drying puppy after a bath

Max22 · 06-22-2009, 02:52 PM

First I want to say Hello to everyone, it's my first post on here.

My puppy is 11 weeks old and yesterday we gave him his first bath. I had asked the vet first when I can bathe him and this past week she said it was fine to bathe him so I did. I read a lot about it the week before and even watched how to videos. He is very tiny just 2 pounds so wanted to make sure I didn't do anything wrong. He did ok, kinda just stayed as we gave him a bath although after a few mins he got impatient and wanted to get out but seemed more like he didn't like it.

Anyways, my main concern was after the bath that he doesn't get cold since he is so young and small and can effect him. We have 2 bathrooms and we gave him a bath in the bathroom that doesn't have a window so no chance of a draft, and it was nice and warm in the bathroom. As soon as we were done i wrapped him in a towel, my husband had also warmed up the towels and we started drying him quickly with the warm towels. I used a blow dryer on very low setting and kept it at least a foot away from him and i had my hand on him the whole time so i can feel the blow dryer and make sure it didnt get hot or even warm bc if i felt it then i knew he would feel it even more. He is a toy poodle and has long hair so took a bit to dry him but kept him in the warm bathroom while we did. After I had my robe on which is very warm and held him on me while i had the robe wrapped around him. Then when he rested I had him covered. We even made sure to keep the temperature comfortable even if we were too hot so he doesn't get sick. But even with doing all this, he started to sneeze last night and I can hear him when he slept how he was breathing and he got up a lot to drink water. Other than that he is eating, his gums are not pale, his nose goes from dry to wet. When I got him he got a viral infection so i still have amoxicillin, i am waiting to hear from the vet if i can give him some now.

How does everyone else dry their puppies? Is there a better way or something else I should do right after his bath. He does need a haircut but i have to wait another month until he is finished with all his vaccinations so at least the next time it will be at the groomer. But I wanted to know for myself in the future when I give him a bath. I feel horrible that he is sneezing again after he just got over it.

andreangil · 06-22-2009, 06:53 PM

I have a 4 pound bichon puppy, I bathe him in warm water, dry him as much as I can with towels and then use a puppy blowdryer on a medium setting to start with and then switch to low once he's not soaking. You can buy a puppy blowdryer at petsmart for 20 dollars. I was going to just use mine, but I was afraid it would be too hot.

Max22 · 06-22-2009, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andreangil

I have a 4 pound bichon puppy, I bathe him in warm water, dry him as much as I can with towels and then use a puppy blowdryer on a medium setting to start with and then switch to low once he's not soaking. You can buy a puppy blowdryer at petsmart for 20 dollars. I was going to just use mine, but I was afraid it would be too hot.

Thank you so very much, I will DEFINITELY buy the puppy blow dryer. He was definitely dry when I finally let him out of the bathroom and had him covered for a while and windows closed but still managed to effect him. The vet said I can give him some of the amoxicillin that i have left and he hasn't been sneezing as much, just here and there nothing bad.

Thanks again for your help, very helpful.

Graco22 · 06-22-2009, 09:32 PM

Getting him wet, bath, etc. is not going to make him catch colds or ill. Illnesses are caused by viruses, not from getting a chill after a bath. However, the stress from the bath, after being sick already, and maybe not quite over it, could have caused a weakening of his immune system and the previous illness is taking hold again. Or he could have gotten some water in his nose, causing the sneezing, etc. Millions of things. An 11 week old pup should be able to tolerate a bath easily, IF he is 100% healthy to begin with. I would be abt to think he wasn't completely over the first virus, if in fact he is acting ill now. Best bet is to take him to the vet, or watch him closely for a few days and see if he doesn't get back to normal on his own.

And a human hair dryer is just fine for drying a little pup like that at home.

six pack · 06-22-2009, 10:33 PM

Im with Graco. Could not have said it better

Max22 · 06-23-2009, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graco22

Getting him wet, bath, etc. is not going to make him catch colds or ill. Illnesses are caused by viruses, not from getting a chill after a bath. However, the stress from the bath, after being sick already, and maybe not quite over it, could have caused a weakening of his immune system and the previous illness is taking hold again. Or he could have gotten some water in his nose, causing the sneezing, etc. Millions of things. An 11 week old pup should be able to tolerate a bath easily, IF he is 100% healthy to begin with. I would be abt to think he wasn't completely over the first virus, if in fact he is acting ill now. Best bet is to take him to the vet, or watch him closely for a few days and see if he doesn't get back to normal on his own.

And a human hair dryer is just fine for drying a little pup like that at home.

He definitely didn't get water in his nose, i held his ears down while my husband poured the water just on top of his head and around his face I used my hand. He had been over it for a week and I did ask the vet first but yeah probably was from the first time. I called the vet and just gave him a bit more medicine. He is doing well just sneezing a little here and there mostly when he wakes up. Has a lot of energy and eating a lot but i am keeping an eye on him and any changes I will bring him to the vet. He's gone twice already for shots and when he was sick and one other time so don't want to rush him there for everything like i had been doing but if anything changes i definitely will.

Thank you very much.

Kina_A · 06-23-2009, 08:07 PM

I used my regular dryer on low setting. I sat in Kina's pen and had the dryer on low setting and just pointed it at her, when she realized it was warm air comming out of the dryer she came to me and sat on my lap to get dried. I was then able to put it on high to dry her.

I've done this a couple of times and each time, I sit down in her pen and let her come to me. She doesn't mind the dryer now at all.

Mind you my blow dryer is not loud.

She was 9 weeks when I first used the dyer on her.