Different Ways to Feed Newborn Puppies

If a mother of newborn puppies dies, abandons the litter, or cannot provide adequate milk, the puppies need to be fed another way. There are several methods of feeding newborn puppies, and all of them take patience. One benefit of the process, however, is the satisfaction of being able to nurse helpless puppies into healthy young dogs.

  1. Foster Puppies

    • If possible, try to get another nursing dog to foster the newborns. Smearing the puppies with milk from the foster mother makes them smell like her young and helps her to accept them. Do not leave the puppies alone with the foster mother until it is clear she has accepted them. Once she licks the puppies, it is usually safe to leave her alone. If she has not accepted the puppies after a while, however, take the puppies away and try again another time. Persistence often pays off with eventual acceptance of the puppies.

    Milk Replacement

    • If a foster mother is not available, provide the puppies with as close a substitute as possible for natural milk. Canine milk contains high amounts of fat, protein, vitamins, minerals and amino acids, and it is highly digestible. While not able to be replicated exactly, some commercial puppy milk replacements approximate it well. It is best to consult a veterinarian before choosing a brand.

      It is difficult to create a good homemade puppy milk replacement. Even when supplements are added to cow or goat milk, these mixtures are often nutritionally unbalanced for puppies and cause diarrhea, malnutrition or worse.

    Bottle

    • Vigorous, healthy puppies with a good suckle reflex are successfully bottle feed. Human baby bottles and rubber nipples are often effective. Puppy nursing bottles and nipples are also available from pet suppliers.

      Feed puppies only while they are lying on their stomach. After gently inserting the nipple into the puppy's mouth, press on the bottle's sides to let out a couple of drops of milk. A strong puppy usually then sucks until he is full.

    Medicine Dropper

    • Feed smaller, weaker puppies from a medicine dropper for the first couple weeks of their lives. Be careful to let only one drop of milk from the medicine dropper at a time into a puppy's mouth, and let it swallow before giving it more. If too much is given at once, the liquid is inhaled into the lungs and potentially leads to pneumonia and even death. When the puppies are bigger and stronger, switch to bottle feeding.

    Tube

    • Exceptionally weak puppies require tube feeding. In tube feeding, the feeder fills a 3 to 6 ml syringe with milk and attaches an infusion tube. The feeder then removes the tube's needle and marks the tube to show the length from the puppy's head to her lowest rib. Next, the feeder very slowly and carefully threads the tube into the puppy's mouth, so that the puppy swallows it up to the marked point. After checking to ensure the tube is not in the windpipe, the feeder injects milk directly into the puppy's esophagus.

      Because this method is extremely delicate and has the potential to seriously harm the puppy if done improperly, it is best to have an experienced tube feeder demonstrate it the first time.