NEW BORN PUPPY CARE: 5 ASTONISHING FACTS

NEW BORN PUPPY CARE: 5 astonishing facts that pet parents should know

Bringing a puppy to the home is a joyful and excited moment for all the members of the family especially for children! Puppy has to settle in the new environment and make bond with the people of the home. We have to take care about the health of the new born puppy, vaccination schedule, feeding schedule, daily activities, etc.

period of 2 to 6 months of age is the best time to make puppy learn new things like obeying your orders, how to behave with the people inside and outside the home, how to socialise with other pets, etc. it should be taken care of by the pet parents. In this article we will learn about feeding of newborn puppies, how and how much to feed? when to feed?, defecation, importance of toys for a puppy and many more things.

FEEDING OF A NEWBORN PUPPY

Puppies are fed by their mothers up to the age of 6 weeks. After that they start to move to the solid food. Cow’s milk should not be given to the puppies because it has three times more lactose than the lactose of a female dog’s milk. The capacity to digest lactose decreases as the age of the puppy increases. Puppies older than 3 months should not be given milk due to lactose intolerance.

You should feed puppies in the manner that they should get food balanced in quality, quantity and nutrition. Below things should be considered during feeding of a puppy

Up to 6 to 10 weeks liquid food should be given. E.g. milk, kheer, etc.
Milk should be boiled and give after cooling it at room temperature.
If puppy feel uncomfortable after taking milk or do vomition or diarrhoea, it should be given after mixed with the water.

How much amount of the feed should you give?

You should give a whole bowl of milk or kheer to the puppy and determine how much amount of feed is taken by the puppy.

After determining the food required for the puppy, you should give somewhat lesser food than what is required by the puppy.

Feeding schedule: total 4 times in a day

Milk: 2 times (7 A.M. & 4 P.M.)

Kheer: 2 times (11 A.M. & 9 p.m.)

You could give readily available feed in the market

After 8 weeks of age you should introduce harder feed to the puppies to make the muscles of mouth strong. Harder food will increase the exercise of the muscles of ears also. More than 18 muscles are involved in the movement of ears.

Weight of the puppy should be doubled after 10-12 days of age as compare to the weight at the time of the birth.

Things to be considered during feeding of a new born puppy:

Vessel for food should be clean and dry.
Food should be given at the same place and time.
Physical development of the puppy is maximum at 9 to 24 weeks of age. You should give more importance to feed during this period.
10% of the food should be increased every 4-5 days.
Vitamins and mineral supplements should be added in the milk.
After 3 months of age calcium should be given.

DEFECATION

Puppies do defecation 5-6 times in a day.

1^st: early in the morning

2^nd: before sleep

3^rd – 6^th: every time after feeding

You should bring puppy daily to the specified space for defecation. It will develop into the habit and after some period of time puppy will go by itself to the same place for defecation.

Encourage puppy by patting when it follows your orders.

REASONS FOR UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF PUPPIES

Pet parents have complaints regarding the growth of the puppy. Many times after giving adequate diet also there is less growth of the puppies or growth is not as expected. We will discuss the reasons responsible for underdevelopment or less development of the puppies

Lack of adequate nutrients in the diet. E.g. minerals, vitamins, amino acids, etc
Growth of worms in intestine.
Deficiency of calcium and phosphorus results in lesser development of the skeleton.
Deficiency of thyroid hormone.
Deficiency of growth hormone from pituitary glands.
Genetic disorders results in lesser development of bones.

If as a responsible pet parent if you feel that your puppy has no adequate growth then you should visit to your vet as early as possible to rule of the cause of the underdevelopment.

IMPORTANCE OF TOYS FOR PUPPIES

Toys are very much important for the physical and mental development of puppies. Toys are important for all age dogs and puppies. You can get such readymade toys from the market which are harmless for the dogs and puppies

BALL: it is the most common toy used for pets. Why is it so important? There are some psychologies behind it. A dog running behind the ball feels as if he/she is running behind the prey. Toys which make noise are more important because they create the simulation of killing the prey.

Chewy toys: they are important particularly for the health and healthy development of mouth and teeth. They make muscles of mouth and jaw strong. They also have beneficial effect on the muscles of the ears.

Squeaky toys: these kind of toys are important because they create noise when they are chewed in the mouth. They simulate the natural process of preying the prey.

Dog pule: rope and tug made up of nylon are ideal for dogs. They make their mouth clean and made their gums stronger.

Chewy bones: now a days there are ready made bone toys are available which provide calcium for the healthy development of bones of your puppy or dog.

IMPORTANT THING YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE TOYS

Toys engage dogs mentally and physically even in the absence of pet parents.
Never allow your dog to the war of tug it gives signals that your dog is master of you.
Toys made dogs busy and distract their attention from chewing other things in the home.
Poor quality of toys should be avoided. Don’t give small size toys which could be swallowed by your dogs.
Don’t give old/ dirty shoes or clothes to your dogs.
Anything having the smell of pet parent could be given. E.g. handkerchief, clean clothes, etc.

In this article we have known about the thing which should be considered to take care of your favourite family member puppy or dog. We will come up with many more such articles to take care of your furry friends. If you have any suggestion please let us know in the comment section on clik4pet.com.

Author: Pashupati Animal Care Services

Pashupati Animal Care Services