[rosemaryninja]

A litter of six young puppies has been discovered in my friend's army camp. Because none of the local rescues will/can take them, and they are starting to make a nuisance of themselves, my friend is being pressurised to call in pest controls to kill the pups.

As you can imagine, I was rather horrified to hear this, so I offered to take the pups in. He's going to talk to the relevant people and see what can be done, but basically the story is: I MAY have a litter of very young pups in my home come Tuesday. According to my friend, they opened their eyes about a week or two ago, so I guess that would make them around 4 weeks old .

What should I do?

I know vet care is definitely one thing. Being handled by humans. Toys. Play with each other. What else should I be giving them? Feeding them? I know there have been several threads on DF about raising a litter, or even single pups, from such a young age... but I can't seem to find any of them. Any direction to helpful old threads, or any advice at all, would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cshellenberger]

My oh My, you've dug yourself a deep one dear! At four weeks, I'd talk to the vet about starting a good worming routine and vaccinations. Be sure to limit their exposure to other dogs (yours should be fine once they've been introduced though). a Decent quality puppy food (or good all stages food), ground into a mush and wetted with Goats mild to make a gruel to get them weaned, gradualy working to a dry feed at 8 weeks.

The rest of socializing is just like with any other pup. Some of your dogs can help you with (suchas bite inhibition and teaching doggy manners and body language). You'll need to make sure you have an area you can contain them in, a baby play pen or portable play yard works well at this age for most breeds, but a small room with a baby gate will do as well.

Tips for puppy socialization - by Megan Worley - Helium

 

[Thracian]

I wish I had advice to offer, but I've never done anything like this. You are pretty wonderful, though, to help out these pups. I'm sure other people will share some ideas. I'll just say my thoughts are with you.

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

The first thing you need is an exercise pen, or a couple. You can do a search for those on line.

Puppies this age can eat softened food normally. Any good puppy food, just soak it until it is very wet before offering it. You can soak it in water, or canned goat milk, or even beaten eggs with a little water.

At 4 weeks their main needs are shelter, food, and water, and each other. Toys are good, and so is exposing them in your home to other people, children, water (I "swim" puppies at 4 weeks, either outside in a big tub if it's warm, or inside in my bathtub if it's not. I just hold them, and scoot them around in the water while they paddle. All puppies I have done this with love the water as the get older)

At this age it is also good to have thing for them to climb on (cement blocks, for example), under, into (boxes etc). Fetchy type toys are good, soft toys, I buy a lot of these at thrift stores when I have puppies. Empty soda bottles tied up in a sock is a big favorite around here.

Puppies this age need to be fed 4X a day, am, noon, early evening, late evening. If you have a safe outdoor area, they are old enough to enjoy this in good weather too.

De-worming should be done immediately. I don't vaccinate until at least 6 weeks and prefer to wait until 8. If you take the puppies please keep them together until 8 weeks so they can learn all the things they need to from their brothers and sisters.

Good luck!

 

[rosemaryninja]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm not absolutely certain they're coming yet but at least now I know what kind of supplies I *should* be rounding up.

How much should they be eating? Do I need to put down six separate food bowls or can they all eat out of one big pan?

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

No, you can feed them in one big pan. I feed puppies this age just about all they will eat 4X per day.

You will want to round up some crates too. 3 would be ideal. You can start in a week or so separating them out into pairs, or 3s, for naps in the crate. Also take the door off a crate and put it into the puppy area. Make sure you are always tossing the toys, and some treats, into the crate so they go in to explore and find good things.

5-6 weeks can also come baby puppy collars so they get used to that. Little nylon cat collars work great.

Talk to your vet, tell them you may be rescuing a litter of puppies, and ask if they will give you any special deals or price breaks, and ask their advice on a de worming and vaccination schedule.

 

[RiverFlash]

I would call your local shelter and tell them you are fostering a litter of puppies and you would like information and maybe some help finding low cost vet care or to help with the fostering process. Your shelter should have information on low cost vaccinations and such. Or you could discuss the situation with your Beagles' vet and see if they can help you out with any information about raising puppies. Another idea is to find a local, reputable breeder that you trust and visit them to see their puppy area and discuss puppy socialization and the basic "what to expect" at each week of growth. Then you can model your puppy room after what the breeder does.

Also, start screening potential owners now if the shelter is unwilling to help you with placement.

 

[cshellenberger]

Just FYI for those of you who don't know, Rosemary is in Singapore ( I know you do Red), not the US.