About two or three weeks of age, it‘s time to make sure that the litter is not “pulling Mother down” too much. A nursing mother is assimilating all the nutrition for the litter and herself. She must take in a great deal of water and eliminate all the waste. Nutrition is a separate subject, but here I would like to share a practice, tip etc. with you.
Help your mothers and others
About twenty years ago I was very concerned about the mother of a litter of six puppies. The puppies where healthy and eating extremely well; the poor mother was having a hard time to meet their needs.
Expressing my concerns to a fellow friend and dog breeder, Gertrude told me about a custard that she had success when helping feed a litter. I use this to help take some of the load off the mother so she remains in excellent condition and the puppies are quiet and healthy. When using this food the mothers continue to keep the babies clean.
Puppy Custard:
- 2 Qts. 1% milk
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup Cream of Wheat
- 1 large or 2 small eggs
In a double boiler add milk, sugar, and cream of wheat. Stir and cook until the sugar and cream of wheat are well dissolved and cooked. It takes about twenty minutes for this to take place.
In a small dish whisk eggs and slowly add small amounts of hot milk mixture to eggs. Add egg mixture slowly to milk in pan whisking during the process. After stirring well cover pan and turn the heat to low and cook for approximately 45 minutes.
Do not remove lid until finished. Remove from heat and cool.
Feeding
I use a large eye dropper to feed puppies; the mixture may be thinned with milk. Feed warm.
Good for more than puppies
When feeding puppies and dogs that are ill; use common sense. I have used this food when adult dogs are stressed and eating is an issue.
This custard is wonderful for people who are very ill and have a hard time eating and/or taking medicine. Many stories could be told on this subject.
Do to current dog food problems I wrote this very quickly. If you have any questions or suggestions please let us hear from you.
I rescue dogs south of the border and when we find a feral mom with pups, usually the pups are fat and healthy and the mom is a rail….we start to suppliment feed the mom right away and at about 2 1/2 weeks start to supplement feed the pups. We use puppy milk, dried puppy formula powder, pulverize some puppy chow and use a tablespoon of canned meat for taste…mix it all together and store it in fridge. when we feed the pups we just add some hot water to the cold mix and it makes a tasty and nutricious meal for the puppies…twice a day. Mom fattens up very quickly and then we capture them, and socialize them, get them spayed and on to forever homing land when the pups are old enough.
I think it is great that you help these poor dogs. I know that a lot of
people would like to help, but don’t know how.
i will help