Hand raising fur babies

[~clover~]

My beautiful Bella was hit by a truck last week & we've been left to raise her 3 gorgeous puppies.
They were 10 days old when we lost her & are now 2 weeks & starting to open their eyes

Thought maybe there were others who've done the same & maybe have some idea's & advice.

I'm needing to worm them & flea them We never had much trouble with flea's on the mum, but I've seen 2, so they need to be done. Not sure if they're old enough yet though. Or what brand to use.

Things are looking really good though. They're growing & putting on weight

[Marley&Me]

OMG! you poor thing How devastating Don't have much advice as I haven't started to breed yet, but just wanted to give some
Maybe just call in to your local vet and ask if they can help you out, take a notepad. Poor Bella

ETA: I just looked over some of my vet nursing stuff and pups should be wormed every 2 weeks after birth until 12 weeks old. Then once a month until they are 6 months old. Not sure about flea treatment though, can't remember...

[~clover~]

I don't have a vet near by. Called one on the phone yesterday, 2 hours away & she had no interest in helping me. My parents will be up soon with stuff from the vet near them though

Its been 5 days & they're looking fat & healthy, gaining weight, so I can only assume all is going well so far. I went to buy flea stuff, but the lady at stock & trade said to wait til 8 weeks. So I'll just try pulling the few I've seen off them. And yeah, I know they need worming.

If you're interested, there's a recipe all over the net that I've worked out is a good substitute for the mothers milk (for any rejected pups). I don't have access to a vet or any sort of milk substitute here, except lambs milk. But they had diarrhea til I used the online recipe. So I think this must be better for them. I don't know how NB puppy's poo is supposed to look though!

[EssTee]

Goats milk is probably one of the better substitutes but there is a good recipe which I guess you may have found... google "Leerburg milk replacement".
Definitely do not flea those pups... the chemicals in those flea products are much too strong. Best you can do is keep pulling off the fleas and perhaps bring them inside your home once the fleas are gone to prevent the vicious cycle...

I waited until 3 weeks and used a tablet to worm my pups... doing it every two weeks after that. I then supplied the new owners with the 9 week worm treatment and advised them to begin worming with regular puppy wormer after that.

Have you looked into weaning them? pups can usually wean at around 3-4 weeks... there are lots of different things you can try. I usually start with a sloppy mixture of fatty beef mince mixed with wombaroo/divetalect or whatever milk substitute you've been using, however last time I started them on straight beef mince, in little balls... just roll a little ball and offer it to pup. let them sniff it and they may or may not lick at it. contrary to popular belief, weetbix and milk is NOT a good starter for weaning puppies...

[~clover~]

I have nowhere here to get hold of goats milk, thats why I looked online to see what else I could do. And yes, its the Leerburg milk replacement I'm using.

I asked about fleaing & was told not until at least 8 weeks, so I haven't done it yet. I'm just cleaning them once or twice a day with plain warm water on a face washer, then towel drying. And they were 2 weeks old yesterday, so will be worming them possibly over the weekend.

I have looked into weaning, but we've got another week or 2 before we start. I've had a few people mention weetbix, but I'm not going to use it, for the same reason you don't give it to babies

They're inside & probably will be til I rehome them. I may put them in the storage shed where their mum used to sleep when they start getting around later on, but not for a while yet. Tonight will be the first night they're not sleeping in my room

[~clover~]

Mum & dads girl just let them have a feed She wasn't sure & we gave them some time with her & her babies, but mum sat with her reassuring her the whole time & she allowed it So we'll try getting a feed or 2 a day out of her while we can

[Chrispe]

Clover that's excellent that your parents dog let them feed!
I was going to suggest a 'nursemaid' dog in the other thread but I know they can be hard to come by.

[~clover~]

Hers are almost 5 weeks, so she might get over it pretty quickly, but if hers start to drop off & she goes from 7 down to 3, she might just keep it up for a bit longer I thought that after this amount of time with us she might not. But she knows us & our smell, she knew Bella, so the scent may still be there too. Mum's coming to pick them up at about 7 in the morning & try again. I think I'll go get our Hippy the biggest bone I can find as a thankyou

[Marley&Me]

Awwwww, that's great news I just love pups, I get so clucky around pups. More so about dogs than real human babies LOL