References
How to hand feed newborn puppies
Abstract
Introduction
Newborn puppies may need to be hand fed for a variety of reasons including maternal death, rejection by the bitch, prematurity, infection or congenital abnormalities such as macroglossia (enlarged tongue). Traditionally, a bottle and teat has been used to feed puppies but this is not suitable for very sick or premature neonates. Eye droppers can result in aspiration pneumonia and should never be used.
This article describes how to tube feed a puppy and then progress onto a modified version of the traditional bottle feeding. The techniques described in this article are also suitable for kittens and most other mammals.
It is estimated that 4–27% of all new-born puppies die in the first few weeks of life (Anderson, 1957; Bowden et al, 1963; Gill, 2001’ IndrebØ et al, 2007; TØnnessen et al, 2013; Scully et al, 2016). In the author's opinion these losses could be minimised by early intervention. Puppies should be weighed every 24 hours at the same time of day to identify those individuals failing to thrive. Certain circumstances dictate hand rearing the whole litter whereas, in other situations, only one puppy may require assistance.
Any puppy that is failing to thrive requires a full clinical examination, taking into consideration the ‘bigger picture’ to include the dam, her breeding history, the littermates and the environment. It may not always be clear what the problem is initially but the main point is to intervene quickly.
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