HELP!!! Orphaned Puppies!

[Amethyst Rose]

I presently have seven 3 week old (eyes just starting to open) puppies in my care...their mom died 2 days ago.
She was a stray in the neighborhood that I had really started to love...left food and water out for her and her friends. Two days ago I found her dead beside the shed where she had her puppies (I suspect she was poisoned).
I've taken the puppies and have been bottle feeding them whole milk, but I really don't have a single clue what I'm doing, or what I should actually feed them.
Can anyone help?? What should I be doing?? I'd never forgive myself if these puppies died!

(please, keep in mind that there are no agencies or pet stores that I can turn to here... 2nd world country and all).

[Yvonne Belisle]

I have a recipe for you I am looking for it now I need to find my book.

[Yvonne Belisle]

We are still looking for my book but in the meantime i found this one

2 eggs ( yolks only)
4 tablespoons of Karo syrup
4 tablespoons of Lime Spring Water
2 cups of milk.

Procedure:

Mix the Karo syrup with the yolks of the eggs only. Bring the milk
to a quick boil. Add milk to the eggs and Karo syrup. Mix it up and then add
the spring water to it.

[Yvonne Belisle]

I also found this for you

Milk Replacer Formula:

10 oz. evaporated milk (whole fat or part skim -- do not use all skim) or goat's milk
3 oz. sterilized water (baby water or boiled water) -- delete if using goat's milk
1 egg yolk (raw)
2T regular mayonnaise (optional)
1 cup whole fat yogurt (whole fat or part skim -- avoid all skim)


Place all ingredients in a blender and mix (or use a wire whisk) till well blended. Use all formula within 7 days.


Warm formula to puppy body temperature before feeding. Always discard formula leftover at a feeding. This formula is thick and so is best administered by stomach tube. If using a bottle, you may need to enlarge the hole slightly. It provides 11 calories per cc.


Weak Puppy Booster

This formula is meant to be used on newborns who are chilled, weak or otherwise compromised. This formula should be administered every 1-2 hours (or more often) by stomach tube and the puppy should be warmed slowly. Once the puppy begins to maintain a normal body temperature, regular feeding can resume. NEVER FEED A CHILLED PUPPY MILK REPLACER.


8oz. lactated ringers solution or sterilized water
1 tablespoon white Karo syrup or white sugar (do not use honey)
OR
Substitute plain, unflavored Pedialyte


Mix ingredients and warm to body temperature. Preferred administration is stomach tube (to ensure correct dosage). Feed 1/2 cc per 2 oz. of body weight once per hour. If puppy is very weak, you may half the dosage and feed twice as often. This formula should be followed up with milk replacer as soon as the puppy is maintaining normal body temperature. This formula should not be fed exclusively for more than 8 hours.

[Amethyst Rose]

This is wonderful help, Yvonne! Thank you :) Everything I've found online seems to have a different opinion about what I should feed them...the only thing I've found in common is whole milk and egg yolk.
I was wondering though....would you happen to know if (human) infant formula would be okay to give them? Grr...I wish I was in a more civilized place where I could just buy puppy milk replacer...

[Yvonne Belisle]

If you do use the formula i would suggest still adding the eggs.

[Old Witch]

When they are about 4wks old you can make a thicker version of this by adding baby oat cereal or rice cereal and as they get older thicken their milk and before you know it, you can start on a mushy type dog food......Cherokee had 11 pups last litter.......every feeding had to be supplemented, it was like having 11 babies.....all the puppies lived and went to good homes!!! I wish you great and Good luck!!!! Keep us posted...... on a real basic note, since you are basically their mother now, you might have to moisten a piece of paper towel or toilet paper and wash their liitle anus' to stimulate their defecation and to help them urinate.....depending on how mature they are...sorry to be so graphic..........:p No, don't give them human formula, I believe it has way too much Iron for puppies....use evaporated milk if you can, and dilute it quite a bit.........I see Yvonnes post said that too, I forgot......Good Luck again..............

[Amethyst Rose]

Actually, I'm lucky - they're pooping and peeing really well by themselves, which is evidenced by how soaked their papers get by the end of the day.
Besides the feeding, I need to find a (safe) way to get rid of ticks and fleas, which they have scores of. There's no way that I know of that's safe for such young puppies. Any ideas on that front?

[Old Witch]

Is there any way you could make a cedar shavings pillow that you could wash? Actually maybe 2 of them........... so you could change them out......... easy to open, easy to dump, so you could replace the shavings as they get wet.......... I know there's herbs that can repel fleas, but I'm not sure what they are, Yvonne or Wildchild can probably help here........ A really fine tooth comb could comb the fleas out........

[Yvonne Belisle]

There are some threads on it in the green room on obth fleas and ticks. To remove the ticks they have try vasiline spread thickly on the tick if they can't breathe they supposedly back out and you can pick them off then.

[)O( ~ Khara~ )O(]

Amethyst in the puppies water should help you with fleas. As well sprinkle under their bed and papers with borax.

[Amethyst Rose]

Well, I can't see the ticks, so I'd have to smother the entire puppy in vaseline, hehe :) The only reason I know they're there is that I've seen them crawling on the box, after they've fed.
So far the puppies seem to be doing well. There's 5 girls and 2 boys, and the boys are the biggest. They all have their eyes open now and have the most adorable faces. Also, they slept a whole 8 hours last night, so I got a decent sleep, which I'm eternally greatful for -- the first night with them I was up every 3 hours. As for food, I've mixed whole milk with egg yolks and that seems to satisfy them, so I'm feeling better about they're nutrition.
There's one little girl who has a swollen lump under one of her eyes, that I'm a little worried about. I don't know if it's an infection or a bug bite, or what. I may have to search out a vet... but honestly, I don't trust the doctors here with my health, so I don't really trust a vet with their health.
I'll see if I can get my hands on a digital camera so I can post a picture of them. :)
Thanks for your help, everyone, I really appreciate it.

[flar7]

dont forget the karo syrup for the formula if you can. Its almost
as important as the egg. Especially if you have to go a while
between feedings.

Be careful with the borax if you use that.......
also, are they inside or outside?

[Amethyst Rose]

Okay, what is Karo syrup? Is it the same as corn syrup? And I've been keeping them inside, as it's too hot outside for them, and I have air conditioning. :)

[Amethyst Rose]

Originally posted by Old Witch
Is there any way you could make a cedar shavings pillow that you could wash? Actually maybe 2 of them........... so you could change them out......... easy to open, easy to dump, so you could replace the shavings as they get wet..........

Probably not...I really don't think I could find cedar chips anywhere....not to mention I don't have laundry facilities, so anything that requires a lot of washing isn't very practical for me. I'm just buying a lot of papertowel...it's soft and absorbant, so it works. Thanks for the suggestion though :)

[flar7]

yep, corn syrup.:D

[Yvonne Belisle]

brewers yeast and garlic in thier food or water will also help make the fleas and ticks go away it makes them taste bad I guess.

[earthcat]

Amethyst Rose, it sounds like you're doing great with them....
For fleas control, try putting some citrus peels (preferably orange) in a small container with holes in it, and put it in with them. (Until they start chewing!:D)
Keep them warm, and rub them all over their little bodies often. If one of them appears to start getting sick, separate them immediately. When they start to eat/drink out of bowls, keep the bowls as shallow as possible. (Drowning is a real hazard for the little guys.)


Good for you for taking them in!
Lots of luck and puppy kisses....

[FlamedLilly]

THere's a lot you can do, Also if they do have fleas you'll have to be careful about letting them out in your house. Once the fleas get into carpets and furniture you'll need a lot more then garlic to get them out of the house!
Once they are about 4-6 weeks old you'll be able to start feeding them wet dog food, this can either be the canned stuff or just dry dog food that you put water on. You only need to put enough water on the food to make it soft. I know some people also use milk to soften the food.
When they start getting teeth then you don't have to worry about softening the food.
I'd stay away from people food for them as much as possible unless you can find an online vet or nutritionist to help you meet their diet needs with what's available to you. Feeding them people food could actually be worse for them in the long run.

[Amethyst Rose]

Thanks for all of the flea solutions, everyone!! I was going to give them a bath this weekend, and then I'll give your solutions a try. The ticks are gone, they just left on their own, but fleas stick around forever. Luckily there's no carpet in my house (it's too hot for carpet), and they stay far away from the bed. My only worry is that my big dog will get them, but I can deal with that if it happens (I have flea shampoo, but it can't be used on puppies under 8 weeks old).
I've had them for a week now, and they've doubled in size and have started walking around and playing with each other. They're also teething, so they're a little grumpy and whiney at the moment. I'm going to start them on wet food, because three of them have started rejecting the bottle, and just chewing on the nipple. They go 4-6 hour between feedings now, and sleep 8 hours through the night (except for last night they only slept for 6 hours....I decided that it was just because they wanted to get me up at 6 am on a Saturday :)).
The owner of the puppies' mom tracked me down and thanked me for looking after the puppies and told me that she already has homes lined up for all of them, which I suppose is a good thing except that I wanted to be sure they were going to good homes, so none of them end up like their mom.
And I've come up with temporary names for most of them, just so I can tell them all apart..... There's Pretty, Ugly, Bear, Spot, Cutie and "The two boys" hehe....
Anyway, thanks again for all of your help, you guys have been wonderful. :thumbsup:

[Old Witch]

I've been watching this thread, I'm glad everything turned out so well (good?)..........You did a good thing..............:D