no more mother's milk for puppies

esperanza

The mother of our three puppies is no longer producing any milk. As they are still young enough not to be able to survive without, what should we do? Is it possible just to give them pasteurisred milk us humans drink, for example?

I read somewhere you can buy replacement milk. Do all pet stores sell this or do I need to go to a vet?

DonJose

Dogs are lactose intolerant and should not be given pasteurised milk.

Try something like the following, try a vet.

http://www.seapets.co.uk/product-details/stkcode/751121.html

Jules

many good replacement milks out there welpi is one we use alot. how old are the puppies and what breed are they. You can pick up good milks in your pet store as well! just dont believe people when they say feed them milk and bread mashed up as this is just plain silly, they are dogs and should be fed right!

esperanza

jules80 wrote:

many good replacement milks out there welpi is one we use alot. how old are the puppies and what breed are they. You can pick up good milks in your pet store as well! just dont believe people when they say feed them milk and bread mashed up as this is just plain silly, they are dogs and should be fed right!

The puppies are only three weeks old. I'll look out for that welpi in pet shops.
Thanks for your advice.

Two last questions:
Until what age can puppies stop drinking this milk?
Are all dogs lactose intolerant?

iguana

My parents had a dog which they got at three weeks old and fed him special milk they got from a vet and used a baby's bottle to feed him. They got him this young as he was the runt of a litter of 13 and the vet said the strain of feeding so many dogs was killing the mother.

FranknFurter

Bring them to a vet immediately.

They will probably need to be rehydrated and given supplements. The vet will then advise you on the next step.
Be prepared, hand rearing puppies is a 24/7 job.

B

Toulouse

FranknFurter wrote:

Bring them to a vet immediately.

They will probably need to be rehydrated and given supplements. The vet will then advise you on the next step.
Be prepared, hand rearing puppies is a 24/7 job.

B

What he said and fast! Pups this young fade very quickly.

Jules

The main thing you need to look out for is fading puppy syndrome.

http://www.wolfweb.com.au/acd/fadingpupsyn.html

not an actual disease, so please no one saying im making things up. Definatly a check up at the vet is a must, but plenty of TLC and regular feeding as in every 4 hours through out the day and night. Also like babies, puppies can't regulate their body temp so you have to keep a close on on this also.

yes, most dogs and cats are lactose intolerant, but not all, even though you should treat them all as if they are.

As for feeding milk substitute. usually at 5 weeks you can begin to introduce solid food into a puppies diet but this should be done gradually. I find miking a good puppy food into the milk and serving it warm generally works quite well but can be VERY VERY messy.

How is Mummy doing?

Schlemm

There are a bunch of options but defo try and get substitute milk.

If it's an emergency situation you can use 4 parts evaporated milk to 1 part water...but this is for emergencies only! (e.g., severe starvation or dehydration if no vet is available, etc etc.)

(8 fluid oz. of milk plus 2 egg yolks plus 1 teaspoon corn oil plus 1 drop of infant multivitamins can also be used as a substitute apparently, but I haven't ever used it myself so I dunno how good it is. Commercial supplememts are prob more reliable.)

You need to feed your pups every 3-4 hrs for the first week of life. This can be reduced to 4-6 times per day after that. Make sure feeding equipment is sterile and that the feed itself is warm! You can burp them and encourage elimimation after a feed.

Keep an eye on their weight and temperature. And keep an eye out for any pups with diarrhoea which could become a serious problem!

SuzyS1972

Any news - I was quite worried by this thread
What kind of puppies are they ?
Did you breed the dog or just take in a pregnant dog
Either way I am concerned that if the first option is the case that people breeding dogs are on the internet looking for info on what to do ?????
Surely one should know these things before embarking on such a serious comittment.

Either way I hope the mum and puppies are ok - keep us updated

Toulouse

SuzyS1972 wrote:

Any news - I was quite worried by this thread
What kind of puppies are they ?
Did you breed the dog or just take in a pregnant dog
Either way I am concerned that if the first option is the case that people breeding dogs are on the internet looking for info on what to do ?????
Surely one should know these things before embarking on such a serious comittment.

Either way I hope the mum and puppies are ok - keep us updated

Same as Suze, I would have hoped the first thing anyone in this situation would have done is to ring the vet.

Hopefully both mother and pups are doing well and we'll have an update soon.