A new born baby needs a special care, in the same way new born puppies also need special puppy care and treatment.
The puppies cannot be left alone and always need special attention. Just like new born babies, puppies also need more sleep and regular feeding.
You need not involve much in puppy care when it is with mother dog.
The mother has natural instinct to take care about its child and you just need to monitor the mother and child.
Take care that the mother should give milk in the first 12 hours, which is very much crucial in the growth of puppy to produce self-immunity and to build up nutritious values.
Puppies in the first few weeks do not have the capacity to produce heat in the body, which is necessary to keep it warm. So, be sure that the mother dog gives the puppy a warm wrap to protect it from pneumonia.
If the mother dog is not allowing the puppy to be with it, do not neglect the puppy and make a small warm place for the puppy to sleep. Prepare a small space or kennel kind of thing with a box and place some soft bed sheets in that box to make sleeping comfortable for the puppy.
Place a small dim lamp beside it to maintain the temperature. Take care that the lamp is in safe distance from the puppy. You can also provide electric blanket which gives a warm effect to puppy. The ideal temperature is 97 degrees.
Take care of puppy without hurting itself by falling down from a steep place, stair case or getting hurt while playing with its siblings. Make sure that the mother dog does not catch the new born puppies with its sharp teeth.
In most of the cases, the mother dog does not hurt its puppy, but in some rare cases the mother dog hurt its own puppy.
The puppy care is very much necessary for the puppies which are away from their mother. In those extreme cases, you are the one who should give proper puppy care. Consult a veterinary doctor or a puppy owner who have the knowledge in puppy care.
It is very much important for the puppy to be fed with milk for every four hours, in the first 48 hours. If the mother is not allowing the puppy, start bottle feeding, make sure that the nipple hole of the bottle is not too big and not too small.
Never take a chance when the puppy strangles with too cold milk and too hot milk; maintain warm temperature of the milk. After feeding, gently take the puppy into hands and pat their back to burp.
In the first couple of weeks, feeding should be done in liquid form using bottles, but after 2 to 3 weeks the feeding can be shifted to solids such as puppy cereals.
Always handle with care, do not allow your children to mishandle the puppy. They may hurt the puppy while lifting it or playing with it without knowing.
Never separate the puppy from its mother when it is under 8 weeks of age. Let it be with its mother at least for 8 weeks and this will give the puppy a self immunity and never buy a puppy which is under 8 weeks of age.
Vaccinations are also important for your puppy. Consult your veterinary doctor for vaccinations. Some vaccines start from 6th or 7th week of the birth. Maintain a small card for vaccinations and tick the vaccines which are completed.
These puppy care steps are very essential to make your puppy strong in all ways, to become a strong dog.
