Baby care after delivery

Your dog has delivered her litter of puppies. For whatever reasons, it’s possible that she may not or can not care for them. It is therefore important that you step in and care for them yourself.

To maximize their chances of survival, we suggest the following;
• Bottle feed them with puppy replacement formula (available at the clinic) every 3 hours during their 1st week (even during the night), every 4 hours their 2nd week, every 5 hours their 3rd week and every 6 hours their 4th week. Never place the baby pups on their backs when feeding them because the milk can go into their lungs. They should be placed on their belly, as they would be placed if they were nursing from their mother. As far as the amount that they should be fed, you have only to follow the recommendations written on the label from the formula.

• After each feeding, the puppies must be stimulated as to do their “business”. To do so, with a humid soft cloth, delicately rub the area of the genitals.

• If the mother refuses the presence of her babies, place them in a box lined with blankets and a warm water bottle (or a heating lamp) in order to keep the warm. To avoid burns, make sure that the hot water bottle is well wrapped in a blanket. The puppies need to be kept warm up until the age of 3 weeks, the age where they are capable of regulating their own body temperature.

Whether they are bottle fed or nursed by their mother, at the age of 4 weeks, you can start offering the babies canned puppy food in a small plate. At 6 weeks, you can start weaning them by separating the puppies one at a time from their mother at 24 to 48 hours intervals between each.

Only once the last baby has been removed can you start “suppressing lactation”.

You should proceed as follows;
• After weaning the last baby, the mother must fast (no food, no water) for 24 hours (day 1)
• Day 2, she should receive only a 1/3 of her portion in food and water
• Day 3, she should receive ½ of her portion in food and water.
• Day 4, she can have her normal portion.
• Day 5, and following, you must check her teat’s evolution. If they remain engorged with milk, you must then consult a veterinarian. You may place cold compresses on the teats for 5 minutes, twice a day, without massaging the breast, since this will stimulate the production of breast milk.

The puppies can be adopted as soon as they’ve reached 2 months of age, though at least one week after their first vaccination which is normally given between the ages of 6 and 8 weeks. It is important that the last vaccination be given at four months of age or older.

As far as de-worming is concerned, puppies receive their first treatment at 2 weeks of age, followed at week 4, 6, and 8. Then once a month up until the age of 6 months.