Information on Taking Care of Newborn Puppies

Considerations

• Some of the most important information on taking care of newborn puppies that pet owners can receive is to place extra emphasis on the mother's care and nutrition during the pregnancy and after birth. Since the mother will be the primary caregiver and source of nourishment for the puppies in their first weeks, she needs to be in optimal health so that she can meet all of the puppies' needs.

  Veterinarians recommend feeding the mother high-quality puppy food since it is higher in fat and protein than adult food, and she will need the fat and protein to lactate sufficiently to feed the puppies.

Environment

• A description of an ideal environment for the puppies' first weeks of life is a major part of information on taking care of newborn puppies. Newborn puppies cannot regulate their body temperature in the first days of life and need to be kept in a warm environment, ideally between 85 and 90 degrees for the first five days. Light bulbs can be used near the whelping box (but not within reach of the mother dog or puppies) to help heat the area, or an insulated heating pad can be used inside the whelping box. The temperature can be gradually reduced to 80 degrees between fifth and 10th days of life and then to 75 degrees by the fourth week.

  The puppies' whelping box should be cleaned daily and eventually divided into sections for feeding, eliminating, and sleeping once the puppies begin to crawl and walk. By the second or third week of life, the puppies will begin to explore their surroundings and leave their whelping box when awake.

Feeding

• For the most part the newborn puppies' nutritional needs will be cared for exclusively by their mother in the first weeks of life, but pet owners do need information on taking care of newborn puppies and the appropriate time for introduction to solid foods and weaning.

  While nursing puppies will eat every two hours and should be weighed daily to ensure they are gaining weight. Kitchen scales are perfectly adequate for weighing puppies, and any other household scale that measures in ounces will work well, too. Puppies should be given access to a shallow water dish beginning the third week and a puppy mush mixture at 3 1/2 weeks. This puppy mush is a pureed mixture of dry puppy food, puppy milk replacer and water. The puppies should slowly be introduced to a more solid mixture until they are ready for regular dry puppy food, around the seventh week.

  Veterinarian information on taking care of newborn puppies recommends that puppies be fully weaned by the seventh week.

Health care

• To ensure puppies are at their optimal health, information on taking care of newborn puppies includes schedules for vaccinations and deworming. Puppies should be dewormed for hookworms and roundworms in the second, fourth, sixth and eighth weeks and should receive their first round of vaccines in the sixth or seventh week. At this same time newborn puppies should receive an overall heath exam from a veterinarian.

Warning

• Information on taking care of newborn puppies includes problem signs a pet owner should be looking for during the first weeks of the puppies' life. Puppies with deformities at birth should immediately be taken to a veterinarian, and any puppies that fail to gain weight in their first days and weeks of life or who cry constantly should also receive medical attention. Sometimes a mother dog will refuse to feed one or more of her puppies, and these puppies will need food supplementation to survive. A veterinarian can provide information on how to care for these puppies.