Dogs

previous 1| 2| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |11 | 12 |13 | 14 | 15 |16 | next

Feeding Through the Ages

NEW-BORN TO WEANING

The bitch should supply the puppy's entire requirement up to 3 - 4 weeks, and then spend less time with them. While she is feeding her puppies her food intake will triple. It is important to give the bitch good quality food, and calcium intake is especially important. You can increase the bitch's calcium either by feeding her puppy foods or by giving her a good quality calcium supplement, we recommend doing both. Bones and milk, while good treat, won't increase her calcium intake sufficiently. A condition called milk fever is common in small breeds of dogs and is caused by insufficient calcium. It requires emergency veterinary treatment and often results in the death of the bitch. It can occur in the weeks before giving birth any time until weaning, however is most common between 2 - 4 weeks after the pups are born. Watch for unusual behaviour including weakness, trembling or convulsions.

As the pups grow it is important to monitor each pup, to weigh it and record its progress. Smaller pups must be even more carefully monitored since a runt may be forced away from the teat by its stronger littermates. Supplemental bottle-feeding is recommended in large litter so each pup has its fill each day and the stress on the bitch is lessened. Rather than constantly feed certain pups rotate the pups on the bitch. It is much more effective to supplement feed the biggest, healthiest pups than the weakest ones, who may already be stressed and need as much milk from the mother as possible. The bitch's milk is better than the replacer milk and has substances in it that protects the pup's stomach from some diseases. A pup should constantly gain weight, doubling every 8 - 10 days. If a pup is failing to gain weight, or worse, losing weight then hand feeding may be necessary, always obtain veterinary advice first. Watch out also for hungry pups that cry continually and are restless, as these may not be receiving enough food. It may be necessary to isolate the bigger pups to allow the weaker ones to feed in large litters.

Hand feeding a runt or an orphan puppy is very time consuming and not always successful. Puppies require specialized lactose free milk; "pet milk" from the supermarket is completely unsuitable and should never be fed as a milk supplement. The two brands in Victoria are ANIMALAC and DI-VETALAC. Most vets or pet stores have one of these products and sell PET NURSER bottles for feeding. These products have all the information on how much and how often to feed on their labelling.

Do not feed cow's milk or "pet milk" to orphan puppies. It is totally unsuitable.

In an emergency, puppies can be feed human baby milk formula (less than 6 month formula is most suitable) or diluted condensed milk. In newborn puppies each feed is two hours apart and by weaning at four weeks feeds are four times daily. Puppies need 20 % of their body weight daily in food and this amount is divided over all the feeds.

Your local veterinarian is an excellent source of information, and the Lort Smith can provide information over the phone between 8AM and midnight .

WEANING

Start offering solid foods in a shallow dish from three weeks of age. The bitch needs to be away from the pups when you are trying to feed them. This is because the pups are usually more interested in her than in anything you can offer. Also most bitches are so hungry they will eat any food in reach. Start with the milk replacer (not pet milk) mixed with canned puppy food made into slurry or with a high-protein instant baby cereal such as Farex. Don't use adult dog food, as it isn't high enough in protein. Expect to have to clean pups as they stand in their own food and get it all over their faces. Gradually increase the amount of puppy food as the puppies rely more on you and less on mum.

Puppies are usually weaned by 6 weeks of age. With large litters weaning may need to be started earlier. For example I took care of a little fox terrier bitch with 6 pups (she was dumped with her pups). They collectively out-weighed her by 2 weeks of age and grew into adults of about 25 kg. They started eating puppy pal and milk replacer at 2 weeks (just after they opened their eyes) and were fully weaned at 3 weeks. She was a good mum and tried hard, but couldn't cope with them.

FEEDING THE NEW PUPPY

There are lots of commercial foods on the market. Small puppies need to start on canned food, which is market specifically as a puppy food. Where dry food is given initially it needs to be soaked. Puppies don't require milk however some love it. Use the marketed "pet milk" in the supermarket dog food section and start by diluting it, stop immediately if it causes diarrhoea.

Puppies like to taste different food and it is important to offer them a range to prevent fussiness. The small breeds are the fussiest and can be extremely difficult to feed. While cat food is not recommended for dogs (it is too high in protein and fat) it is a more balanced diet than just chicken. If all else fails you may be able to tempt a small puppy with cat/kitten food.

Most commercial foods allow you to add table scraps on top of their food without upsetting the balance of the food too much, however if feeding a large proportion of extra meat a calcium supplement should be added. Calcium powder needs to be added at 1 teaspoon of powder to 1lb (500 grams) of meat. Without sufficient calcium the bones are poor and may break or even fold. Cow or pet milk does not correct the lack of calcium in meat. The body must absorb calcium in balance with phosphorus. Meat has lots of phosphorus while little calcium. Milk is balanced for both. This means when you add milk you give more phosphorus as well as calcium and therefore the imbalance is not corrected.

Puppies like to chew and encouraging them to gnaw at a bone increases the chance of good teeth later in life. The bones should be raw. Very small pups can be offered chicken bones while larger pups can be offered beef bones. Choose a bone the pup can't accidentally swallow whole. Don't allow the bones to go off, as pups are more susceptible to tummy upsets then adults. The pup may not be able to chew well until all the adult teeth are through however it's important to encourage this activity on appropriate objects (not your favourite shoes).

more...

back