How to feed a newborn puppy?

Find a foster mother

If the puppies cannot be fed by their own mother, you can try to find a foster child who has also recently given birth. So that she does not reject them and recognizes them as her own, you can resort to tricks. For example, try rubbing the puppies with this dog’s bedding to give them a familiar scent. Or lightly anoint them with her breast milk. If none of these tricks work, you need to pick up other people’s puppies and a couple of relatives. When they start whining, return them to the dog all together. But, if even after that she does not let other people’s puppies near her, a person will have to feed them.

Appropriate place

A puppy (or puppies) needs to organize a comfortable and warm place in a room without drafts, where he will stay for the first weeks of his life. For a bed, for example, you can use a box or a wicker basket. Diapers are placed there, which must be changed regularly, since usually the mother maintains cleanliness by licking her offspring, and without her, the baby will stain the litter. Put a heating pad or a bottle of hot water in the bed, wrapping it with a towel so that the puppy does not get burned. And change the water as soon as it cools down. Thus, it will be possible to simulate the warmth of the mother.

Prepare feeding accessories

You can feed the puppy with a pipette, but this way he will not develop a sucking reflex, since the milk itself will fall into the mouth. It is undesirable to feed a puppy from a syringe, as this increases the risk of aspiration of feed masses, and, as a result, aspiration bronchopneumonia may develop. Therefore, it is best to use a special bottle from a pet store or an ordinary baby bottle.

So that the puppy does not spit out the pacifier, it must be moistened with milk and one or two drops added to the tongue.

Pick up food

If there is no suitable food for the puppy in the house yet, for a start you can give him some boiled water with glucose. But for complete feeding, it is best to use a special mixture for puppies, which is sold at the pet store, but it is recommended to consult a veterinarian to find the right one. He will also be able to tell you how much food the animal should eat at one time (the amount depends on the breed) and recommend vitamins.

Follow the regime

For the first 7-10 days, the puppy should be fed every 3-4 hours, day and night. Obviously, such a feeding schedule is very tiring, but it must not be violated, especially if the pet is sickly and weakened, otherwise it will grow and develop poorly.

Choose the right position for feeding

The correct position when feeding is very important so that the puppy does not choke or choke. It is best to put the pet on his knees with his stomach down and raise his face a little – in natural conditions, he eats that way.

If mixture bubbles come out of the nose, then the hole in the nipple is too large – it needs to be replaced. In addition, you need to watch how fast the puppy eats: if he begins to suckle greedily, you should make small pauses to give him the opportunity to catch his breath. After eating, the puppy needs to be held upright for a bit so that the air that has got inside with the food comes out. And after that, you need to massage the abdomen, urogenital and anus, since in the first weeks of life, puppies are not able to go to the toilet on their own.

It is important to know

With artificial feeding, it is necessary to measure the body temperature of the puppy before each feeding. It must be at least 35,5, otherwise the food will not be digested, as a result of which dynamic obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract may develop.