I found this on Ebay and wondered if they were any good to keep in on standby

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Trixie-Puppy-Small-animal-suckling-aid-3-teats-10ml-capacity-whelping-kit-/230742525018?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Dogs&hash=item35b953845a

I presume as the pup sucks the plunger of the syringe goes down making the pup work for the milk and less likely to aspirate than conventional syringe feeding. For weaker pups then the plunger can be pushed very slowly till they build up their strength.

Any thoughts?

I have this and found them useless (hard to handle, leak too easily etc) -normal syringes from the vet work better.

Thanks Marianne, worth getting opinions before buying.

I haven't tried this. Last year I had to supplement feed our 8 pups for a couple of weeks whilst Mum was recovering from surgery. I started off with a small animal feeder with these types of teats. Absolutely and totally useless. Pups could not get hold of it to suckle, they need their mouths to be able to hold onto something ... nowt like the shape of Mum's teat. I ended up with baby bottles and teats - perfect (thank you to the amazingly helpful CD lady for talking me through this - she was a life-saver :-D). I have a medium breed.

This year's litter I had one pup that was a lot smaller than the rest. Having had a friend loose a pup from her litter earlier in the year because she couldn't get it sucking off Mum properly (again, a significantly smaller pup), I decided to give additional feeds to our smaller pup. The baby teats were too big, would not take any milk. Got a Dr Brown's Premie bottle (for premature babies) - though it didn't look significantly smaller it obviously was. Pup was able to get a hold and suck and glad to report she made great progress.

So my thoughts, based on the ridiculous shape of these teats, and past experience with trying to use them when I had to, is have a Preemie bottle and a normal baby bottle on standby. Essential part of my whelping kit now :-D Oh the advantage of the Premie bottle is that it's got an anti-colic contraption ... did make a difference with winding :-)

Edited to add: I too used normal syringes last year ... they were considerably better than the silly, pointy teaty things! But, I'd still get the two types of baby bottle - if a toy breed then not sure.

Thanks.

My small breed pups are too small for a human baby bottle and they have been bigger than average for the breed, I returned some to Mothercare after my first litter so have been looking for something else since, I have tubes if I get stuck.

I've known preemie bottles used on pups as small as new born westies

How big are newborn westies? These bottles and teats were the smallest I could find between Boots and Mothercare but not having had a litter before I didn't know if they would be small enough till the pups were here, luckily I didn't need them.

Will maybe search online for bottles for prem babies, when I nursed them in the late 70's early 80's they stayed in hospital longer and were either breast fed or big enough for a normal bottle on discharge, no need for prem bottles to be available outside the hospital.

>My small breed pups are too small for a human baby bottle

I have a breed that can weigh only a couple of ounces at birth, so baby bottles were no good at all.  I bought several different makes, some were high price range, but still no good for my little 'uns.

Then I saw some really cheap ones in Pets At Home, they were made by the Sherley's Lactol people.  I have a couple of sets "just in case" as I find that once I get hold of something really great, they stop making it!  :-)  The teats are the best I've tried for titchy pups.

Not at all suitable for Trialist and her breed, but superb for toy size pups.

Will check out PAH.

I've no idea how big newborn westies are either! But, just in case anyone else wants to know, or needs to know in future searches (I find it sooooo frustrating when I'm on the track of the info I want a couple years after a posting has been made, only to be short of the critical info) ... I very successfully used a Dr Brown's Preemie bottle on a puppy weighing just under 200g the day after being born (sorry, I never weigh the instant they're born - Mum's got enough to worry about ... and I have too ;-) ). This is for a medium size breed pup that in my litters I would expect to weigh 250g + ... as said, a normal baby bottle was just too big.

Mine have been 7.15-9.10ozs[prior to having my first pups I asked around and was told to expect 5-6ozs] they didn't look that big and I thought the scales were wrong, I was talking on the phone to my mentor who rang seconds after first pup arrived and popped him on the scales and said he is nearly 1/2 a pound which couldn't be right, she said heavy boned pups can be heavier than they look and on double checking he was 7.75ozs.

I am expecting bigger litters to have smaller pups, only time will tell.

Will go and check out the Dr Brown bottles and teats for prems.

It is great to hear what has and has not worked for others before buying something that when you need it in an emergency is hopeless, I prefer to be prepared in advance hence my research now and so cost can be spread over the months before a planned mating, it amazes me when breeders say they need to go and buy milk and bottles after the pups are born and there is a problem.

This is the one I got, only £4.50, a bargain:

http://www.breastpumps.co.uk/acatalog/Dr_Browns_Natural_Flow_Feeding_Bottles.html

I wanted it urgently, and they sent for next day - don't be put off by the website name :-O :-O  I think it's well worth including in a whelping box, just in case :-) With last year's litter I had to supplement feed when they were a week old, so a normal size baby bottle was fine for them. I've even kept the silly little pointy teats (not silly for little dogs though ... JeanSW :-D ) in the box too, just in case :-O

I also used the teat shown on the right of this group with last year's litter (I'd borrowed a strange banana shaped glass jobby that came with these teats ... couldn't get that to work!):

http://www.hyperdrug.co.uk/Catac-Spare-Teats/productinfo/CATACST/

It was more of a useful shape for the pups - a week old - and fitted onto the end of a syringe. However, I still ended up crying my eyes out trying to get 1 week old pups sucking of silly teats after a week of Mum's ... that's when someone came to my rescue and suggested the baby feeding bottles :-D

Hi, if you buy a box of royal canin baby dog milk you get a bottle and 2-3 different size teats suitable for all breeds including daxi's, we always keep a box on standby just incase.

> Hi, if you buy a box of royal canin baby dog milk you get a bottle and 2-3 different size teats suitable for all breeds including daxi's

I found it total rubbish for Chi pups.

I have ordered a Dr Brown prem bottle and 2 spare teats, they will be added to the other stuff in my whelping chest of drawers, hopefully never need to use them.

I bought RC puppy milk before but no bottles included, it must be a new thing.