CARING FOR A NEW LITTER

The first week of the puppies' lives must be monitored carefully to ensure that the puppies and Mom are thriving. If a puppy or the litter is in trouble, you can nip the problem in the bud if you keep careful records of each pup.

Keep the pups warm. They need a temperature of 80 degrees for the first two weeks. Use an electric heater or an infrared lamp to keep the box warm.

Also, you want to take the Mom to the Vet after the birth to ensure she is doing well and has not retained a pup or placenta. After that, her temperature should be taken daily for the first week or so to see that it doesn't go over 103. After a week it should be down close to 101.

Check Mom's breasts daily to ensure there are no hard spots. A hard or hot breast may be infected and can make the pups sick as well as Mom.

Monitor the puppies daily:

Identify the newborn puppy in some manner (colored yarn around the neck) and record markings, weight, sex, and health after the birth and then daily for 2 weeks or longer if the pups aren't doing well.

Check the new-born pup for health, hernia, and hydration. If the pup is dehydrated, put him on Mom to nurse and watch him carefully. Once the litter has been whelped, check the whole litter for dehydrated pups and tube feed each dehydrated pup with Gatorade. Mark this in your records. If you pinch the puppies skin and it stands up instead of relaxing flat on the puppy, the puppy is dehydrated and could die very quickly. You do not want to give this puppy a milk formula, give the puppy Gatorade or another product provided by your Vet. Tube feeding the Gatorade is important since the pup may be to weak to suck.

Each morning and evening, weigh each pup to ensure they are thriving. If they are not, give the pup 6 cc of puppy milk formula. If a puppy is dehydrated give the pup 6 cc of Gatorade every 4 hour until he is well hydrated.

After the weigh-in, it is time to cuddle the pup. Kiss him, rock him, nuzzle his tummy, then give him quickly back to Mom before she gets too upset. Extend this cuddle time each weigh-in as Mom relaxes with her litter. As the litter gets older, cuddle time becomes more and more fun.

Watch the stools to ensure the pups don't get diarrhea. It could be caused by worms, bad milk, or too much milk. Call your Vet if you notice diarrhea or red, scalded rears.

Tails are cropped on day 3. Watch to see that Mom doesn't lick the stitch out or infect the tail ends.

Cut the puppies toe nails every couple of days to ensure they don't scratch up Mom. Just cut the tips off to blunt them a bit. This can be done during cuddle time.

If Mom has to be put on antibiotics for any reason, check with your Vet to see if the antibiotic will get in Mom's milk. If it does, then healthy bacteria in the pups intestine may die. Therefore, give each pup a dab of yogurt morning and night. This will help keep the pups intestines healthy by supplying healthy bacteria. Just put the yogurt in their mouths and they will slurp it down.

Give the new mother privacy and space. She will be anxious the first few days. No company other than the family and lots of quiet time. Keeping the mother content is the most important task in caring for the pups. Give her lots of fluids - Campbell's chicken or beef soup is tasty and good for her. I also give the Mom cottage cheese for extra calcium. Be slow and easy when handling the pups. If she objects, back off until she relaxes.

Also, this is the time to start socializing the puppies. Once the Mom is comfortable with your touching the pups, begin to rock them, rub them, kiss them, etc. See a great article on raising great puppies.