How Do You Care For a Newborn Puppy?

This article introduces the care of newborn puppies from aspects such as their warmth, diet, daily management, and winter care and teaches how to care for newborn puppies. But the most crucial thing when caring for newborn puppies is keeping the mother dog safe.

1. Keep warm

The most important thing for a newborn puppy is to stay warm. When the room temperature is too low, a small electric blanket or hot water bottle should be used to increase the temperature, but it must be wrapped in a towel to avoid scalding the puppy.

Newborn puppies have sparse hair and incomplete body temperature regulation, so they must be kept warm. At the same time, the bones of newborn puppies are very soft and unstable, causing difficulty in movement. They can easily be crushed, suffocated, or trampled by a female dog. At this time, the owner needs to strengthen care.

2. Diet

In fact, for puppies that are just born to one month old, if the mother’s milk is good, it is relatively easy for us to take care of the newborn puppies.

Newborn dogs have not yet developed antibodies. At this time, the female dog will secrete a large amount of breast milk rich in various antibodies, so the newborn dog must eat enough colostrum. When the puppies are a little older, and the supply of breast milk is insufficient, they should be supplemented appropriately. Don’t feed milk now because the puppy’s gastrointestinal function is poor, and mixing milk with milk can easily cause diarrhea. It is best to use dog milk powder, but you can also use skim milk or high-calcium skim milk powder to reduce costs.

When feeding, the bottle should be boiled and sterilized first, and then bottle feeding should be carried out at about 27°C. Under normal circumstances, there is no need to limit the amount of milk. After 25 days of age, you can try feeding broth and porridge. Young puppies often fight while being fed. To avoid conflicts, each puppy’s teat should be secured so they can nurse quietly.

3. Daily management

It must also be paid attention to in daily management. After the puppy is 5 days old, it can be taken outdoors with its mother to bask in the sun on sunny days, twice a day for half an hour each time. This way, the puppy can breathe fresh air and use the sun’s ultraviolet rays to kill bacteria on his body. This will also help dry the coat and speed up its growth.

There is a lot of dirt on the puppy, so wipe it with a soft cloth in time. They should also take a bath every two days. Bath water temperature should be between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius. Be sure to prevent bath water from entering your ears.

The toenails of puppies can be trimmed after taking a bath to avoid scratching the mother dog’s udder and other puppies during feeding. When the puppies have a certain amount of physical strength and energy, they can be guided to play and frolic outdoors, but they must be prevented from biting and fighting each other.

4. Suitable for winter conditions

It is essential to keep newborn puppies warm during the winter. Newborn puppies have a fragile ability to regulate their body temperature. If you are close to your mother, it won’t be a big problem, but if you are far away from your mother, you will easily catch a cold.

If your puppy is born in the winter, be sure to prepare a warm kennel so that it doesn’t stray too far from its mother. You can also consider placing hot water bottles and the like in the kennel, but the temperature should not be too high to avoid scalding newborn puppies and bitches.