When to Feed Newborn Puppies

By Em Connell Mccarty

Instructions

Colostrum

Step 1:
A newborn puppy will need his mother's colostrum to receive important antibodies that will protect him from sicknesses. Colostrum is available only in the first 24 hours after a puppy is born, so it is vital that a puppy nurses from his mother immediately. If a puppy is unable to nurse from his mother in that first day due to abandonment or maternal death, feed your newborn a special puppy formula containing colostrum. This formula will not give him the specialized immunity his mother would through her milk, but it will help protect him.

Mother's Milk

Step 1:
A mother's milk is the best possible food for a newborn puppy. Even after the colostrum is gone, a mother's milk gives her puppy antibodies and nutrients that benefit the puppy's growth and health. While a puppy's nursing gradually lessens week to week, the puppy should be allowed to nurse for at least the first six weeks of her life.

First Foods

Step 1:
Around three or four weeks of age, a puppy should become interested in foods other than his mother's milk. The foods you introduce should be high in protein to help your puppy grow. If the mother is inclined to eat all the food, you can wait until the puppy is being active to take him away from his mother briefly. Give him a shallow dish of quality canned food with added water or formula; a quality dry food mixed with formula; or homemade food such as rice, ground meat and soft vegetables. He may end up wearing more of it than he eats, but given time, he will begin to eat solid foods in addition to playing in them. As he gets used to eating, you can reduce the amount of added liquid until he is eating dry foods. A puppy will usually be able to handle kibble at seven to eight weeks.

More Puppy Pages

When Should New Born Lab Puppies Start Nursing From the Mother?

Newborn Labrador Retriever puppies should nurse as soon as possible after they are delivered from their mother. There are many reasons why newborn puppies of any breed should to be nursed by their mother within hours of birth; otherwise they run risks up...

Bovine colostrum has developed a reputation for being a super-supplement for conditioning and weight gain in human beings. However, bovine colostrum can also provide benefits to newborn puppies that are doing poorly, as well as being a conditioning...

To cat lovers, there are few creatures more beautiful than newborn kittens. Kittens are born after a three-month gestation period in a rubbery sac called an amnion. Like most placental mammals, they are born helpless.

When you are responsible for a litter of puppies, you should be make sure that they are weaned properly. The mother dog will take care of weaning them off of her milk, but it is up to you to wean them onto regular dog food.

Young deer are especially vulnerable to the hazards of nature, and can easily succumb to dehydration or starvation if they do not receive sufficient nutrition and hydration. Orphaned deer whose mother died in giving birth or shortly thereafter are...