Hand-rearing of newborn puppies: Home-made formula to replace mother’s milk

Before we deal with the making of the home-made milk replacement for puppies deprived of their mother’s milk for reasons cited in last week’s column, a few salient points should be noted:
1. No substitute can totally replace the mother’s milk – not in consistency, not fully in composition, and not optimally in digestibility. This is particularly applicable for the first few days of the pup’s life.
2. Hand-rearing of new-born puppies is an arduous task. It demands a gentle touch and dexterous manipulation of squirming, crying blobs of life 3-4 times daily during the first three weeks of life. A lot of patience is required.
3. The feeding schedule must be religiously maintained (see below).
4. There are commercial alternatives that can be sourced. They offer ready- to-use preparations that may be welcomed by caregivers who do not wish to have the headache of manufacturing and storing a home-made formula.
5. You will need to be constantly in touch with your veterinarian to report on challenges and puppies’ acceptance of the formulas, digestive disturbances, and growth and development.
6. If a foster mother’s milk is available, and she is producing excess milk, it will be a suitable alternative.
THE FORMULA (Please refer to the general comments of last week’s column: May 15, 2022).
250 ml of homogenised cow’s milk
Three (3) egg yolks
25-30 ml corn oil
N.B: Scientists have more recently been advising against the use of cow’s milk and dairy products in canine nutrition. The argument is based on the lack of enzymes in new-born puppies to break down lactose (type of sugar in cow’s milk) and the probability of consequential diarrhoea. Nevertheless, this formula has been used by caregivers for decades without negative feedback.
* If goat’s milk is readily available, I would suggest using it instead of cow’s milk.
* Prepare fresh formula each day. Keep refrigerated for 24 hours, and discard unused quantity. Mix the formula well prior to feeding.
* You should gauge the amount of formula to be made (in the correct proportion of ingredients) based on the number of puppies, their intake and weight.
* Addition of vitamins is to be discussed with your veterinarian, and is based on the assessment of the litter’s health and wellbeing.

HOW MUCH FORMULA PER PUP PER DAY?
It is important to make an assessment of the weight of the pup at birth, and the daily weight gain thereafter. A scale is therefore needed.
Feed 1-2 ml of formula every 6 hours for a puppy weighing around 100 grams. You can gradually increase this amount based on intake and growth rate. This formula should be offered solely for the first three to four weeks of age, after which solids are introduced. The formula can then be reduced to two feeds per day, and the puppies themselves would regulate their intake, having now both solid and milk formula offered to appetite.
As always, I emphasise that in dealing with biological entities, there can be no exactitude in quantities. Whenever you are in doubt, and need advice relative to feeding orphaned puppies, contact your veterinarian for more specific information and guidance.
Next week we will provide other simple formula options, and explain how best the formula can be given to the orphaned puppies.
Happy Independence Day!