Every new owner of a small four-legged friend is most concerned with the question of what to feed the puppy. After all, the more competently the diet is prepared, the healthier the dog will grow up. Of course, it is impossible to change some genetically inherent deviations in the structure, but it is possible and even necessary to influence the formation of the body with the help of proper nutrition and care.

How to properly feed a puppy natural food?

The first thing a dog owner should understand is that his food should always be fresh. After all, for ourselves, don’t we buy meat a little cheaper and tastier? You should treat an animal with the same responsibility as you would treat your child. Poisoning from poor quality food - common occurrence in domestic animals.

The dog is often fed at home natural products. It will cost a little less than dry food, and the owner can always be sure of the quality. But you should immediately prepare for the fact that now you will be faced with frequent and regular purchases, heavy bags and constant cooking, because at first the puppy eats very often. If this doesn’t scare you, let’s take a look at the list of products that the growing body of a dog of any breed requires.

Important! Never give your puppy food from your table - such food is absolutely not suitable for him, even if it is aromatic borscht cooked with soul.

So, to feed a young dog we will need:

1. Berries and fruits. Many dogs love fruit. But not all owners know whether they can be allowed to eat them. You definitely can’t force a dog to eat something that is healthy if it doesn’t want to. But if your dog happily crunches an apple or picks up fallen apricots and at the same time everything is fine with his digestion, this vitamin supplement is very useful. It is not advisable to give your puppy grapes and currants, which cause bloating and accumulation. harmful substances in the body. You need to be careful with stone fruits, which contain hydrocyanic acid, as well as with bananas - they quickly make the puppy fat.

Important! As an invaluable protein product you can and should use egg yolks as in pure form, and in the form of an omelet twice a week, and it is better to give quail eggs.

The best food for a newborn puppy is its mother's milk. Besides nutrients, it contains a huge amount of antibodies that babies need to protect themselves from the disease. But time goes by, they grow quickly, and mother’s milk becomes not enough. Usually the bitch feeds them for up to 1.5-2 months. But puppies need to introduce complementary foods much earlier, from about the third week of life.

Basic knowledge

The average fat content of a bitch's milk is 9-10%. The substitutes you choose should have exactly the same fat content or slightly less. Often, owners make a common mistake and start feeding their puppies too early. Often this is not necessary. If the puppies sleep most of the time and gain weight normally, then everything is fine and there is no need to get up at night with the intention of bottle-feeding them. Don't forget that a bitch produces as much milk as her puppies drink. That is, with supplementary feeding you will stimulate a decrease in its amount.

When to offer puppies a saucer

It depends specific situation. Eat objective reasons, for which it is necessary to supplement feeding earlier. If the mother has little milk or the litter is very large, best choice is goat milk. It is advisable to use raw, whole. You can add one yolk to a glass of milk. Before reaching four weeks of age, it is best to use quail eggs, and then add chicken eggs.

It makes sense to start feeding puppies at 14 days of age if weight gain has slowed down. If they continue to recover well, you can defer the introduction of additional feeds for another week. Or you can wait another week and start weaning on solid food from four weeks of age.

First solid food

Closer to a month, you can start giving your babies “adult” food. Feeding puppies solid food before this age is useless because the gastrointestinal tract is not formed and cannot digest anything other than milk. Closer to one month old you can start giving them veal), natural cottage cheese.

Eggs are added at a rate of no more than 1 piece. for 200 g of food per day. One chicken is added to 700 g of main food. On this diet, babies live up to five weeks.

Second month of life

The beginning of complementary feeding for puppies marks new stage in the lives of children. Now they are less and less dependent on their mother and spend more and more time studying the world around us. Starting from week 5, additional foods can be introduced into the diet, one every three days. It is very important to prioritize the range of meats. Veal is a choice for first feeding, but not the only one. The only limitation is fatty pork, as well as pieces of lamb with tail fat. By the way, fatty chicken is also prohibited; you need to choose a young bird or remove excess fat.

At this age, milk ceases to play a primary role in the lives of babies. Now it is gradually being replaced by fermented milk products. It is best to prepare them for puppies yourself. In this case you can be sure of the quality finished products. At the same time, raw calcined foods are better absorbed, so you should give them preference.

The first complementary foods for puppies are an introduction to basic foods. Therefore, take into account the tender stomachs of babies and give them food in small portions. This will avoid stomach problems, bloating and diarrhea. Like small child, the puppy’s gastrointestinal tract is still imperfect.

Vitamins and minerals

When to start feeding puppies, each owner decides independently, focusing on their charges. If the mother feeds them well, then calmly enjoy a carefree life until they are 3-4 weeks old. But if the bitch does not have milk or, even worse, she gets sick or dies, then you will have to take care of feeding the babies.

From 6 weeks, puppies begin to be offered raw fish. It is a source of phosphorus and calcium. From this time you can begin to introduce vegetables and fruits into your diet. These are apples and carrots, lettuce and cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins. Fish and meat bones can be fed to the puppy in ground form, mixed with meat. Do not forget that their share should not be more than 15%. It is possible and necessary to give large ones to babies. This is a toy and a treat, and also necessary thing to scratch growing teeth. But bones should only be given to well-fed puppies at night. At this age they are fed 6 times a day, and by 8 weeks the number of feedings is reduced to 3-4 times a day.

From 8 weeks

By this time, the digestive system has time not only to form, but also to get stronger. Puppies can start giving offal. But you also need to choose them carefully. For example, the puppy will swallow chicken necks, but will chew the backs. Tripe can also be given in the proportions recommended for adult animals. The frequency of feedings is now gradually decreasing, but the portion is increasing.

A baby at this age eats as much as an adult dog of the same breed, if you take the daily amount of food. Males always eat more than females. For normal digestion, you must add chopped fresh herbs. By this age, the number of feedings per day is reduced to three, but the diet should still include fermented milk products.

Feeding Yorkshire puppies

Depending on the breed, the rules for introducing complementary foods may vary. This is especially true for miniature animals that are bred artificially. Tiny Yorkies quite often experience digestive problems. The stomach is often simply not able to digest the volume of food that the body needs due to its size. Therefore, special feeds are used for them, which, in a small volume, provide a good supply of nutrients.

Therefore, complementary feeding of a Yorkie puppy is most often carried out using soaked dry food “Starter Pappy”. Mash it with a fork until it becomes a paste. And when the kids grow up a little, they simply eat it soaked and wash it down with water. From two months you can switch to Mini Junior. Most breeders agree that this is the best feeding for Yorkies.

Large breed dogs

The most popular can be considered German Shepherd. Complementary feeding of shepherd puppies begins from 18-20 days of life. These puppies are quite large and require a lot of calcium and nutrients to grow and develop. From now on, calcined cottage cheese can be introduced. It showed itself very well in the combination “cottage cheese - milk - raw egg"or "cottage cheese - egg - carrot juice"From day 22, you can add lean beef. To do this, scrape it or grind it in a blender. A good option there will be a mixture of milk, cottage cheese and minced meat.

From about 26 days of life, milk porridge can be introduced into the diet. Cereals must be ground in a coffee grinder. Start with one cereal, and when your baby’s stomach gets used to it, you can add the next one.

How much food does a puppy need?

For puppies of medium and large breeds there is a clear formula: they require from 5 to 8% of weight own body. Moreover, this portion is adjusted once a week. But the main guideline remains the condition of the puppy. He shouldn't get fat or look thin. You can focus on the ribs. They should not bulge, but upon palpation they can be easily felt. If the puppy is cheerful, runs around a lot and is interested in the world around him, he will definitely have good appetite. At the same time, it is imperative to provide him with high-quality food, complete sources of all necessary nutrients.

From birth, puppies consume mother's milk, and in the absence of mother's milk, substitutes for mother's milk (it is recommended to use ready-made special formulas for puppies).

From 3 weeks of age, babies’ bodies are ready to digest meat and puppies can begin to be fed meat. Just like for adult dogs, the meat is not thermally processed. Scraped meat is prepared for puppies. You can do it in several ways. Scrape the frozen meat with a knife, grate the slightly thawed meat on a coarse grater, and grind into coarse mince. Puppies of this age are still fed milk by the mother, but the amount of milk gradually decreases, and additional food in the form of meat and dairy products is required. Since at this age puppies still feed on mother’s milk, they are only accustomed to meat, and then the amount of meat and milk components is increased as feeding progresses. breast milk decreases or stops altogether.

In order to teach a puppy to eat on its own, you need to pick up the puppy and lightly dip its muzzle into a bowl of milk or other dairy product, or meat, making it clear where the food is. A saucer is suitable as a dish, preferably with a wide base so that it does not spill liquid food. Puppies very quickly understand what is required of them, become accustomed to such feeding and then eat on their own. By the age of one month, as a rule, puppies eat themselves, from a bowl placed on the floor. Do not try to feed from your hands more than necessary; puppies should immediately learn to eat from a bowl. Make sure that the puppies eat the food offered evenly if you have several puppies.

Vegetables can be added from 2 months. age in raw, finely ground form and in limited quantities, bran can be used as a source of fiber, which is easy for digestive system puppy and which are also recommended for adult dogs. The dose of bran for a specific dog is calculated from a dose of 1 tsp. without slide for 20 kg weight, for little puppy the dose of bran added to each feeding can correspond to the dose “at the tip of a knife,” that is, a pinch.

If the puppy has completely stopped eating mother's milk, then food doses are calculated according to the formulas specified in the article about, and also according to a very important article you calculate the dose of mineral supplements and vitamins A and D3 -

How many times a day should you feed your puppy?

From 1 to 2 months, puppies are fed 5-6 times a day every 3-4 hours (you can skip the night), portions are increased as the puppy’s weight increases. The number of feedings is reduced to 5 times at the age of 2 to 4 months. At 4-5 months of age, feeding is done 3-4 times a day, at 6-7 months - 2-3 times a day, after 12-14 months - 1-2 times a day.

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The birth of any baby is an event. Little fluffy balls are completely defenseless in the first days after birth. The situation begins to change only when the puppies' eyes open.

When do a puppy's eyes and ears open?

Puppies are born completely blind and deaf. They have no teeth, cannot walk, and are in great need of warmth and care. At the beginning of life, every day of these babies is occupied by sleeping and eating. Only when their eyes open do they get used to it a little and begin to take steps towards an independent life.

Features of opening eyes and ears

How many days after birth do babies begin to see and hear? First, after about a week, the puppies' ears open. At the same time, at first they are able to distinguish only loud sounds. Gradually, day by day, hearing begins to work better.

The eyes open a little later, from the tenth to the fourteenth day. And then, at first, the image is not clear, only light, shadow, outlines and contours of objects are clearly distinguishable. After three weeks, when the pets grow up, their eyes begin to see normally.

Possible complications

Small, recently born puppies are very vulnerable. They need constant supervision proper care. If after two to four weeks your tiny pet’s eyes and ears do not open, you should pay attention to their condition. This is not always a sign of complications, as it takes longer in some dog breeds.

Sometimes this can be caused by an infection. In such cases, it is advisable to seek help from a veterinarian. In the worst case scenario, puppies may develop entropion of the eyelids, requiring surgical intervention before our eyes. When it comes to hearing, deafness is very difficult to diagnose at an early age. If in doubt, it is better to consult a specialist on the same day.

At what age do puppies start walking?

After birth, puppies are not only helpless, but also immobile. First significant motor activity occurs when the eyes open. From this moment on, they feel more confident and make attempts to get back on their feet. At about three weeks of age, these cubs begin to walk, and after thirty days they are already running.

What to do if the puppy doesn’t go?

Puppies different breeds, even babies from the same litter can begin to walk different times. There is no need to panic about this. However, if thirty to forty days have passed after birth, and the dog has not started walking, you should think about it. This is the case when it is better not to delay a visit to the veterinarian.

When do puppies start feeding themselves?

All the little dog needs is his mother's affection and milk. It contains everything necessary elements For normal height and development of the puppy. Mom feeds her babies as much as she can. Fourteen days after birth, some dog breeders begin to gradually introduce complementary foods.

When exactly to introduce new food depends on the condition of the puppy itself and how many there are in the litter. However, complete complementary feeding should not be introduced before he has teeth. This usually happens 20-30 days after birth. At this time, their mother begins to regurgitate incompletely digested food for her cubs, accustoming them to adult food.

Complementary feeding for four-legged babies usually begins 21-30 days after birth. The first supplement to breast milk is regular milk, milk mixture or kefir. Feed the puppies, starting with one type of new food once a day. Gradually the number of times increases until breastfeeding is completely stopped.

From a month into the diet small pet raw, well-chopped meat is introduced. For the first feeding from natural food It is better to use beef scrape or minced meat. But it is better to eat ready-made food Starter, which is recommended from 3 weeks of age.

By the age of two months, they themselves should eat meat food once a day, and dairy food several times a day. When there are more teeth, you can give him egg yolk, crackers, drinking water. Then porridge, vegetables, and fish are added. A puppy also needs vitamins and minerals every day to be healthy.

Possible problems

At proper nutrition puppies quickly gain weight, are active, have healthy looking. In cases of overfeeding or underfeeding, problems with gastrointestinal tract. Indigestion and poor health can be caused by milk toxicity when the mother is sick or taking medication.

You should not give puppies sweets, a lot of salt, potatoes, pearl barley, spices, fatty foods. These products are poorly digestible and negatively affect the digestive system. Train your pet to eat healthy food it is important when he is still small.

Natural food or dry food?

Many owners of small pets are wondering what food is best to choose? Some argue that only natural nutrition. Others prefer dry food, which already contains all the necessary nutrients and nutrients. Mixing these two types of feeding is not recommended.

What should you consider when choosing store-bought food? Dry formula or canned food is produced separately for puppies, taking into account their age needs. Ready-made high-quality feed has a balanced composition, vitamins and mineral supplements. The granules themselves ready meals take care of your pet's dental health. The main task is to choose a good one suitable for dog feed.

Do natural diet balanced is more difficult. It takes more time and effort, it is difficult to determine how much is in cooked food essential vitamins And useful substances. Approximately two-thirds of a four-legged baby’s diet should be protein food. In addition to this, your pet needs to eat cereals, vegetables, and dairy products. The puppy should also receive a vitamin and mineral supplement every day.

From birth until the age of three to four weeks, human little friends need special care. At a time when they hardly hear or see, and practically do not move, they will need constant supervision. Heat exchange in babies has not yet been established, so it is very important to observe temperature regime. Hypothermia during this period can be dangerous.

It is important to keep track of how much four-legged friend gains weight. Small pets are susceptible to various infections, so you need to maintain a clean house and hygiene for the baby. But you cannot bathe the puppy; the mother provides him with washing. But you need to regularly check the condition of the eyes, ears, and claws.

Brushing becomes a regular procedure as the coat grows back. It is worth accustoming a puppy to walks with early age. How long to walk depends on the weather. During the cold season, walking with your pet on the street is not recommended. It should be remembered that attention and care are very important for a baby separated from his mother during the first days.

In order to monitor the growth and development of puppies and know how they are eating, you should weigh them daily. This procedure should always be carried out at the same time and preferably before meals. But sometimes this can be difficult because hungry puppies become agitated and difficult to keep on the scale. Then you should try to weigh the puppies after eating: well-fed ones behave calmer. But in this case, you will still have to weigh them after eating.

In order to make it easier to distinguish between “babies”, it is necessary to immediately put colored woolen threads around their necks at birth, which need to be changed as the puppies grow, so as not to cut into the neck. The weighing results should be entered into a table.

Sample table:

During the first day, puppies may not gain weight, this is not scary. But every next day there should be stable weight gain. Those puppies that are not gaining weight well should be placed more often on the rear, milkiest nipples, making sure that they are not pushed away by the stronger ones. If you feed puppies “in two shifts”, such puppies should be given “extraordinary” feedings.

For newborn puppies, the ambient temperature is very important. Hypothermia in puppies is very dangerous and can lead to their death. The temperature should be maintained at 22-24 °C. Starting from the 6-7th day, the temperature is gradually reduced. Drafts should not be allowed.

Puppies should always be well fed. If no more than six puppies were born or left behind, they are always with their mother. You just need to make sure that the strong puppies do not push the weak ones aside.

Puppies that are losing or gaining little weight require special attention. Perhaps they need to be fed. The weakest, especially if there is fear for their life, can be supported with aminovit or gamavit (0.3-0.5 ml intramuscularly once). Well-fed puppies sleep, hungry puppies crawl and squeak. However, it happens that puppies become so weak that, despite hunger, they lie quietly.

The following indicators should serve as a guide to the development of puppies:

• 9-day-old puppies should double their daily weight;
• 15-day-old puppies should triple their daily weight;
• by the 25th day, puppies increase their daily weight by 5-6 times;
• by the 30th day they increase it 6-7 times;
• on the 5-8th day, the puppies’ ear canals open and they begin to hear;
• on the 10-15th day, the puppies' eyes open;
• by the 14-16th day, hearing becomes normal;
• on the 20-25th day, puppies begin to erupt milk teeth;
• after this, the fangs and incisors completely erupt within 8-10 days;
• by two months, primary false teeth appear;
• The puppy's limbs begin to increase in length from the age of four weeks.

In the first two weeks of life, the development of puppies largely depends on the mother's nutrition. Their only food is mother's milk. How to increase the amount of milk in a bitch - see the chapter “Nutrition for a nursing bitch”.

If there are more than eight puppies, they should be divided into two batches. The first batch of puppies is under the bitch and eats, the second batch is in a box and sleeps. It is necessary to take care of those puppies that will be in the box. It is very good to cover the bottom of the box with a piece of fur, under which to place a heating pad. If there is no fur, any natural shaggy fabric will do. You can also cover the puppies on top, but the main thing here is not to overdo it, otherwise the puppies may suffocate. The heating pad should be applied until the 8-9th day.

If your puppies are divided into two batches, then before placing the “babies” from the non-feeding part to the nipples, you should first give them to the bitch so that she can lick them. At this age, puppies are not able to handle their “business” on their own, so the help of the bitch is necessary. If the bitch is bad at licking puppies, then either you should massage yourself, simulating maternal licking (using a piece of cotton wool soaked in Vaseline or vegetable oil), or force her to lick the puppies. To do this, you can resort to tricks. If after your massage using vegetable oil the bitch will not start licking the puppies, then you can try to lubricate their tummies and anus with honey, sour cream, butter, then the “mother” will certainly get down to business.

In the absence of such a massage, the puppies will not be able to go to the toilet and gastrointestinal problems will begin, and they will be so serious that the puppies may even die. Puppies with stool retention are immediately noticeable - they are anxious, refuse to eat, and have a bloated stomach.

Comparative composition of milk of domestic and farm animals

With multiple litters, due to a lack of milk, puppies may not gain weight well, the daily weight gain will be very small and inevitably they will have to start complementary feeding early. In this case, it is very important that the bitch feeds the children on her own for at least the first 3-5 days, while she produces colostrum.

If there is a need for early complementary feeding, another female nurse is the ideal solution. This may be a bitch who has few puppies or who is in false pregnancy at this moment.

If you cannot find a nurse, you should resort to artificial feeding. Ignorance of the composition of a bitch's milk leads to the use of inadequate substitutes.

Feeding infant formula to newborn puppies is not recommended. Baby formulas contain a lot of sugar. Their use often leads to the development of severe forms diathesis, and sometimes to the death of puppies.

For feeding newborn puppies, experts suggest various options mixtures, The closest in composition to the milk of bitches.

For example: take 800 ml of cow's milk (pasteurized), 200 ml of 20% cream and one raw egg. Mix all this and add 4 g with rapid stirring citric acid, dissolved in a tablespoon of boiled water.

Or: 800 ml cow's milk, 200 ml 20% cream, one yolk, two drops of multivitamins.

This mixture is prepared for a maximum of 24 hours, stored in the refrigerator, and before feeding it is heated to the dog’s body temperature (38-39 ° C). Puppies of this age are fed often, every two to three hours, not forgetting to massage the abdomen each time.

And although Western experts claim that cow's milk not suitable as complementary food for newborns as it may cause severe allergies, over the fifteen years of practice of breeding schnauzers by the author of this book, this has never been noted. It is possible that breeds prone to allergies, such as chow chows or sharpeis, cannot tolerate milk.

Currently, Western feed manufacturers produce powdered milk, as close as possible to the branch: W1, Bosch, Germany; A1, Royal Canin, France, etc.

Puppies should be fed before they suckle their mother. They feed until the puppies eat, after which they are placed under the bitch.

If the bitch has enough milk, then complementary feeding begins with a decrease in daily weight gain. This period can vary even for one bitch in different litters. The approximate time for starting complementary feeding in large litters (10-12 puppies) is the 5-6th day; for litters of up to seven puppies, complementary feeding begins on the 14-16th day. It is advisable to start feeding puppies no earlier than their eyes open.

Usually it is recommended to feed puppies from a bottle with a nipple, in which the hole should be such that the liquid drips out on its own. But practice has shown that it is much more convenient, especially for feeding newborn puppies, to use a 50-gram baby syringe with a rubber tip. If the puppy sucks weakly, you should lightly squeeze the sides of the syringe with your fingers, making sure that the puppy does not choke.

If you start feeding puppies at the appropriate time - on days 14-16, then at this age the best complementary food is calcined cottage cheese, skimmed with a certain amount of whey and mixed until smooth. It’s a good idea to add two drops of multivitamins and an yolk to this mass; if the mass is a bit thick, you can add a little milk. Puppies can be given kefir.

You will have to prepare the calcined cottage cheese yourself. To do this, bring the milk almost to a boil and pour it into it. calcium chloride based on 1 liter of milk, 4-5 tablespoons of 10% calcium chloride. The milk is immediately removed from the heat and allowed to stand for a while with constant stirring. Once the milk is separated from the whey, it is skimmed off with a slotted spoon or strained through cheesecloth without squeezing and given to the puppies. The whey is given to the bitch to drink.

They begin to give complementary foods to the puppy first once a day, then two, three, and so on. During this period, you should not introduce more than one new food per day in order to know exactly how the puppy’s body perceives it. If a product causes a disorder, it is temporarily excluded from the diet.

Your task during this period is to accustom the Puppy to a variety of foods, so that when it gets to its new owner, it will not have problems with digestion. By 1-1.5 months, the puppy should be accustomed to a wide variety of foods.

From the 18th day, porridge from well-cooked cereals in broth or milk is introduced. For puppies whose complementary feeding began in a timely manner, milk porridge from finely ground cereals can be introduced into the diet. It is best to prepare an assortment of them: rolled oats, buckwheat, millet, grind rice in a coffee grinder, add a little semolina and cook liquid milk porridge from this mixture. They should be well boiled and liquid enough to flow out of the nipple or syringe.

From the 20th day, when the puppies have teeth, they begin to give ground meat. “Store” minced meat is not suitable for this purpose - it contains too much fat, and pork is often added to it. Meat should be given the following form. The ground meat should be divided into equal portions, rolled into balls and given to each puppy its “share”. At first, meat is given once a day. Meat food can be replaced with ground, boiled, boneless fish, boiled rabbit or poultry meat. After a few days, you can give scraped meat or fish. After five days, they switch from minced meat or scrapes to finely chopped meat. At one month of age, large breed puppies should receive 100-150 g of meat per day.

From the 20th day you can feed soups with vegetables, after mashing the vegetables with a fork.

From the 25th day you need to give raw grated vegetables with animals or vegetable fats. The best thing is grated carrots with sour cream.

When feeding, you should alternate meat feeding with dairy and vegetables. Complementary foods should have the temperature of the bitch's milk - approximately 38 °C.

You should start feeding the puppies one at a time. Puppies do not immediately master the technique of feeding themselves. They either dip their nose right up to their eyebrows, or slap their tongues in the air, so for the first days you should feed each one, holding him in your arms, placing a bowl under his nose and correcting the baby’s actions. When each puppy masters the process independently, sitting in the owner's arms, you can feed them on the floor, and it is more convenient to feed each one from a separate bowl. After the puppies have mastered eating from a bowl on their own, the food should be made thicker.

With age, the number of feedings is gradually increased so that by one month the puppies eat six times at regular intervals. At one month of age, you no longer need to feed them at night.

Sometimes puppies, especially weak or artificial ones, have an upset stomach. The reason for this may be wrong diet mother. In this case, you need to give a chamomile decoction with a few drops dill water. Five-day-old puppies are given a decoction for 36 hours, gradually adding milk mixture (first 3/4 decoction + 1/4 mixture, etc.) so that by the second day they are able to feed normally. The already mentioned “Heel” drugs can come to the rescue: “Diar-heel”, “Echinacea compositum”, “Berberis-gommacord”. (How to give them - see above).

If puppies are three weeks old and eating from a bowl, oak or elm bark powder added to the food works well. Good results are obtained by using bifitrilak on the tip of a match.

If diarrhea has started in several puppies in the litter and does not respond conventional treatment within 24 hours, this can be a symptom of a terrible disease - colibacillosis, which can kill the entire litter. Overfed “artificial” animals are most prone to this.

As soon as you start feeding the puppies, you need to take care of the water, otherwise the concentration of salts in the urine increases and irritation of the mucous membrane may occur. bladder and mucous discharge may appear from the genitourinary organs, sticking the fur together. Several times a day you should give them water, initially pouring it into their mouths from a syringe or from a pacifier, gradually teaching them to drink on their own.

As the puppies grow, the bitch will increasingly leave them and the intervals between feedings will increase. The bitch should not be forced to constantly be near the babies. As her milk accumulates, the dog will come to them herself.

During this period, the puppies grow sharp claws very quickly, with which they can severely scratch the bitch’s nipples. This, by the way, can also serve as a reason for her not being very willing to go to the puppies. Therefore, as long as the puppies are suckling their mother, their nails should be trimmed once a week. The very tip of the claw should be shortened, without touching its sensitive and painful flesh, after which the claw should be well treated with a nail file.

Do not forget that before the age of four days it is necessary to dock the puppies' tails (if you are going to do this), and remove the dewclaws on hind limbs(V lately they are also removed on the front ones).

The growth and development of a dog is divided into several stages. Over the period from 2 to 6 months, the length of the puppy’s limbs increases and actually ends there. The most intensive growth of a puppy occurs generally up to 6 months. The height at the withers from birth to 4 months increases on average by 87-108%, from 4 to 6 months by 3-7%, from 6 to 8 months by 7-8%. At 8-10 months, growth actually ends, although the dog develops and forms until two and a half, and sometimes up to three years. From this we can conclude: the younger the puppy, the faster he grows, and therefore, he needs more energy, and only proper nutrition can provide a sufficient amount of energy.

By the age of one month, puppies must gain a certain weight typical for their breed. The breeder should know about this in advance, and this information can be obtained at the club from the leader of this breed. As a rule, if dogs are bred as planned, the latter must promptly inform the owner about the requirements for the weight of the puppies. If the puppies do not gain this weight, the litter may be rejected and not processed. At one month, the puppy should be fairly well-fed, but not fat, active and able to feed himself well.

If you decide to feed puppies ready-made feed, then complementary feeding, as a rule, begins at approximately the same time as when feeding natural products, that is, from the moment the puppies’ eyes open. Dry food is soaked in water and kneaded to a pasty state. The density of the feed should be medium. The puppy's lips are smeared and a bowl of mashed food is presented. Usually puppies start eating this food. As puppies grow older, the amount of liquid in the food is reduced and they are gradually accustomed to dry food. If in the feed, when calculated on a dry matter basis, the amount of calcium is 1.8%, and phosphorus is 1.6%, then additionally these mineral salts should not be added. Higher content of these minerals in the diet can only cause harm to growing puppies.

Growing puppies should only be fed super premium food. It is impossible to save on feeding during this period, since what the puppy cannot receive during this period of life can never be compensated for in the future.

The use of low-calorie food or economy-class food when feeding puppies, especially large breeds, leads to the fact that the animals may develop appearance disorders, such as a saggy belly, lack of muscle tissue and skeleton, growth slows down. The use of low-protein feeds (no more than 20%) at this age can lead to the development of hip dysplasia. The optimal food for puppies is a food with a protein content of 29%.

However, you should not chase high content protein in feed, which is especially typical for Royal Canin products. This company produces some types of food with such a high protein content that no other company has analogues. When using such feeds, it should be remembered that although protein does not have a direct effect harmful influence on the development of the skeleton, however, its excess amount is broken down by the liver and used as a source of energy, increasing the content of insulin-like growth factors in the body, which helps accelerate the growth rate of animals. Therefore, feeding high-protein foods (more than 32% protein) to large breed puppies can cause serious orthopedic pathologies.

I. B. Bogdanova, “Feeding dogs”, 2004