Helpful Hints for you and your new puppy

MAKE SURE PUPPY EATS

Taking a new puppy home is a lot like taking a new baby home. Shipping by airline or traveling by car can be equally stressful. It is up to you to make sure that he/she eats and drinks enough to maintain a healthy sugar level and to ensure proper nutrition. We NEVER allow a pup to leave our home that is not eating well and as you can see from the body condition (our pups have good flesh tone & are not skinny, this alone tells you they are eating well) Below are a few tips.

 

1) Make sure the puppy eats & drinks DO NOT ASSUME! Sometimes a new puppy does not want to eat or drink right away. You may need to encourage the pup to eat. You may even mix soft soft food (canned) with their hard food to encourage them to eat.

2) What other items can you use?

             A. Canned/soft food. As a general rule, your pup will prefer eating canned/soft food, due to it added flavor & palatability. You will want to be careful the amount consumed. Soft food has a large amount of water and less than ½ the fat & protein of hard puppy food, this can cause loose stools. This is why we recommend you mix it with their hard food. In time you can eliminate the canned food from their diet.

                 B. Plain or Vanilla flavored Yogurt

             C. Boiled Chicken, no bones

             D. Ground boiled/cooked hamburger

             E. Hard boiled eggs

             F. Cooked rice, no flavor

             G. Braunschwager lunch meat

             H. Cottage Cheese

             I. Deli sandwich meat

             J. Sliced American cheese

 3)         What other ways can I encourage my puppy to eat?

             A. Try changing bowls, sometimes the color is wrong, in stainless they see their reflection, the side is higher than they are used to, it smells different or they just do not like that their food is in it. Often you will need to hold the food in your hand to encourage them to nuzzle and eat much as they would nursing. Even weaned puppies find this is comforting.

             B. Place food on the floor, a blanket, in their kennel cab or isolate them so they feel less stressed and forced to eat. But watch how much they consume.

                 C. Feed directly from your hand.

4) Make sure your puppy gets plenty of rest, away from people or children that will continually wake him/her.

5) If he/she becomes lethargic or overly tired, administer some nutrical orally. If after 10 minutes the symptoms remain, repeat the nutrical. If symptoms continue take him/her immediately to your veterinarian.

6) Add karo syrup or honey to the puppies water, (We send along electrolytes for the water for a few days… this helps & if using this do not add anything else) you can also give a little of this orally instead of adding to the water. ½ a teaspoon will go a long way.

7) Have Nutrical on hand in case there is a problem. This can be purchased at any pet store or normally any vet.

                 REMEMBER…YOUR PUPPY IS LITTLE AND LIKE AN INFANT. You nned to make sure he/she eats, drinks, and rest plenty. We can not stress these things enough. Always have fresh water for your puppy on hand and feed several small meals a day until 12 weeks old, then you can cut back to twice a day and shortly after down to once a day.
In closing, please remember, your puppy is fragile. We know that you and your family are very excited, as are we, that you are adopting this little bundle of joy. Next to being sure your puppy is eating, remember they need lots of rest and do not be afraid for the first two weeks to restrict handling to only immediate family. Stress can be a major factor of many things concerning your puppy, including loose stools.

Yogurt: The Miracle Drug for Puppies

Plain yogurt can literally save your puppy's life. We recommend to everyone that takes a new puppy home to make sure you have a supply of plain or VANILLA flavored yogurt on hand for several days. This should be fed to your puppy a couple of times a day along with its normal diet. Please check the label and make sure it has the acidophilus culture and not the aspartame. Stress occurs when you take a new puppy out of its natural environment. This means that when you purchase a puppy and take it home, you are creating a stressful situation for this puppy. Stress kills off the good bacteria in the G. I. tract. When anything occurs out of the ordinary, it is stressful. Wormings, shots, shipping, and riding---all create stress for small animals. Plain yogurt culture puts the good bacteria back into the system so you will have a healthy puppy. So feed them all they want for the first couple of days until they adjust to the new environment. Yogurt can be force fed with a syringe in situations where your puppy has stopped eating and shows signs of being hypoglycemic.