I have been asked by local vet to hand rear two border collie puppies..the farmer took them from the mum so she'd get back to work sooner. :-( there were 4 of them but someone else is looking after the other two.

It has been 7 years since I've hand reared any pups and wanted to know...do they have to poo each time they feed.? One of the them seems to poo every other time but seems content enough in between...

They are on whelpi every 2 hours. I do not know if they had a chance to feed from mum at all. They are a day old and sturdy wee things thus far...one of them had bloody urine but I have been giving him a few drops of water every now and again..and a little extra milk and it seems to be clearing up....the vets I got him from mentioned it but didn't seem concerned..

And one of them sounds a bit sniffly during and after a feed but sounds ok once he's back in the basket...should I keep an eye on that? He also regurgitated some of his last feed but not sure if that was just a milky burp or a sign of something else....

Advice please..:-). I feel confident enough....just want to make sure I'm doing it right..

Cheers
J

Yes you are doing everything right by what you have said .

When I hand reared I had the same with some of the pups pooing everytime and some every other time.

I tended to stop the greedy ones guzzling too much and slowed the feeding down where I could otherwise they tended to throw it all up.

A fun few weeks ahead for you then !!

Just don't let the farmer know where you live.
He'll be back for them after you've done the hard work. Good luck.

Well done you(specially because they are Border Collies)

Betty Bloomfield wrote a manual on handrearing puppies, which has been updated by her daughter(found them on the infamous FB !!)

Samantha Bloomfield is a vet BTW

Samantha Bloomfield is also very helpful and friendly and other than the books, sells supplies such as syringes etc.

Hopefully he won't be back for them...took them to the vets for PTS...they gave my work a ring and I was asked because I had done thus before and was off for 6 days on hols....lol...

Just one quickie question....

After they eat and are winded and toileted they are having a quick snooze but are then roaming grunting and having the occasional squeal...then back to sleep....as long as the squeals are only a short time and they settle again after their activity....
Can I. assume they are happy enough?...don't want to fuss them too much but don't want them having sore tums or anything...the wee cords are a bit sore because they are boys and they wee on them when being stimulated ..

Cheers
Thanks

Samantha is Betty's daughter I forgot to add !

https://www.facebook.com/groups/orphanedpuppies/

This is a group that helps people with orphaned puppies they may be able to help.

What a despicable man the farmer must be, why did he let the bitch get pregnant in the first place ?

He is..but one thing I can say for him is at least he took them to,the vet instead of a bucket of water...:-(

Turns out they are a little older than first thought..I was told they were only a day old when I got them....they are I fact about 5-6 days as one of the wee buttons has come off...so mummy must had fed them for a few days which is good news for them....they've taken to their feeds really well...fat little ticks...

Cheers for the Facebook page....never thought to look there...:-)

J

At least they probably got the colostrum off mum then before being taken away, poor little babies!