One to Three Day Old English Mastiff
Newborn Puppies
You just had a litter of
puppies... sleep, SLEEP? What is that?
After your litter of puppies
is born, be prepared for a lot of work and very little sleep! Before you ever
think of breeding a large dog, make sure you know, this is not the same as
breeding most dogs. Giant Breeds, THINK before you breed. They are just as much
work, if not more, than a new born human baby.
You CANNOT leave a dog of that size with
the puppies alone, especially that size litter. There would Never be an empty
spot on the floor for her to find a safe empty spot to lie down, and she would
kill (squish) some of the puppies trying. This does happen VERY often with very large
breed litters who are left unsupervised. I was warned by several breeders, who
had popped out of the room to pee, or answer the phone, to come back to a dead
puppy.
Puppies at this age need to be fed every
two hours. In most cases with very large litters (in this case 12 puppies), you
need to supplement their diets to ensure they are all getting enough to thrive.
So, by the time I get them all fed, on boobs, supplemented, over an hour goes by,
and I have less than an hour to start all over.
AFTER all puppies nurse from the dam, for the first
few days especially, and then again as they get a couple weeks old, and not
enough milk to go around, you have to top off a large litter with a bottle.
Use a baby bottle, newborn size, and NOT too big a hole, in the nipple, as you
do not want to aspirate them, If milk comes out of the nose, you are feeding too
fast, and they will get pneumonia.
A good scale is a must.
Let the pups feed feed feed, nurse, nurse, nurse, as you want the milk to come
in, THEN, you can use the bottle, and not before. You want the Dams body, to
know she has 11 puppies, and not to think she has less.
Weigh the pups, and top them back up to their birth weight for the first couple
days.
AGAIN, I stress, and remind,
Do NOT bottle feed and then nurse, do NOT bottle feed half the litter and let
the other half nurse, as then the dams body will think her litter is half the
size, and will not make enough milk.
i.e.: for a litter of 12, if you let 6 nurse, and bottle feed 6, then the Dams
body is going to think she only has 6 puppies. It is considered 'old school" to
supplement half a litter. The entire litter must nurse, then you top off their
little belly's with a bottle. Do NOT over supplement, as too much of a good
thing, is not good. You must only supplement, to a minimal amount, to keep the
pups from dropping below the birth weight, and by weighing the pups daily, to
pick up pups that haven't gained as much.
A Dam will adjust. But she will need help.
Start giving Tums. for my 170lb mastiff, I am giving 3. This calms her, and also
helps with the milk supply.
By day 3 when the milk comes in, supplementing is not
usually needed for the next while. BUT... topping them up , just before you go
to bed, will buy you an extra hour of sleep.
Remember weigh your pups, and supplement only as needed.
Again, nurse first and drain the dam. It works the same as a cow. supply and
demand.
If, when milking a cow, you do not drain all the milk, then she makes less next
time.
So let the puppies Drain the dam good, and then top them up with puppy milk
replacer.
Notice, there is no milk coming from this puppies nose.
This is very important, you do not want to aspirate them. If you see milk coming
from the pups nose, the hole in the nipple of the bottle is too big. Replace it
with a nipple with a smaller opening. Aspirating, or getting milk in the lungs,
will cause pneumonia.
Hold the pups head high, so milk goes directly down the
throat, and doesn't pool in the mouth.
| It is important to make sure your new puppies are going
potty (pee and poo). The Dam normally licks them to stimulate them to go. This
keeps the box/den nice and clean. This can cause diarrhea in the dam, after the
2nd day, and treating with Pepto Bismal is best. |
|
|
IF your dam doesn't potty the pups, or if you have an orphan litter, you must
potty them. I like a soft rubber glove, as your finger, or paper towel is too
abrasive, you must gently massage the penis or vagina, and the pee will come,
then, massage the anus, and the poop will come.
Look at the box. YUK, I cleaned all of the pee and poop
and pottied all of the puppies at 2am, and put them in the warm box and at 5 am,
(tried to catch a 1 hour longer nap... NOT a good idea) WHAT a mess. Poop all
over them all! All the puppies had to be cleaned one by one. Not only do you
have to clean them as they soil each other, but you have to stimulate them to
pee and poo. EACH puppy, needs to be manually potty, and poop drained, if the
Dam doesn't do it. They cannot go potty on their own. Also the puppy box was too
small, as they climb over each other too much, and loose their bowels, and
bladder. Now I have two boxes and MUCH MUCH better.
Many breeds are not as maternal as others, and would not
even think of cleaning/ pottying, licking a puppy, while some dams do clean their pups on their
own. When a dam does not clean her puppies, you have to clean them yourself
every few hours.
Sassy the English Mastiff, and apparently
many Mastiffs, would not think of licking a puppy. This means you have to clean
the puppies yourself. It's a messy job, but someone has got to do it! There are
Many breeds, that do not make good moms. Mastiffs are 50/50, some breeds you
just know they are not going to do it.
They soiled all their collars between the
night feedings and had to be changed. I found This is the worst in the first
couple days, as they can poo from climbing over each other, I haven't had to
change the collars again, since I gave them a bigger box.
Someone ALWAYS has to be with Dam and pups, for feedings,
as with this giant breed, rolling over, or standing up, can break backs and
necks of puppies, very quickly.
Any Help is very very welcomed
We have adjusted to the puppy mess and dam not
cleaning and worked out a system to keep them clean. I just Must pee and
poop them after EVERY feeding, not every 2nd one. The Dam usually cleans on
every feeding, so I must too. I put in 2 bins, so they are not climbing over
each other as much, causing them to loose their stool and bladder... much
much better. I also must clean them and their area every 2 hours, not three.
If I wait three hours, the mess is back.
Sassy the English Mastiff with her 3 day old puppies. She
will still not lick the puppies. I tried even really good dog food on a pup, she
took one lick. Pups are all are gaining, See the ROLLS on the necks. Sassy's
milk is in, so it is cutting feeding time down by
½, pups are gulping her
milk down now. Pups can drink more from Sassy and less from the bottle.
This litter of puppies will be extremely
socialized with humans, because they have been mainly hand reared, using the
dams milk. The hands on that these puppies are getting will make them
exceptional pets. While this litter has been an extreme amount of work, they
will be well work the effort put into them.
