Hi i just want some help and advice on hand rearing 5 new puppies. They are now 5 days old, their mum had 15 puppies and could not cope so i am helping her by hand rearing 5 of them!!! I am feeding them every 2 hours and they seem to be fine, although they are a bit smaller then the rest of the litter but i suppose that is normal, isnt it? They seem to be feeding quite well. Is it normal for them to suckle each other? and do i need to do anything with them after i have fed them, any advice would be appreciated.

Hi Franco

What breed do you have, she has her work cut out with 15 puppies...

Natasha

they are rotty cross with alsation

Hi Franco, I reared a litter of fifteen wolfhounds. As the pups you are feeding are a bit smaller and sucking each other, its sounds like they are not getting quite enough. I have a couple of suggestions that may help.Either split the litter in half, let one lot feed, then the other half feed, and then take them away for an hour to give mum some rest,or keep swapping the five on the bottle with five others, so they all get a proper suck from mum. I wish you all the best of luck, its very hard work, but sure is worth it in the end.

Hi

Could you not alternate them with the other pups
ie put 7 in a warm box after letting the mom feed them then letting the other 8 feed from her?
That way the pups get the best from mom and its a lttle easier for you too,so long as her food levels are kept high she should be able to cope that way.
What breed is she?
15 little babies ahhhhh very sweet but hard work....good luck with them all

hi there, i cant out them back with the mother because she put them aside from the begining so i took them from her and i am rearing them in the house, they seem to be feeding well.

Hi franco. I've known of healthy bitches with very big litters that just decided how many she could rear and pushed aside the rest, but has your bitch been checked over by the vet? If she is at all unwell that might cause her to reject some puppies. If she is in good health, she may be willing to accept the litter in two groups as others have suggested now that she is more settled and the stress of the birth is past. Put some of the pups mum has accepted with the ones she hasn't for a little while, and rub some of mum's milk on the rejected pups before you try to reintroduce them. Whether that works or not, if you tell us exactly what you are doing now, including for mum and the accepted pups (where is she, is she being disturbed in any way, how warm is the room etc?), we may be able to come up with better suggestions. Best of luck - you've got your work cut out for the next few weeks :-)!

It would be a good idea to half the litter and let one half feed first
then the other. Mums milk is the best by far.
What you must remember is that puppies can not go to the toilet themselves
so after feeding wipe their bums and other bits with cotton wool and they will go to the toilet. Or do what I have done in the past hand it to mum and she will clean up. But make sure she is cleaning them up. Its not until a puppy gets a bit older will it go on its own to the toilet.

Nutkin.

Hello, I have recently hand reared a litter of Dogue De Bordeaux pups so can understand what you are going through, feeds every two hours wears you out.
I reared six to the age of 2 weeks then sadly lost 2 of them with Fading Puppy Syndrome, also due to the bottle feeding and sadly some milk does go down the wrong way some of the pups developed pneaumonia.
The vets taught me to tube feed, this prevents milk inhalation which is dangerous and takes a fraction of the time of bottle feeding.
I think it is something you should consider and am sure your vet would show you how and provide you with the tube and syringe.
It is scary the first few times but you soon get the hang of it, don't worry about whether you are giving enough as if not the pups will soon let you know as they will not be satisfied after meals.
My 4 remaining pups are now fine and 3 have gone to fantastic new homes, we kept one ourselves - I had to after all the hard work!!!
Good Luck
ps. I have just posted an article regarding new hope for fading puppy syndrom on the health section but hoefully you will not need that.

How are the Pups doing?

Sweep :)

Hi sorry have not replied before but been very busy, i have only 2 pups left that i have hand reared but they are fine and getting bigger by the day. The mum has 6 left so 8 out of 15 is not bad according to the vet. The ones with the mum are a lot bigger but that is to be expected but once mine are on food they will catch up im sure.

Hi Franco,
Just be careful about the pups suckling on each other. It's very natural and they tend to suck where the umbilicle cord was or the boys p*nis. Both areas can get very sore and even infected if bothered too much. Your vet might be able to suggest something to put on the areas so they won't taste good. Unfortunately I can't recall what we used when I worked in rescue.
Hope the others continue to thrive. :)