How to Care for Newborn Puppies

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Dr. Bob Pane with South Kendall Animal Clinic. Let's talk a little about the care of newborn puppies. Puppies when they come out of the womb or out of the uterus and are unable to breath very well so you have to watch them if you are there at the time of whelping, you need to wipe out the mouth, clean off the debris, all the afterbirth and make sure to massage gently so they can breath normal because the lungs have to start being expandable and so the first thing you see when dogs come out of the birth canal is an inability to breath so you want them to clean out the debris so they don't have any debris in the back of their mouth that may cause them to not be able to absorb or inhale oxygen and the next thing I see with dogs that are first born is hypothermia. They are unable to maintain their body heat. Some bitches are really good about maintaining their body heat, others are horrible. So you need to make sure there is an area of warm and dry area for the puppies so they can be next to their mother but also have a little heat and I usually recommend radium heat. I don't recommend heating pads because it can burn the puppies. So you use radiant heat with an area of coolness too so they can get away from it if they want to. I usually recommend ripping up towels and rags so if there is debris it gets absorbed and they don't get walking through this wet, unclean area and maybe get cold from the wet. So hypothermia and the ability to breath are two of the most, two important things that I see and the next thing I see in puppies is the inability to urinate and defecate and sometimes the mothers are really good about licking that area but you need to take a wet gauze or a wet cotton ball gently with warm water and rub the anus and the urethra, that's the penis or the vulva and make them urinate within the first few hours because sometimes that will make them not want to eat or nurse. Check the mother for good milk. Make sure there is milk coming out. When you press the breast sometimes milk doesn't come out for a minute or two so don't think that they don't have milk. Make sure the milk looks nice and white, it's not bloody or discharging."