How to Care for Abandoned Puppies

Puppies are often "hand-raised" by people when the mother dog is unable to care for her litter because of illness or death. Raising a litter of puppies is difficult work that consumes many hours around the clock for four to six weeks. In addition to bottle-feeding, you will have to provide a proper environment and help your babies with everything from grooming and burping to urinating and defecating.

Things You'll Need

  • Cardboard box Room thermometer Heat lamp or heating pad Thick towels Newspaper Cloth bedding Prepared puppy formula or cow/goat milk, salt, eggs and corn oil Cooking pan Water Feeding bottles High-quality puppy food Cotton balls or tissues

Instructions

  1. The Environment

    • 1

      Place a large, clean cardboard box in a warm, clean, draft-free area. Keep the temperature of the area at 85 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit during the puppies' first week of life, 80 degrees during the next three to four weeks, and 70 degrees by the time the puppies are six weeks old. Check on the temperature by placing a room thermometer in the nesting area. The temperature can be maintained with a heat lamp, light bulbs or heating pad. If you use a heating pad, wrap it in thick towels to protect the puppies from being burned. Though you must keep the puppies warm enough, you must be careful not to overheat them---especially during their first few days of life when they are unable to move away from the heat source.

    • 2

      Place newspapers inside the box. This is a good bedding for puppies during their first week of life. After the first few days, when the puppies begin to move around, add cloth bedding to help them find footing to propel themselves.

    • 3

      Clean the nesting box at least daily. Puppies are prone to infections and keeping their living space clean is a must to raising healthy dogs.

    Feeding

    • 4

      Prepared formulas are best for puppies because they are perfectly balanced to provide all the nutrition they need. Never feed puppies straight cow's or goat's milk. Until you can buy commercial formula, you can make an emergency formula using 1 cup whole cow/goat milk, 1 pinch table grade salt, 3 egg yolks (no whites) and 1 tablespoon corn oil.

      The best-known puppy milk replacement formulas are Esbilac and Puppylac.

    • 5

      Prepare your puppies' formula. Make only enough formula for one day of feeding and keep the formula in the refrigerator between feedings.

    • 6

      Warm the formula in a pan of water until it is 98 to 100 degrees, then allow it to cool. Check the temperature of the formula on the back of your hand before feeding to ensure it will not scald the puppies. Add the formula to the bottles, then check the bottle for flow rate. You may need to enlarge the opening of the nipple. Often, newborn puppies can't suck hard enough to obtain milk.

    • 7

      For the first 48 to 72 hours, puppies need to be fed every two hours. After this, for the first week, feed every three hours during the day, and you may allow one four-hour stretch at night.

      By the second week, feeding can be reduced to every four hours during the day and a six-hour stretch at night.

      By the third week, the puppies can start on mush fed three times per day with bottle feedings continued. Mush consists of a good-quality puppy food with milk formula added to it. The mush should be gradually thickened until no milk is added. This typically happens when the puppies are about six weeks of age.

    • 8

      Once the puppies have eaten, you must burp the babies. Place them over your shoulder and pat their back until you hear them burp.

    • 9

      Wash and dry bottles and nipples between each feeding.

    Potty Time

    • 10

      Very young puppies cannot urinate and defecate without their mother's (or human caretaker's) assistance. Moisten a tissue or cotton ball.

    • 11

      After each feeding, use the tissue or cotton ball to gently stroke the genital area of each puppy. Continue to stroke until the puppy urinates or defecates. This usually occurs within one to two minutes.

    • 12

      Clean the puppy and record his urination/defecation activity. You'll need to repeat this process until the puppies' bladder and bowel muscles strengthen enough to allow them to potty on their own. This usually occurs by 21 days of age.