Feeding newborn puppies

It seems that each of us faced a situation where, for example, a little kitten was screaming at the house’s windows all night long, or a homeless tiny puppy was spinning at his feet near the store, hungry and frozen … Unfortunately, many people simply passed by without paying attention or pretending not to notice the baby. Meanwhile, in the little body life was warming, and, hopefully running up to each person, the animal saw in him his savior. And indeed, it is in our power to help our smaller brothers, after all, it is not necessary to help him to take him home forever — no, you can feed him, leave the animal and just give it to good hands, everyone can do it! Another thing is if puppies were born in your family, and their mother either refused to feed them and care for them, or she lacked or did not have enough milk. In this case, you have to take all the responsibility for the care and feeding of the babies themselves. If you show more initiative and responsibility, then in two weeks you will be able to admire your well-fed and beginning to show curiosity to the outside world of pets.
So, first of all, you need to put the puppies in a warm closed place, for example, a box or playpen, lay old sheets, pillowcases, towels, put a warm heating pad – always under the bedding so as not to burn the puppies. Cut a small hole in the box so that the growing up children can independently get out of the box and climb into it. The hole should be at a distance of 5-10 cm from the floor so that crawling puppies do not fall out of the box. Feeding newborn puppies, especially if there are three or more puppies in a litter, is laborious and time consuming, since feeding them is often necessary. To do this, you can use warm milk (you can add a little honey, if puppies sneeze, there is a discharge from the nose) or buy ready-made formula for raising puppies, as close as possible to the composition of the dog’s milk. Also, for feeding you will need a small bottle with a nipple, which you can buy at the pharmacy, it is better to buy both latex and silicone nipples, because it is not known which nipple the puppies will like more, and maybe one will like the latex, and another silicone. But when the puppies are still very small, they can refuse the nipple, so you can resort to using an ordinary piece of cotton wool, pull out the similarity of the nipple from one end, and, dipping it in milk, bring it to the puppy’s mouth. You can also use a syringe without a needle and gradually introduce the milk into the mouth of the newborn. Animals have very developed instincts, including sucking, so this will not cause any special problems, you just need to be patient. Having fed one puppy, it is best to move him to the time of feeding the remaining puppies to another box, thereby excluding the possibility of confusing the puppies, if they are of the same suit. In addition to feeding, if the puppy’s mother refuses to care for the offspring, it is necessary to massage the tummy of the tummy, imitating mother’s licking, for urine and feces to come out, since they themselves are still not capable of self-emptying of the intestine. For this, you can take a small cotton ball, heat hands and use circular motions to massage each puppy’s tummy until urine and feces come out. Puppies grow, one can say, right before our eyes, they change every day, they become more interesting. After 10-14 days, they will start to open their eyes, for which they also need to be carefully monitored and processed if necessary. If you notice the accumulation of pus or increased tearing of the eyes, you can treat your eyes with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, buy special eye drops and periodically bury the pups in the eyes. If it so happens that you notice the presence of fleas in babies, do not be discouraged until the puppies are fattened and not strong, fleas are possible and will take place, but as soon as the pups begin to accumulate subcutaneous fat, the fleas will disappear. But you can comb each puppy against wool in the bathroom comb, dipped in acetic water, fleas will start jumping out of wool. But do not do this procedure for very small puppies, not earlier than two weeks of age! Anything can happen with babies, so you shouldn’t pull back to the vet if you notice that the puppy refuses to eat, felt a strong increase or decrease in the temperature of his body, dry nose, and inflamed mucous membranes. Only a specialist can make the correct diagnosis.
Grow, watch your pets with pleasure! Change the litter to the puppies daily, ventilate the room, wash your hands thoroughly before and after the care of the puppies, as well as nipples, bottles, and pet dishes after feeding them. Do not forget that the saying: cleanliness – the guarantee of health concerns not only us, people, but also animals! Good luck in the daily care of your pets!