this condition, the breed would probably die out. I have only seen one boxer without this condition (out of hundereds) and even his mother and other litter mates had it, so chances are that if you bread him you would have puppies with this condition.

The more likely thing to happen would be that the defect might have some chance of being eradicated from the breed.....

it's a shame that you went ahead and bred your boxer anyway when there are so many boxers already. I think you said about making some money from selling the pups, well, there's not much chance of that, hopefully the reality of breeding has sunk in now when you have all the milk replacer/wormer/vaccination bills etc and the c-section bill for the mother. anyway that's not the pups fault now that they are here so best of luck to them, hopefully their mum will bond with them soon and they will grow up healthy dogs.

votejohn

sorry to hear about your boxer and that so many puppies didnt make it. its good to hear that yourself and your partner are taking time off work to nurse the pups, fingers crossed all will go well.

Also, I dont think its beneficial for people to criticise him for breeding his boxer, whats done is done, all we need to do now is send out good thoughts for puppies and mother!
All the best

Whispered

votejohn wrote: »

sorry to hear about your boxer and that so many puppies didnt make it. its good to hear that yourself and your partner are taking time off work to nurse the pups, fingers crossed all will go well.

Also, I dont think its beneficial for people to criticise him for breeding his boxer, whats done is done, all we need to do now is send out good thoughts for puppies and mother!
All the best

Yes what's done is done, and was done against the advice of people here who knew what they were talking about when the OP came on asking about breeding from this bitch.

Morganna

~Thalia~ wrote: »

So you bred the dog with the congenital eye problem after receiving such good advice on why you shouldn't?

This makes me very sad. Are you going to sellon the pups if they make it through? Will you inform any prospective buyers that the mother has an eye defect?

I don't understand why you bred from her, the country is over run with boxers as it is.

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear so many of the pups died and I hope the remainder pull through and more importanly, are healthy.

Well said Thalia