Mama dropping weight?

[EMSChins]

I have a female who had a litter of triplets 10 days ago. The mom is starting to drop weight like crazy and she has never done this before. I mean like she has dropped about 100 gms in addition to what looks like it could have been the pregnancy weight. She is normally around 725-750 non-pregnant and she is around 650 now. This is her 4th litter in just over 2 years although she has just had twins previously.

Two of the babies are not gaining and the third is not gaining like her previous babies, she obviously does not have enough milk for all 3 of them so I have been handfeeding.

Despite this, she continues to drop weight. The male was pulled prior to her delivering so their is no chance she is pregnant currently.

She is fed a high quality pellet, loose timothy, orchard and alfalfa and supplement every other day. I started to hand feed CC and LL today. Has anyone else ever had a female drop weight like this after giving birth? There are no current signs of illness or injury and nothing out of the ordinary prior to the birth. She is attentive to the babies and she keeps them tucked up underneath her.

 

[Sycamore Chins]

Is she for sure eating? How's her poop?
Any stats on her weight from the previous litters, could this just be a trend for her?
Any discharge from eyes/ears/nose/vagina/etc.?

 

[EMSChins]

She is eating but doesn't seem to be as much as she usually does after littering. She normally packs it away. Her poop is fine, no change there. There is no discharge from eyes, ears, nose or mouth, no pawing, no vaginal discharge, she has closed back up. She seems active when she isn't sitting on the babies - just skinnier than usual.

Her weight is off from her previous litters which is why I am worried. She normally keeps the weight on. Pregnant she goes up to 800-875, then drops to 725-750 non-pregnant and nursing. She is down to 650 already and we are only 10 days postpartum which is way down from where she normally is in addition to the fact that she doesn't seem to be able to support the babies. Granted she has only has twins before but she has stayed fat and healthy and the babies have gained weight like gangbusters, neither she nor the babies seem to be keeping weight on in this case.

I haven't pulled the babies because she has been caring for them just not producing enough milk for them. I have been handfeeding every two hours but feel that if she continues to lose weight maybe I should pull them???

 

[Sycamore Chins]

I would probably pull the babies, maybe try fostering them onto another female, if only for warmth and stimulation.

Any mastitis?

 

[RDZCRanch]

Did you check her teeth? Are there any white spots? What about her abdomen? Does she feel bloated at all? Can you hear a lot of popping sounds if you put her belly to your ear?

 

[EMSChins]

No symptoms of bloat or mastitis. Her teeth started to lighten towards the end of the pregnancy so I started leaving a cuttle bone in the cage for her to chew unless someone has a better idea for calcium intake. They are not white but not as dark as they were.