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Your momma dog has whelped and now you need to know how to take care of newborn puppies week by week. We’ll help you through the first 24 hours and beyond with this useful guide.
Following on from our Guide To Whelping, this article will be your go-to resource for newborn puppy care. Keeping your brood in the right temperature feeding schedule and ready to go to their new homes in the best health.
So let’s start at the beginning, with what to look for during the crucial newborn puppies' first 24 hours.
Your top priority is to make sure that the space that mom and pups are in is safe and clean. Wash your hands thoroughly before handling the litter, and limit visitors for the first few weeks since newborn puppies are especially vulnerable to disease. Especially if mom caught you out with an early birth!
You’ll want to clean up your new mom as much as possible, whilst also being careful to not upset her. Using warm water and a gentle cloth is a good way to go, being alert to move at her pace, as she may be feeling extra sensitive or protective of her little ones. Avoid any harsh disinfectants unless your vet has specifically told you otherwise.
You’ll want to spruce up the whelping pen too, if you can, by removing any pads or newspaper that were affected during the birth. Potty Buddy Reusable Dog Pads come in very handy here, as you can simply throw them on a hot cycle in your washing machine, and use your spares in the meantime. Plus they are cozy and absorbent enough to make the perfect whelping den base. For the first week, use clean packing paper or newspaper over a flat towel, and avoid loose soft cloth as bedding. Change or sanitize the bedding daily to keep the area dry and help prevent infections.
Make sure the puppies are in a secure whelping box or similar setup, kept warm and draft-free, so they can stay warm without wandering away and so no other dogs or pets can reach them for now. As mom will want to keep them safe, warm, and cozy for these first precious hours. Keep the area where puppies are at around 85°F to 90°F (29.5°C to 32°C) for the first four days, then gradually lower it to about 70°F to 75°F (21°C to 24°C) by the end of the fourth or fifth week- depending on how furry and robust the litter is. If you use heat lamps or heating pads, position them so the puppies can move away from the heat if needed.
Partially shield heat lamps and cover heat mats to prevent any burns, particularly when the puppies are too little to move away themselves. The area should be well ventilated to prevent heat concentrating in one area.
Mom is most likely going to be glued to her puppies. And quite rightly so! But if you can, encourage her to take bathroom breaks every few hours, by leading her outside if you have to. This will help her stay healthy and happy even if she’s a little reluctant at first, since most mothers nurse without problems but still need a quick check after whelping. Once she’s settled, gently clean her with warm water and a washcloth, and avoid soaps or disinfectants unless your vet tells you otherwise. It’s also wise to have female dogs and their litters examined by a vet within 48 hours of birth.
Take a moment to give her an examination, to check she’s doing ok. Look over her nipples and make sure there’s no swelling, tenderness, hardness, heat, redness, or pain, since mastitis can come on quickly in nursing dogs. Also, take a look at her vulva and check for excessive bleeding or foul smelling discharge. Any discharge should reduce significantly within 24 to 48 hours, so if it doesn’t, call your vet. However, a small amount of vulval discharge (lochia) can continue for several weeks and this is normal.
See if you can check her milk too, which should be white without any traces of blood. Keep an eye on her milk supply, especially if the puppies seem restless or aren’t gaining well, as that can mean they’re not getting enough milk.
Be sure to check in on the pups every few hours. Heck, we know we’d be there 24/7 just to see those cute furballs!
But it’s particularly wise to check in often if your doggo is a first-time mom, as sometimes it takes them a while to get the hang of things in these early stages. Ideally, they should be suckling and sleeping happily, warm around mom, and healthy young puppies usually sleep quietly between feedings. But if you notice any crying, or lost little ones that seem cold, place these little ones back with mom and preferably on the furthest back nipples to get a good feed. Constant crying or restlessness can mean they’re cold, hungry, dehydrated, or sick.
Check no puppies are routinely being pushed out of the way, as sometimes competition for that milk can get a little fierce! Weak puppies or larger puppies crowding out littermates may need help getting access to a teat, especially if other puppies keep edging them away. Common health issues include hypothermia, hypoglycemia, dehydration, and sepsis, and signs of dehydration can include loss of skin elasticity and dry, sticky gums. They may need some help learning how to share.
Let mom guide their early behavior, but supervised handling only is best, especially with visiting children.
As soon as you can — ideally within 48 hours of birth — get mom and puppies seen by a vet. They can check your girl over, make sure she is coping well after the birth, and look for any infections. They can also check the milk production, confirm the puppies are nursing well enough to receive colostrum in the first day, and examine the puppies for any abnormalities, including birth defects such as a cleft palate, umbilical hernia, or heart murmur. Puppies with very poor vigor at birth, including those scoring under 3 on the Apgar scale, need a veterinarian immediately.
In week 1, the puppies’ eyes will be closed, and they’ll need to be checked on often to make sure they are getting milk and warmth from mom. They should nurse about 8 to 10 times a day in the first week, and getting mother's milk and colostrum as soon as possible is important for early immunity.
Weigh the puppies daily, or at least every other day, through the first four weeks of life, this way you can start to keep a record of how much weight gain they are getting as they grow. There should be a steady increase every day, using birth weight as the starting benchmark and doubling their original weight by around 7-10 days old. Daily tracking is the most reliable way to confirm they are thriving and to spot puppies losing weight or failing to gain weight. As a rough guide, each puppy should add about two to four grams a day for every kilogram of expected adult body weight.
Regulating temperature for newborn puppies is super important, especially in that first week. Their puppy's body temperature should usually be around 95-99°F in the first week and 97-100°F in the second, because newborns can’t regulate their own body temperature yet. So you might want to invest in a heating pad or heat lamp, especially if mom is very attached to you and keeps leaving them to come for a cuddle!
If mom struggles to remember her duties, you might want to place her whelping pen closer to where you spend a lot of time, so that she can be near you and be a good mom at the same time. This can also make it easier to notice if the puppies aren’t getting enough mom's milk.
If you are using a heat lamp, you can slowly decrease the amount of heat you give the puppies now, working down towards about 80°F.
When puppies are born, their eyes are closed and usually begin opening at 10 to 14 days, or around 2 weeks old. If there seems to be no sign of eyes opening after week 2, do check in with your vet. Also, be vigilant of any discharge or signs of infection here. During the two weeks of life, they also begin to support themselves more on their front and hind legs.
Continue to weigh the puppies and start charting their growth. This way you can see if anyone is lagging behind or seems to have stalled. If you notice any weight loss or significant plateaus, best to call your vet. If the mother licks less or is absent, they still need help toileting during the first two weeks using warm, wet cotton wool or a warm damp cloth to stimulate urination and defecation by rubbing the anal and genital area.
Start the deworming process using your vet’s guidance. Worming often begins at two or three weeks of age.
It’s time to start handling the puppies (yay!).Week three is a critical time for gentle handling and early socialization, so try carefully and gently picking them up, making sure mom is happy with you doing so. This is the beginning of theirsocialization, which can help them grow into well-adjusted doggos.
Keep an eye on how they are growing and be sure to keep them secure, as by this age they may start to get adventurous. Puppies start exploring more now and benefit from calm exposure to their surroundings and their littermates.
It’s also time to lower the heat lamp again, to around 75°F, as they are now much better at regulating their own temperature.
You can also start to offer water. Just be sure it is in a shallow & puppy-safe bowl. Some vets recommend trying a mixture of water and puppy formula to see if they are enticed to have a sip.
Look for signs of walking, as your little doggos should be getting close to standing on all four paws now; by around 4 weeks many are standing more confidently and beginning to support themselves on their hind legs, an important step in puppy's development.
You can most likely remove any extra heat sources now, as room temperature should be fine for these fast-growing pups and can usually be reduced to about 72°F by the end of week four, as long as they are robust and have good fur covering.
Time to bring on the solid food! Weaning usually begins around 3 to 4 weeks and marks the transition from dog's milk or mother's milk to solid food. Introduce your brood to a soft, high-protein mix with water added to create a porridge-like consistency, then slowly build them up onto more and more solids.
Continue their socialization with more handling and time spent in the pen.
Nursing will now reduce, and you can up the use of more solid foods.
Socialization can increase, especially as the pups become more active and engaged in the world around them. You could introduce other family members now, just make sure they are gentle as those little ones are still delicate.
Things will start to move fast now, so try and get lots of socialization in before they venture to their new homes. Invite friends over, introduce new surfaces and unusual sounds, and perhaps even let them meet your other pets. Time with other puppies also matters here, since littermate interaction helps them learn social skills before they leave.
Time for those all-important first vaccinations. The specific vaccines given will depend on your region and the specifics of your puppies' lifestyle but will cover them for most of the major diseases you’ll want them to avoid in later life.
Don’t forget to register the puppies if they are purebred.
It’s weaning time! Encourage the use of solid foods and let mom have a break from all that nursing. By 6 weeks of age, most puppies can handle dry puppy food, and they should be gradually weaned over the next few weeks, especially now those first teeth are coming in.
Prepare them for their new homes. While it’s sad to watch them go, set them up for success by giving them the best send-off. Give each puppy a pillow or blanket that smells of mom, so that when they hit 8 weeks they are ready to start their own adventures with a little comforter for the road.
Things don’t always go to plan. Perhaps mom just can’t handle the burden of looking after her little ones. Perhaps mom is sadly in vet care or didn’t survive the birth. Perhaps you’ve found a litter of puppies in desperate need of help. For orphaned newborn puppies, the first few weeks are especially demanding, because newborn puppies require intensive care to survive and develop well.
While all these situations are heartbreaking, to say the least, raising orphaned puppies can be an incredibly magical and life-changing experience.
You’ll need to set up a newborn puppy feeding schedule and know how much should those newborn puppies eat. If you have a bundle of newborn puppies on your hands, they must be fed every couple of hours and at the right amounts for their age and size.
To nail this, it’s best to work with your local vet or a rescue group to get tailored advice and support.
Get your hands on a commercial milk replacer or other milk replacer made just for puppies, and prepare it as directed on the package — cow's milk is not a suitable substitute. Proper nourishment is critical for rapid growth and immune system development, especially when the mother’s milk isn’t available. Puppies that miss colostrum are at higher risk of infection and gastrointestinal problems. They should have guidelines for dosage; generally it’s around 1cc of formula for every ounce of puppy weight (though this will vary depending on which formula is being fed and the dog’s size), so you’ll need the kitchen scales handy!
Despite our instinct to immediately feed a puppy in trouble, warmth is actually far more important, because a cold puppy can’t nurse or digest food. So it’s best to get a heat lamp or heating pad to keep the puppies warm while still giving them room to move away from the heat and stay at those optimum temperatures we mentioned above. If the mother is absent, you must gently stimulate urination and defecation with a warm, moist cloth after every feeding.
A common question here is can newborn puppies get too hot? Yes - if they reach 101 to 102.5°F they’ll be in danger of heatstroke, so invest in a good thermometer to be sure.
There you have it, our full guide to newborn puppy care week by week. We hope it helps you manage caring for your little brood of doggos, and supports them in growing up happy and healthy. Enjoy all those fluff bundles as much as you can, as there’s nothing cuter than a puppy right? :-)
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