How much and how often should I feed orphaned puppies?
Orphaned puppies should be fed on a strict schedule, preferably every 2-4 hours. Puppies up to two weeks old can generally consume their daily intake in 4-5 meals per day. Small breed puppies should be limited to 10-15mL per feeding during the first week of life in order to prevent diarrhea.
Commercial milk replacers are labeled to help you calculate the total volume to be fed per day. To calculate the amount for each feeding:
It is recommended that you warm puppy milk replacer to approximately 100°F (38°C) before feeding, but be careful not to overheat it. Cold formula, overly rapid feeding rates, and overfeeding can lead to regurgitation, aspiration, bloating, and diarrhea.
If the orphaned puppy develops diarrhea, reduce the formula volume. It is better to slightly underfeed than to overfeed neonatal orphaned puppies. Puppy milk replacer should be the sole source of nutrition until 3-4 weeks of age at which time the weaning process may begin.
The transition from formula to solid food is a gradual process, so be patient. Use a high-quality food formulated to support growth and reproduction. Introduce small amounts of semi-solid or solid food to supplement formula, and transition to solid food by 5-6 weeks of age.
How often should puppies be weighed, and how much should they weigh?
The birth weight of each puppy should be recorded, and weight should be taken every day or two for the first four weeks of life. Starting in their fifth week, you can switch to weekly weigh-ins. A digital food scale with capacity up to 5 pounds works best for these measurements.
Puppies should gain about 5% of their current body weight per day during the first 4 weeks. This means that body weight may double by 8-10 days after birth and triple by the third week of life.
Step 2: Offer the Gruel to the Puppies
During the hourlong periods where you separate the puppies from their mother, offer them the gruel in a shallow dish or baking pan. Place the puppies in front of it.
If the puppies do not seem interested, try dipping your finger in it and then touching their mouths so they can taste it. They may get messy in the process of exploring this new food.
Puppy Milk Replacement and Bottle Feeding
Until they are about a month old, puppies should ideally be fed directly from their mother.
Mother’s milk contains essential nutrients that puppies need to grow and thrive, but there are many reasons why this might not be possible, in which case you will need to bottle feed your newborn puppy using formula to ensure they get the nutrients that they need.
In this article, we will take you through exactly how to safely and effectively bottlefeed newborn pups. We’ll also share our recommendations for the best nursing formulas to feed your growing canine.
In addition, we will look briefly at why mothers might reject their puppies and choose not to nurse them, and how to tell if your puppy is getting all the nutrition that they need. We have included an FAQ section to answer the most common questions, but you can leave your own questions in the comments as well.