Tips for your neonatal puppies

1. Neonatal puppies should not be kept in direct sunlight or artificial light before opening their eyes or soon after they have opened them. It causes them a lot of discomfort. I am not saying keep them in total darkness, just use common sense.
2. Handle all puppies every day. This helps them build stress resistance and helps them grow less fearful of handling.
3. Keep other animals, including other dogs, away from your new litter and dam.
4. In cold weather make sure the room is warm as well as using the heating pad for the puppies.
5. In hot weather, make sure the room is cool and the puppies are not getting overheated.
6. Always remove dam from the room before changing bedding or handling puppies. This way it is less stressful on the dam.
7. Cover babies to keep warm while their dam is out for a break.
8. Be alert to soiling on the bedding, which could indicate a problem with the puppies, be it blood, diarrhea or anything else.
9. When handling puppies, routinely check them all over. Pay attention to any swellings particularly around the eyelids of closed eyes.
10. A continuously crying puppy means there is something wrong. You must do a process of elimination to pin point the cause.


Written By
Anne Muscat-Roditis
Author of the Book
"Let's Talk Dogs"