When a foster comes to you there's one thing you worry about. What about the pregnant moms that get surrendered BECAUSE they are pregnant? These dogs are surrendered because the families know they can't take care of them, or owners were careless and didn't spay/neuter therefore know the pounds will "take care" of the situation before the puppies even come.
Bless the heart of the animal shelters down south, if they see a pregnant mom that can be rescued our rescue will bring them up. Imagine the overload on our foster homes and our blessed foster homes that are willing to take the mom AND the 5-9 puppies they may have. Everytime this happens, these foster parents have the puppies for at least 8 weeks until they can be weaned from mom.
After weaning, the moms are tired, they've been freshly abandoned, and exhausted. But once they can be weaned from their puppies, they can start their new journey. (Sadly these pregnant moms are young and probably shouldn't be having litters, let alone multiple litters)
They deserve to be loved on their own as family pets and spoiled just like the rest of them.
Where I come in is after the weaning. They come to me thin, exhausted, and tummy droopy and nipples engorged. It's amazing again I point out how resilient they are because they just live through it.
These mommas are shy and tired, so they need rehab on their own. They are not used to being center of attention and they no longer need to worry about their babies.
Assessments and priorities:
1. feeding and eating to replenish lots of nutrients and weight loss from them being great mommas
2. see if they have any behavioral separation depression from being pulled from their puppies. By this time they are probably looking for a good rest away from puppies, but all dogs are different.
3. Slowly introduce the new environment
4. Once they get the idea, spoil them like crazy. These mommas eventually get used to cuddling and realize this is something they missed out on and deserve. (My favorite part!)
5. Assess the nipple swelling, if their belly drags watch for cuts and redness. Unfortunately they may get engorged and older practice was to relieve them by milking them, but that only makes it worse. Just leave it be. (REALITY: it will take MONTHS for her belly to get back to the same size and the nipples to retract back to pre - puppy times)
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