Fenugreek.
You can start giving your bitch fenugreek the day she whelps. I've never given it before whelping but maybe someone else has and can chime in with this.
Fenugreek can be bought in capsule form at any health food store. Open capsule and sprinkle contents on your girls food. I mix it with a little yogurt to make sure she is getting the whole amount. I usually start with 3 capsules three times per day and increase from there. The room and dog should smell distinctly like maple syrup. If it doesn't.... increase the dose. You can not give to much. Once her milk supply is well established you don't have to give it any more. I do for about a week.
Fenugreek has been used since biblical times to increase milk production by the way, so it is nothing new.
The only additional way to increase milk production in your girl is to ensure that she drinks a lot, eats enough and that the puppies nurse a lot.
It's not usually the eating enough that is the issue, it's drinking enough. You have to get her to drink A LOT. Chicken stock flavored water is what I tend to use and I make her food soupy as well. My girls have to be dragged from the whelping box for the first few days so I'm sticking water and food under their noses constantly during this time.
Supplementing puppies can back fire on you. On the one hand you want the pups to get enough food but on the other hand the more times you supplement them the less they will nurse and the less milk mom will produce.
Good luck.
You can start giving your bitch fenugreek the day she whelps. I've never given it before whelping but maybe someone else has and can chime in with this.
Fenugreek can be bought in capsule form at any health food store. Open capsule and sprinkle contents on your girls food. I mix it with a little yogurt to make sure she is getting the whole amount. I usually start with 3 capsules three times per day and increase from there. The room and dog should smell distinctly like maple syrup. If it doesn't.... increase the dose. You can not give to much. Once her milk supply is well established you don't have to give it any more. I do for about a week.
Fenugreek has been used since biblical times to increase milk production by the way, so it is nothing new.
The only additional way to increase milk production in your girl is to ensure that she drinks a lot, eats enough and that the puppies nurse a lot.
It's not usually the eating enough that is the issue, it's drinking enough. You have to get her to drink A LOT. Chicken stock flavored water is what I tend to use and I make her food soupy as well. My girls have to be dragged from the whelping box for the first few days so I'm sticking water and food under their noses constantly during this time.
Supplementing puppies can back fire on you. On the one hand you want the pups to get enough food but on the other hand the more times you supplement them the less they will nurse and the less milk mom will produce.
Good luck.
