# Lactating bitch itching herself raw..any advice?



## Kazok9 (Mar 14, 2015)

Hi, hoping someone has experience of this and can advise:
My maltese has 6 pups, they are 20 days old. It's her first litter and mine. During her pregnancy and after she has been itching and digging at herself, her poor skin: full of little scabs and she has stratched most of her body hair out. When I comb her, there are clumps of her beautiful fur just falling out.
I took her to the vets last night, ( left puppies at home and ran for it) .. He did some skin scrapes and she doesn't have mites. He was rather at a loss as to what and why this is happening but did mention allergies as most common.
He said we can test for the allergy but most commonly the results come back as allergic to pollen or dust mites. We also talked about wheat allergies, but I have always fed her wheat and grain free. ( Lilly's kitchen)
Almost as an afterthought and as he was walking us to the door, he also mentioned a protein intolerance. That made a light bulb click on. Of course in the later stages of her pregnancy and now while she is feeding her pups, I switched her to puppy food. ( Lilly's kitchen, perfectly puppy)
So, here I am with a very itchy half bald dog, that may or may not have allergies, although she has never been like this before. If she does, then I am really cross with myself for breeding from her. I have waited 40 years to breed and thought i had done everything properly. Health checks, pra certified parents.
My girl was given a steroid injection and some antibiotics. (She's itched the side of her nose raw) conversely, I weighed her and she's only.10 of a kg below her pre pregnancy weight. Looks worse, due to the hair loss.
Should i switch her back to adult food? ( lower protein) but then she has 6 pups to feed. Should I try weaning the pups asap, to help her? Any advice would be most welcome. My poor girl, I feel awful and so does she!


----------



## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

I'd switch back to the food she was on before and add some raw minces or chicken wings (also a good source of calcium and the other bone-forming minerals) to up the protein levels. If it seems to be working after a week or 10 days, continue like that until the pups are weaned. 

Another possibility is that the food has storage mites, and she's allergic to those.


----------



## Kazok9 (Mar 14, 2015)

Raw chicken wings?


----------



## Rafa (Jun 18, 2012)

Yes, chicken wings have to be fed raw.

You can also feed sardines and cooked, mashed broccoli, to up the calcium in her diet.

Most bitches do lose a lot of hair after giving birth, due to hormonal changes. They don't normally end up bald, but the hair loss can be quite dramatic.

If the pups are twenty days old, I would begin weaning now. I always used to wean beginning at three weeks old.

What bedding do you have her on? Have you changed your washing powder or fabric conditioner?


----------



## Kazok9 (Mar 14, 2015)

Pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't raw mince and chicken be high protein which could be an issue? Any meat in fact.. But ( talking to my self) dogs are carnivores, if she cant have meat, what can she have? So.. Back to Lilly's kitchen adult food with bits of mince and chicken. ? 
Pups weaning... What fun. They are 3 weeks tomorrow, so tiny but I'll give it a go. Mush up some kibble with lots of water and let them paddle?
Bedding, she has vet bedding in her whelping box, I'm changing it twice a day now. Not changed my washing powder but to be fair, before pups she spent most of her time laying on the floor or sofa. May just try washing the bedding without powder. What do you think?


----------



## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

Kazok9 said:


> Pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't raw mince and chicken be high protein which could be an issue? Any meat in fact.. But ( talking to my self) dogs are carnivores, if she cant have meat, what can she have? So.. Back to Lilly's kitchen adult food with bits of mince and chicken. ?
> Pups weaning... What fun. They are 3 weeks tomorrow, so tiny but I'll give it a go. Mush up some kibble with lots of water and let them paddle?
> Bedding, she has vet bedding in her whelping box, I'm changing it twice a day now. Not changed my washing powder but to be fair, before pups she spent most of her time laying on the floor or sofa. May just try washing the bedding without powder. What do you think?


When your vet mentioned protein intolerance, he was meaning an intolerance to a particular protein, not protein as a whole. There might be a different protein source in the puppy food to what your bitch is used to, that's triggering a reaction. If the pups don't get enough protein, they won't grow, won't develop muscles. That's why puppy food is higher protein than normal dog food. 3 weeks for starting to wean is fine. I left it until 3 weeks with my litter, but the pups were so eager and so competent, I could have started a few days earlier. I just soaked some kibble (I used Barking Heads grain free puppy) until it was spongy, and they dived in on it. I didn't wet it so much it became sloppy; also took to mixing in some Lactol I'd bought just-in-case, and it was better used up than wasted.


----------



## Kazok9 (Mar 14, 2015)

Thank you. This morning I gave the pups their first taste of food. Mushed up Lilly's kitchen with a sprinkle of raw mince. 4 got stuck in, one pooped in it everyone had a good paddle. 
I will continue, what fun! Mum is being introduced back to her adult food with raw mince. Thank you for your help. X


----------



## Fleur (Jul 19, 2008)

No advice - but just wanted to say all the best for your girl and her pups 
Maltese are my absolute favourite breed and I dream of one day having my own well bred pup from an ethical breeder - please post some pics when you can


----------

