Breastfeeding is essential for the dog, not only because it is a food source, but also a source of bacteria that will begin to colonize its digestive system and source of antibodies. In fact, as in humans, dogs are not born with tusks, they acquire them directly from breast milk until their immune system begins to mature.
The essential time of breastfeeding is 4 weeks, however, ideally breastfeeding should be maintained for 8 weeks, because it is not only about feeding the dog, but also letting the mother start the feeding process. learn through gentle bites, licking and growling.
- Sometimes.
- Keeping breastfeeding for 4 or 8 weeks is not possible due to several problems that can affect the mother.
- So in this article of Animal Expert we show you how to feed weaned dogs prematurely.
A good nutritional plan should be used for prematurely weaned puppies when it has not been possible to complete lactation due to a medical problem, such as mastitis in dogs.
Therefore, this information should not be used to separate a dog from its mother in advance, since this has very negative consequences for the dog, in addition to being deprived of the feeling of belonging to a group, may present the following problems during its first phase of growth:
We know that the arrival of a dog at home is a very positive experience, but to be a responsible owner we have to make sure that it is also a positive experience for the dog, so whenever we can avoid it, let’s not do it. I have to welcome a little puppy. more than 2 months.
For at least 4 weeks it will be essential to feed the dog with artificial milk whose composition is closest to breast milk, for this you must go to a specialized shop.
Under no circumstances can it give you cow’s milk because it is very rich in lactose and the dog’s stomach cannot digest it. If it is not possible to find artificial milk for prematurely weaned puppies, you should opt for pasteurized goat’s milk, which is closest to dog milk.
Milk should be hot and to administer it you should use a bottle that you can buy at the pharmacy and specific to premature babies, since the flow offered by these bottles is the most suitable for a puppy with so little. life expectancy.
After the first 4 weeks, you can now introduce puppy-specific solid foods, such as pasta rations or cereals. At first it should alternate with the intake of milk, until gradually, after 8 weeks, the puppy’s food is only solid.
The first three days must be fed continuously, that is, every 2 hours, both day and night, after the first three days start feeding it every 3 hours.
This feeding frequency should be maintained for the first 4 weeks and then start alternating bottle feeding with solid nutrition.
In addition to giving the dog a meal as close as possible to the one it would offer its mother, we must offer certain precautions to keep it healthy:
If you would like to read articles similar to, we recommend that you go to our Nursing section.