I'm not saying it would be a perfect match, or a primary source. with so many it would take.....7 feedings to get back around to the first two again, if I were to do it, and if I could tell wich is which.
as for the interventions during birth, and neonatal time, I agree, but also have to point out that sometimes a simple interevntion at the right time can save a life that does grow and thrive like all the others after the need is passed. Simple example, a bleeding cord, Mom chews the cord too soon, blood is normal, it clots it does it's thing Momm licks it away all is good, another puppy the bleeding doesn't stop, I can see it pumping and gushing and spreading across everywhere, and all of a sudden pup #7,comes, it takes so little energy to pinch the cord as it lays or crawls, let the puppy do it's thing, mom licks between the two, wait 4 minutes un pinch, still bleeding, 10 seconds and a simple knot of dental floss and the puppy that would have bled out 15 minutes ago is fine, and goes on to thrive.
People are buying my puppies for pets not furture breeding, and if there is a pup that had trouble after birth there would be no way of knowing which it is with them all looking the same for the first bit, and with 13 it's super hard to keep all strait.
Someone else commented on the fact that if she is having this large of litters to stop breeding her as if it were a defect. She gets time off between litters and 1-2 heats inbetween allowing her time to be ready to go again so long as she is healthy and continues to be a good mom without any risk to herself or the future litters
Quote:
Originally Posted by
OSUvet 
Ok I couldn't avoid responding to this. I am a veterinarian, I graduated from the Ohio State university in 2009. I have a 6 month old still EBF son and have donated 300 oz so far of my own pumped breast milk to a mama on HM4HB.
I will leave the comment about pushing formula because they are trying to sell you something because it's true - many vets are as bad as doctors on that, and I hate it.
All that said - the main point here is that the milk of no species is a perfect or even good substitute for the newborns of any other species. Aside from the fat and protein content difference, which was pointed out earlier, the electrolyte-fluid imbalance is different. These things all contribute to lack of proper nutrient balance as well as inability to digest properly (diarrhea, constipation). While I agree that formula is not ideal, the cows milk base is supplemented in the appropriate ways to make it as balanced for puppies as is artificially possible.
It is not recommended to give plain goat milk (or any other milk) to a human baby as primary nutrition.
So, formula is definitely the best alternative available. But I don't believe that you have given a reason to need an alternative at this point. If you leave the pups and mom alone and let them nurse naturally, it is highly likely that your bitch will have plenty of milk and the puppies will all thrive. Intervention in birth and the neonatal process is in dogs as in humans - best not performed in almost all cases. Nature knows what it is doing. If there is a puppy that is struggling it is because there is some other underlying problem making it weaker than the others and as a breeder honestly you should not want to perpetuate that, and that puppy should not be sold for the same price as the others as it will likely have ongoing health problems.
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