At What Age Can Puppies Drink Regular Milk?
Ideally, you should never feed regular cow’s milk to puppies. This is because cow’s milk is pasteurized and doesn’t fulfill the nutritional needs of young and growing pups. While goat’s milk is easier to digest, its high lactose content makes it unsuitable for long-term use for dogs.
However, you can use evaporated milk for pups as young as 3-weeks old. You just have to feed them the adequate quantity and wean them at the right time. Normally, dams start weaning their pups at 3 to 4 weeks old. However, the process continues till a pup is about 7 to 8 weeks old. You should also follow a similar evaporated milk weaning schedule for your puppy.
Evaporated Milk for Puppies: How Useful Is It?
To begin with, here are some interesting stats about evaporated milk:
This makes whole evaporated milk a great choice for making homemmade puppy milk replacer. But is it safe for puppies? What about younger puppies? Can 3-week-old puppies drink evaporated milk? The good news is that using evaporated milk for puppies is absolutely safe, provided you give it in the right quantity.
Moreover, it is a far better puppy milk substitute than pasteurized cow’s milk, which can cause diarrhea and sinus problems. Likewise, its nutrient profile is far suprior to that of goat’s milk.
Here are two things you should ensure before giving evaporated milk to your pup:
Also, excessive consumption of evaporated milk can cause side effects in your pup, such as diarrhea, vomitting, and stomachaches. That’s why, although evaporated milk is safe for puppies, you should restrict its usage. As a rule, you should only use it when you’re out of your regular supply of store-bought milk replacer.
Now that you have decided to use evaporated milk for puppies, you must be yearning to find out how you can use it in milk replacement formulas.
Why Can’t The Mother Dog Can Offer Milk To Her Pups?
First, she just isn’t producing any milk. This can be due to not enough time has passed since the pups were born to needing milk.
Generally, a dam’s milk is produced and available 24 hours after giving birth. It’s common sense that new puppies need food and will naturally want to suck on the teat.
However, if nothing is being produced, this can cause the puppies to feel stress and cry out. As an owner, you will naturally be seeking out a solution.
Second, a mother dog can be vulnerable to mastitis. This is where the breasts are so enlarged they can not discharge the milk.
Also, mastitis can cause extreme pain in the breasts deterring the dam not to nurse. Physical signs of this include a cracked nipple or soreness around the nipple area.
Bacteria can enter the breast and create a series of problems. Obviously mother dog is not going to want to breastfeed and you will again have to seek out an alternative.
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Third, if the mother dog is getting too much attention or maybe overtired this may cause a low volume of milk for her pups.
As a human, feeling stressed can cause you to mentally shut down and not be as effective.
Similarly, when a nursing dog feels overwhelmed her body may produce less puppy milk and other options will have to be weighed.
And Finally, if the dam rejects her puppies this will obviously cause concern for you the owner. Rejection of her pups may be a result of not feeling well or up to the task.
Additionally, she may view the pups as unhealthy and not worth the effort of nursing altogether.
Evaporated milk (unsweetened condensed milk) is a shelf-stable cow’s milk in which 60 percent of the water has been removed.
This makes an attractive option to regular in-store milk since the shelf life of evaporated milk is several years vs days with regular milk.
All you need to do is to add regular water and you will have similar properties to regular milk.
Yes, this is a viable option to give puppies that do not have a nursing mother.
FAQ
How do you make puppy milk with evaporated milk?
Can I give my puppy condensed milk?
What kind of milk can a puppy drink?
Can 4 week old puppies drink evaporated milk?