Feeding Doberman Puppies

We have 9 doberman puppies from my last litter. I was concerned that the bitch's milk might not be sufficient for all the puppies. From day 1, the puppies were attracted to the dame's breast nipple by instinct. It was amazing seeing how the puppies with unopened eyes smelled and crawled their way towards the nipples of the dame.

Puppies feeding naturally

I had to supplement with goat milk. I had to use baby feeding bottle to feed the puppies one at a time. The puppies loved the goat milk and grew very strong and healthy. For your information, do not feed your puppies or dogs with cow milk. Cow milk will cause the puppies to have upset stomach and loose stool. Goat milk is perfect for the puppies. But, goat milk is less available and it is much more expensive than cow milk.

Caution: We have to lift the puppy's head up (side-way) to feed with the bottle so that the milk flow too fast. Otherwise, the milk can choke the puppy or flood its lungs. Go to how to bottle feed the puppy for more detail.

  Feeding 2 weeks old doberman puppy with a feeding bottle

                             
The first four weeks was lots of effort caring for the puppies and the bitch. After four weeks, it was fun feeding and seeing the puppies playing with each other.

4 weeks old puppies self-feeding

For more information about Dobermann, visit us at Dobermann.com.my

Whelping, Feeding and Nursing Doberman Puppies

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When the puppies were born, I tagged each puppy with a colored ribbon for identification.

During the first few weeks of the of the puppies' life to ensure the puppies survive I kept the puppies in a warm and dry place. I bought a plastic bin and installed heating provided by an incandescent bulb. The temperature within the bin was kept warm at 28 deg Celsius. The bin also protected the puppies from wind.


I was fortunate that the weather in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was warm everyday, except some night when it was raining and very windy. Anyway, I kept the puppies indoor for the first 4 weeks.


Feeding and nursing the puppies
Fortunately, the dame has a natural mother's instinct of protecting, feeding and nursing the puppies. But, I have to earn the trust of the dame that I was helping her to look after the puppies.

The puppy sucked and is attached to the nipple very strongly 

In the beginning, the dame was reluctant to let me take the puppies away to the puppy bin. What I did was, I placed a new unfed puppy into the dame's cage each time I took a fully fed puppy away into the puppy bin. The dame learned very fast and trusted me.


The last litter was 9 puppies and I have to divide the puppies into 2 batches for feeding. The first 2 weeks was a lot of work changing each batch on an hourly basis. The last feeding of the day was done at 2 am and the first feeding was done at 6 am.


When the puppies was 2 weeks' old, the dame's milk was not enough for 9 of them. I have to supplement with hand feeding them with goat's milk. Please do not supplement puppies with cow's milk.

With bottle feeding, we have to make sure :-
1) the milk flow very slowly from the bottle
2) that the puppy is held up so that the milk will not rush to their lungs. Otherwise it can be fatal.

For more information about Dobermann, visit us at Dobermann.com.my