This time last night I was bottle feeding the pups. Cedar did not want to go into the whelping box and I did not feel the pups had gotten enough nourishment from an evening meal of rice cereal with goat's milk followed a couple hours later by puppy kibble crushed and soaked in goat's milk. While they had a great time slipping around the gruel filled trough, they did not eat that much. By midnight they verbally made it clear they were still hungry. I decided the bottle with warm goat's milk might be the solution to their hunger. It worked for a few hours until they were hungry again. Still Cedar would not go into the box. She stood outside, looking in and crying with her pups. Yes it was a long night.
Today I tried another brand of puppy kibble soaked in goat's milk. The pups really lapped it up but Cedar remained distraught outside the whelping box. She wanted to groom her puppies but did not want to be mobbed within the confines of the box. For dinner we tried a different tactic. If Cedar would not go to the puppies, we would bring the puppies to her. One at a time we introduced pups to her lying on her bed outside the box. For the first time in days she relaxed while nursing. Success! A couple hours later I gave the pups more puppy gruel to tide them over, what I hope is, the night.
Full tummies mean extra energy for play.