What Can You Feed Newborn Puppies

How Much And How Often Should I Feed Orphaned Puppies

Orphaned puppies should be fed on a strict schedule, preferably every 2-4 hours. Puppies up to two weeks old can generally consume their daily intake in 4-5 meals per day. Small breed puppies should be limited to 10-15mL per feeding during the first week of life in order to prevent diarrhea.

Commercial milk replacers are labeled to help you calculate the total volume to be fed per day. To calculate the amount for each feeding:

• dilute the total daily volume of milk replacer to a final volume of about 180mL/kg of puppy body weight, and
• divide that total into the desired number of meals per day.

It is recommended that you warm puppy milk replacer to approximately 100°F before feeding, but be careful not to overheat it. Cold formula, overly rapid feeding rates, and overfeeding can lead to regurgitation, aspiration, bloating, and diarrhea.

If the orphaned puppy develops diarrhea, reduce the formula volume. It is better to slightly underfeed than to overfeed neonatal orphaned puppies. Puppy milk replacer should be the sole source of nutrition until 3-4 weeks of age at which time the weaning process may begin.

The transition from formula to solid food is a gradual process, so be patient. Use a high-quality food formulated to support growth and reproduction. Introduce small amounts of semi-solid or solid food to supplement formula, and transition to solid food by 5-6 weeks of age.

What Are Some Best Practices For Proper Puppy Hygiene

Orphaned puppies require you to pay strict attention to their hygiene for optimal health and development. Follow these best practices for proper puppy hygiene:

• Bottles and nipples should be cleaned and then boiled in water to sterilize them between uses.
• Never prepare more milk replacer than can be used within 24 hours and always keep it refrigerated.
• Discard formula after 1 hour if left at room temperature.
• Once or twice each week, gently wash the puppies with a moist cloth.

What To Feed Puppies

You should feed a food that has been formulated specifically for puppies. The nutritional health of puppies, just like adult dogs, depends on receiving the correct amounts and proportions of five essential nutrients:

To be considered complete, a puppy food should contain all essential nutrients, except water, which should always be accessible. These nutrients must also be present in the proper proportion to ensure a puppy food is balanced.

Though fat, protein and calcium tend to get the greater emphasis in puppy foods, every single essential nutrient is key, especially during the period of rapid growth. Deficiencies in any essential nutrient can compromise short- or long-term health.

Dont Miss: How To Do A Newborn Sponge Bath

Also Check: How Many Ml Does A Newborn Drink

How Do I Get The Puppy To Urinate And Defaecate

For the first 2 to 3 weeks of their lives, puppies will need help to urinate and defaecate. Normally the mother does this by licking their genital region. To simulate this action, after every feed rub a cotton wool ball or tissue moistened with warm water over the genitals and anus of the puppies. If this procedure is not followed, the puppy may become constipated.

Video Answer: Sugar In Baby Formula

Bottle Feeding Recipe.

10 oz. of canned evaporated milk OR whole goat’s milk not pasteurized cow’s milk – this will cause scowers – dogs cannot drink normal cow’s milk.Dogs cannot drink 1%, 2%, Skim, or Whole milk.) Whole goat’s milk is by far the best to use.

Tiny babies need different formulas than those who are a few weeks old. Don’t try to feed kittens or puppies formula designed for human babies or cow’s milk. It will make them sick. When you mix up milk replacement formula, just use enough that will be used in 24 hours.

Read Also: What To Buy For A Newborn Baby

Puppy Feeding Schedule: How Often To Feed A Puppy

At some point, those little fur babies will be ready to step up from milk.

They dont stay puppies for too long that milk replacers or colostrum from their mom wouldnt be enough to support their development.

Thats why once youve decided on which kind of food to give them, your next question would be: How often should I feed a puppy?

How Can I Help A Puppy To Go To The Bathroom

Newborn puppies canât go to the bathroom on their own. Their mother licks their genital and anal areas, which stimulates the muscles and nerves and causes the pups to eliminate their waste. If your puppy is orphaned or wasn’t trained by their mother, you can use a washcloth or cotton ball soaked in warm water and gently stroke these areas, which simulates their motherâs licks.

Read Also: How To Get Newborn To Nap In Crib

How Much Should You Feed Your Puppies

Newborn puppies need to eat a lot. Well, they should eat and sleep 90% of their time during the first 2 weeks. How much should you feed depends on the breed and size of your dog?

For further information, you should consult a vet. But one thing for sure, your puppies should gain 5-10% body weight daily.

Just like we said, providing them milk is the best option. However, if the puppy starts to cry a lot, you better tend to their health.

Usually, when the mothers milk is affected, the baby starts to feel discomfort. Generally, there are some commercial supplements that you can pick. But do consult a vet for better suggestions.

After getting the supplementer, all you need to do is warm the milk. Warming the milk is enough to help your puppy stay healthy and fit. No need for any semi-hard or other foods rather than milk.

Now, you better check your supplementary milk. The milk should contain DHA, Omega-3 fatty acids, and nutrients. For the first 2 weeks, try to feed them every 2-3 hours. After that, you can resort to 6-8 hours a day.

Caring For Orphaned Newborn Puppies: Basic Care Feeding And Disease Prevention

• Pet Nutrition

Raising orphaned puppies can be very rewarding. It is, however, a serious responsibility that requires some time, money and work on your part if you want to help the little ones grow up healthy and happy. Close observation and prompt attention if any problems develop are especially important. If you have not raised orphans before, you should have a veterinarian examine the pups before you get started. Dont be disappointed if you are unable to save all the orphan puppies you can only give it your best effort.

Also Check: How Much Does A Newborn Eat In One Feeding

How Do I Feed Orphaned Puppies

Most puppies will suckle on small pet nursing bottles, also known as pet nursers. When bottle fed, puppies will nurse until they are full and then reject the bottle.

Be sure the opening in the nipple restricts the outflow of fluid to one drop at a time in order to avoid a flow rate that is too rapid for the puppy. When the flow rate is too rapid, it can lead to aspiration, pneumonia, and/or death and when the flow is too slow they have to work too hard to nurse.

When feeding, hold the puppy in a horizontal, head-neutral position as it would be when feeding from its mother. If the puppy is too weak to suckle, your veterinarian can show you alternative feeding methods and assist in tube feeding if needed.

TIP: Handling puppies during feeding contributes to critical socialization.

Feeding Palatable Wet Food For Your Pups

Youll find this type of yummy meals in single-serving packets, pouches, and cans.

Semi-moist food is the most expensive way to feed your dog, but its worth it since your furry friend will find this tastier than dry kibbles.

Since wet food has a higher moisture content, it can help keep your pup hydrated. After all, not all pets are the same, and some of them dont drink enough water as they should. It also means that your puppy can enjoy larger meal portions without additional calories, especially if your pup or litter are good eaters.

This type of dog food is also a great choice for canines who lost some of their olfactory senses since wet puppy food has a richer flavor and scent.

If youre taking care of a weak puppy, wet food will help assure that shes getting vitamins, proteins, and minerals that they require in order to stay healthy during development. Theyre also perfect for dogs with smaller mouths, poorly aligned jaws, and deformities.

Unlike dry kibbles, wet food isnt as economical. It cant be left out for a long time, so its prone to getting spoiled once its opened.

Dont waste your money by making sure you store leftovers or opened cans in a closed container and place it in the refrigerator.

There are dogs that are more prone to dental issues like plaque when eating wet food. So if you decide to stick with this kind of dog food, you would have to brush your pets teeth on a regular basis. Dental chews can be of great help in reducing tartar build-up.

You May Like: How To Relieve Constipation In Newborn Babies Quickly

How To Keep Newborn Puppies Warm

It’s very important that the puppies stay in a warm room. If they are with their mother, they will try to stay snuggled up with her and rely on her body heat and each other to stay warm. They can’t regulate their own body temperature, so they depend on outside sources for warmth. Have you ever seen a pile of puppies? They like to snuggle for the warmth and comfort.

When the mother leaves to go outside or just get a break, it’s important that they have another source for heat. You can either keep the room warm or put a heat lamp over the area where the puppies are being kept.

VCA suggests that the temperature be around 85 to 90 degrees F for the first few days. After that, it can be lowered to about 80 degrees F by the end of the first week or so to about 72 degrees F by the end of the fourth week.

When And How Much Do I Feed

Puppy formula should come with instructions on how it needs to be prepared. The instructions should also include a scale of how much formula to give the puppy per gram of body weight. You’ll need a good set of scales to measure the puppies’ progress and calculate the amount to increase the feed by as they grow.

The general rule is to feed the puppies every 2 to 3 hours. Hand feeding can start to be phased out from the 3rd and 4th week as moistened solid food is introduced.

Recommended Reading: When Do Newborn Puppies Start Walking

How To Feed Orphaned Newborn Puppies

This article was co-authored by Lauren Baker, DVM, PhD. Dr. Baker is a Veterinarian and PhD candidate in Comparative Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Baker received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Wisconsin in 2016, and went on to pursue a PhD through her work in the Comparative Orthopaedic Research Laboratory. This article has been viewed 17,271 times.

Most puppies stay with their mothers until they are at least eight weeks old. This allows them to get old enough to start eating solid foods before they stop nursing. However, if a puppy is orphaned, it will need to be bottle fed until it is old enough to eat solid foods. Feeding an orphaned newborn puppy requires a lot of time and the right supplies, including bottles made for puppies and milk replacement made for puppies. If you need to feed a newborn puppy you will have to get the right supplies, do some calculations to figure out how much milk it needs to eat, take the time to feed it every few hours, and watch for signs that it is, or isn’t, getting enough to eat.

How Much Should A Newborn Puppy Weigh

Your newborn puppiesâ ideal weight varies by breed. They can weigh anywhere from around 2.5 ounces up to 2.25 pounds.

However, the percentage of weight that they gain is generally the same. You should weigh them every day for their first 2 weeks, and then at least every 3 days during their first year. When you weigh them, take note of their weight. They should gain around 10% of their body weight each day, depending on their breed.

Puppies should gain weight quickly over their first year of life. If you notice unusual weight loss, call your veterinarian. Studies have shown that within their first week of life puppies should lose some of their birth weight and then double it. Depending on the breed of dog and its size, your puppy can gain close to six times its birth weight within 3 weeks.

Don’t Miss: Is It Bad For Newborns To Sleep On Their Side

Description Of Newborn Puppies

Newborns or neonates as they are often called, come into this world with their eyes and ears closed. They cannot regulate their body temperature or eliminate on their own.

They have reflexes that allow them to move towards heat sources and to nurse. It is the job of the canine mom to take care of all the needs of her puppies.

If she is unable or unwilling to do this job, that is when you take over to assure the survival of the litter. This entails feeding them, helping them to eliminate, keeping them warm and dry and their area sparkling clean. It also means keeping an eye on them to assure they don’t have any adverse reactions to their environment.

Decide When It Is Time To Change Diets

Most newborn puppies need to keep nursing from their moms for the first month of their lives. The case is also the same when using bottle feeding. After the first month, you can start the slow progression into dry food. The progression period should take approximately three to four weeks to get them used to eat kibble. When your pup is two months old, it should have been used to eating both dry and solid dog food.

Don’t Miss: How To Get My Newborn To Sleep Without Being Held

Video Answer: Enfamil Premium Infant Formula

According to Psychology Today, puppies are born blind and with their eyes closed.

Their eyes are not fully formed when they are born, and exposure to light immediately after birth could damage a puppy’s eyes, so their eyelids are tightly closed at birth.

If you are bottle-feeding the puppies, you’ll need to do so every two hours, day and night, until they are 6 days old. After that, the puppies can go to a feeding schedule of six to eight feedings every day until they are 3 weeks old, and four feedings daily beyond that point.

If that doesn’t help, you will need to get puppy milk replacer and a small bottle to feed the pup.

It will need to eat every 2 hours around the clock for the first weeks of life if it won’t nurse.

Stimulate elimination using a warm washcloth on the genitals after each feeding.

From birth until about 3 weeks of age, a puppy’s sole source of sustenance is mom’s milk.

During this time a puppy does not need supplemental food or water.

Newborn pups nurse 12 times or more a day during their first week of life.

Their stomach capacity increases, and they begin to nurse less frequently.

Newborn Puppy Temperature Control

Newborn puppies cannot control their body temperature. This means that owners need to make sure that puppies are kept in a warm, draft-free environment, as exposure to cold stresses the puppies and exposes them to disease. The Merck Veterinary Manual recommends using a heat lamp to keep the new litter warm, as long as you provide a slightly cooler location within the whelping pen to prevent the puppies from overheating, and position the lamp far enough overhead that it does not burn the puppies or the mother. Or, consider placing the heat lamp at the corner of the whelping box so that the puppies can crawl to another corner if overly warm. They recommend heat lamps over heating pads, as heating pads are more likely to burn puppies.

Recommended Reading: How Can I Get My Newborn To Sleep At Night

Making Your Own Milk At Home

You also have the option of making your own milk to feed your puppy. This requires a bit more effort than just doing down to the store, but it could help you save money.

Simply put 10 ounces of goats milk, a raw egg yolk, a cup of plain yogurt, and some corn syrup in a blender. Make sure that you mix these ingredients together thoroughly for at least 2-3 minutes. You can also whisk them together by hand, though it takes more time.

This combination of ingredients will provide your puppy with everything its growing body needs to stay healthy. You only want to use fresh ingredients every single time. If you notice any bloating, gas or vomiting, try not using any yogurt .

Puppies Are Born Blind And Mostly Deaf So They Rely On You To Meet Their Needs

• University of Cincinnati

• Why Trust Treehugger?

If you have newborn puppies either in your home or on the way, youre likely nesting, getting ready for the tiny, squeaking balls of fur. Where will they sleep? How often will they eat? Will they need blankets? How will you know if theyre healthy?

This article provides you with important care tips, including feeding, waste management, and much more.

Read Also: How To Wash Newborn Clothes