How to Take Care of Newly Born Puppies at Home

Yay! We are expecting puppies! Though it is exciting to be expecting newborn puppies at home, even so, how can you care for both mother and her puppies?

By providing high-quality care can ensure that mother and her pups feel secure and stay healthy. The first weeks of a puppy’s life are essential for its development and healthy growth.

Thus it is very crucial that in this period, puppies get proper feeding and warmth. Not forgetting, it is the best time for puppies to develop social skills. How can you ensure that newborn pups get the best care?

Where to begin

Soon after birth, a puppy should be examined for any birth defects such as cleft palate, which can endanger its life. Also, it is very essential that puppies are kept warm in their first few weeks after birth.

How can you ensure pups are warm and well fed at all times? To get this done, you can wrap a well-monitored heating pad or a warm bottle in a towel then place this together with the puppies in their crate.

Keeping Newborn Puppies Clean and Warm

To help them remain healthy, newborn puppies require being clean and warm. Since puppies cannot produce heat by themselves they depend on other puppies and their mother for warmth. Also, strive to provide them a warm environment far from drafts.

Often mothers clean the pups on their own. But, when the mother doesn’t do it, you can clean them gently. To ensure that their crate is clean. Keep checking to ensure that they are growing normally. If you notice any peculiar changes, a vet should check the puppy immediately.

Feeding newborn puppies

A mother’s milk is the best choice for a puppy. However, if there is separation from their mother, consult a vet doctor to know when and how to feed the puppies.

Before using a bottle to feed the puppy, it is important that you know the right way to do so; otherwise, it can be harmful to the puppy. You can offer the puppy with milk formula specifically developed for puppies. This is because other kinds of milk, like cow’s milk, can cause them to diarrhea.

How often should puppies be fed?

In their first few weeks, a puppy should be fed after a couple of hours, just about after every 2 hours. After some weeks, the time between feeding may be increased. Once a puppy is around 4 months old, it may be fed with solid food.

To help with the change to solid food, you should soak a good quality pup kibble using some warm water together with some milk replacer; this mixture needs to be mixed to a consistency forming a gruel. This may be fed to the puppy different times in a day.

Gradually and slowly, this milk replacer may be reduced to about 7 to 8 months. Or by the time the puppy can consume dry kibble. When not sure, consult a veterinarian to find out on the correct feeding plan and the amount of food to give in each feeding.

What is the ideal weight for a puppy?

To help ascertain the correct development and growth of a puppy, it is necessary that you check its weight. Often the birth weight of a puppy will differ based on the dog breed. However, in the first several weeks in a puppy’s life, the weight can double or even triple.

Mostly, when a puppy has gained 10 to 15 % of their birth weight, this is considered to be a healthy sign. Take note that when a puppy is not gaining sufficient weight, then its survival will become questionable.

Things To Consider When Caring For New Born Puppies

Be prepared to give 24-hour care

When you are to hand-rear the puppy, you should be ready to work hard and be committed. Particularly, for the first two weeks of a newborn puppy’s life. Why is this crucial? This is because newborns necessitate 24-hour care at the beginning.

Caring for a puppy without the mother is truly challenging and will demand the owner to be committed 24-hours.

You might have to take some time off from work to take care of the puppies. This is because they will need near-constant attention for the first two weeks.

Always keep this in mind before you breed your canine. When you can’t dedicate yourself to caring for orphaned pups then avoid breeding the mother.

Buy milk substitute

When your puppies are orphaned, you will have to offer them the appropriate replacement milk. Though the best milk for pups is their mother’s milk. Milk substitute comes as a powder (Lacto), which is reconstituted using, boiled water (this is similar to how baby formula is prepared).

You can find this supplement from major pet stores and your veterinary clinic.

Also, take note and avoid using human infant milk formula, goat’s milk, or cow’s milk. These options are not best mild options for puppies as they can cause diarrhea.

Temporarily, you can use the mix of boiled water and evaporated milk as you look for the right dog milk replacement. For this, take 4 parts of canned evaporated milk and mix with 1 portion boiled water to make a single feeding.

How to prepare milk formula

Newborn puppies should be fed every 2 hours. Since puppies require suckling every 2 hours, it means that they should be fed 12 times within 24 hours.

To prepare milk formula for a puppy, follow directions given on the packaging in preparation of the milk substitute (usually 30 gram of milk powder get mixed with 105 ml boiled water).

Get the puppies immunized at 6 weeks. Although puppies attain some level of resistance from their mother, they will need extra immunization to help keep them healthy. Talk to your vet to know more about the proper immunization schedule.

Wrapping up

By giving high-quality care, the mother and her pups will feel secure and stay healthy. The first few weeks in a puppy’s life are crucial for its development and healthy growth. Thus it is important that in this period puppies receive proper feeding and be kept warm.

Last Updated on 01/08/2023 by Karen Snow