Tips to feed 3 week old puppies
If you’re starting a new adventure with a puppy, you might have realized it’s a very complicated task! Having a puppy takes a lot of dedication and time. Aside from this, puppies are very sensitive, hence they need constant care! Would you like to know what to feed him? Here are some tips to help you with feeding a newborn puppy.
Although having a puppy is a wonderful experience, they require regular care, so we must be mindful of their nutrition.
How should one feed a newborn puppy?
Newborn puppies are less than 15 days old. They are easy to identify, as they haven’t opened their eyes yet. So as an extra precaution, you should not touch them unless they are feeding.
Living with a newborn puppy:
If you’ve found a newborn puppy, and do not know how to take care of it you can consider taking it to a foster home. There you’ll meet people with extensive experience in these cases. However, if you’ve decided to keep it, then we have some tips for you;
First of all, you would have to create a comfortable environment for your puppy. You won’t need much. Just a cardboard box, basket, or carrier!
The normal temperature of newborn puppies ranges from 20-22 degrees. Keep in mind that puppies can’t regulate their temperature, so make sure it is neither hot nor cold. Otherwise, it could be dangerous. If you live in a cold zone, then you may need to use a double electric blanket to protect it from gnawing. If you decide to use it, make sure to cover the heat bulb with a towel or blanket so that the heat will not be direct.
If you already have the ideal environment for the puppies, then cover the basket with a blanket leaving some space for air to pass through, resembling a “burrow.
If you would like to shower your puppy with extra care, you could put a clock close to it, as this can simulate its mother’s heartbeat!
Feeding a Newborn Puppy:
It is strange that one of the causes of death in newborn puppies is as a result of being fed incorrectly.
If you come across a newborn puppy on the street, try as much as you can to feed it, as the puppy could die if it is not fed every 3-4 hours.
If you want to take care of a newborn dog, here are some tips you can follow;
- First of all, you can get an artificial formula from a veterinary clinic. If you have more than one newborn puppy, then it is advisable to buy different bottles for each of the puppies in the litter. This way, if anyone has any disease, they won’t pass it on to the rest! On the other hand, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to have several nipples for each bottle, so you can decide which one best suits the puppy’s snout!
- Heat up the milk, and see if it’s warm as you’d do when feeding a human baby.
- Take the puppy (or the first puppy if there are several of them), and gently wake him up.
- Holding it firmly by its limbs, feed it about 10 milligrams of the milk, not as you would be it a human baby.
- Make sure you stop feeding as soon as the puppy has had enough. However, ensure that you feed the puppy with about the minimum volume of food you can eat.
- While feeding, if the puppy makes a lot of noise, or expels milk through the nose, take it to the Vet as soon as possible! As such behavior is a sign that the milk has gone to the lungs. Remember not to feed the puppy like you would a baby.
- After feeding, use a cotton garment or a wet wipe to massage its genitals. Don’t forget to check if the puppy had urinated or excreted just as you would a newborn child.
At the end of all these, remember to wash the bottles with hot water so as to kill any bacteria or germs. If you have more than one puppy under your care, ensure you mark them accordingly, for easy identification.
Return the puppy to the basket as soon as It has fed enough so that its temperature is duly regulated.
Don’t stop feeding the puppy, even if it is lacking energy.
Remember that there are two basic precautions:
- Give the puppy something to eat every 3-4 hours
- Do not feed the puppies with excess milk that has lasted more for more than 12 hours
How does a newborn puppy develop?
To know the progress your puppy is making, it is important that you weigh him daily and record your readings. To be completely sure that the puppy is developing as it should, it must put up an extra 10% more weight daily.
If your puppy isn’t gaining weight, then you’ll have to give it more food. The puppy must be fed every 3-4 hours including at night until it is 2-3 weeks old,
If you are too busy to provide your puppy with all the care it needs, then get someone to help you!
Once the puppy is 3 weeks old, you can begin to gradually adjust its feeding hours. From being fed between 4-5 hours during the first few days, you can slowly relax its feeding time to every 5-6 hours. All this time, you would also need to increase the dose of food, until it now feeds between 15-20. Hours every day.
It is very important that you do not force the puppy, once it has fed enough and does not want more food.
When your puppy passes 3 weeks, you’ll notice big changes, at this time, it will be more active, restless and much more developed than before!
So to feed 3 week old puppies, We have to gradually reduce its milk intake by 5% while you introduce it to wet food, soft food, or feed soaked in water or paste for the first time.
When your puppy starts eating soft food, you can begin to slowly reduce its dose of milk and then wean it. By this time, it will be fed wet food and special feed for puppies.
One of the most common problems faced when raising a puppy is when it lacks energy, does not move, and even has a drop in tension. If you experience one of these cases, do not hesitate to feed it with sugar-mixed water in a syringe (without the tip), another option is to put some honey on the snout, as the puppy would suck it and gradually it will be more lively.
Puppies that have been bottle-fed lack some natural defenses! This is because the mother’s breast milk has some unique components that artificial milk doesn’t. Hence it’s is advisable that you take them off the street, keep them away from other dogs and hold off from giving them a bath either!
If you notice fleas, ticks, or another parasite on your puppy, take him to the vet as soon as possible! He’ll know what to do in that case. Don’t try to take the parasites off on your own!
When your puppy turns 6-8 weeks old, you will need to take it to the veterinarian to give it the first vaccines (correspond to the distender, parvovirus, coronavirus, parainfluenza, leptospira) from that moment, the puppy can also be tagged with an identification chip, having the name, address and contact phone, this is very important in case it is lost!
Can newborn puppies have problems with breastfeeding?
If you’ve found a full litter, note that not all the dogs will survive. This may be because of a fault of ours, or because the puppy has a problem. Here are the most common breastfeeding problems in puppies:
- Choking while breastfeeding: This is usually due to the puppy being in a bad position at the time it feeds. Watch out for such as it can be deadly. If you think this has happened, get the puppy to the vet as soon as possible!
- The puppy is weak and unforced: The first thing to do in this instance is to figure out if you are actually feeding it the required volume of food it needs. Ensure the puppy gets the volume of food it needs or more in each intake.
- It’s got a hare: Even if it seems strange to you, it’s actually a very common problem! It may be caused by inadequate temperature or insufficient feeding.
The veterinarian will have to tell you what to do in your specific case.
If your puppy has any rare symptoms, take it to the veterinarian as soon as possible! If it is weak, treat it as soon as possible, it will be a big difference that it lives or dies.
