Does puppy care entail as much as dog care?
The saying goes “A dog is man’s best friend” and there are many dog lovers who take this quite seriously and literally. They take such good care of their pet that you would almost think they are taking care of their own child. They treat the animal like a member of their family and if they do not have a family, then their dog itself becomes their family. Taking care of a dog is looking into all aspects of this animal, right from his feeding, his sleeping pattern, his visits to the vet, his grooming and many other such aspects.
Most people are under the assumption that puppies are much easier to handle and take care of rather than dogs. On the contrary puppies entail a lot more looking into details when it comes to grooming. Puppies are tender and they are also quite small after birth, hence they require a lot of care and tender handling so that they are looked after well. You will find lots of puppy care information in books and even on a few websites on the internet. This information will be really helpful if you are nurturing a puppy for the first time or even if you have reared puppies before, the right kind of information and how to approach certain “puppy problems” is always welcome.
New born puppies need to be kept as warm and as comfortable as possible. If you have sourced a box for the puppies, then make sure it is warm enough and the temperature is around 90 degrees Fahrenheit. In the successive days the temperature has to be lowered a little. Whenever you find a chilled puppy then refrain from feeding it. Try to keep it warm either under your T shirt or under your armpit. A separate whelping pad with a good heating pad is a good idea so that the puppies stay warm and cozy. You can tell how your puppies are feeling by watching their behavior. If they are too cold then they will all clump together in order to stay warm, on the other hand if they are feeling very warm then they will move away from each other to cool off. New born puppy care includes many responsibilities which include keeping the pups warm, feeding them appropriately and seeing to it that they are active and clean at all times.
If your dog has littered and there are a number of puppies to take care of then you will need to stock up on food supplies. For young puppies, milk supplements are recommended and you should also get infant feeding bottles which are easily available at any pet supplies store. You may need supplies like a bath tub, mild liquid soap, a gentle body brush and even soft towels to bathe your puppies. You should also visit a vet with your litter of puppies once in a while just to make sure they are feeling alright and their development is going as per the norm.
As your puppies grow your responsibility towards taking care of them also increases. They become more active and agile and hence they require adequate nutrition. You can either choose homemade natural food for your puppies or you could go with the ready puppy foods available in the market. These days ready to used dog and puppy foods are made with great care, taking into account the various nutritional levels as per the ages of the dogs. You will also find many recipes to fix some healthy, nutritional meals for your pups on the internet.
Sharing information about your pups and their routine with other pup owners will let you in on some valuable ideas on how to groom them better.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 at 5:27 am and is filed under Dog Care Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.