Bottle feeding puppies

[CarrieAnn]

My husband is currently working on a job site that is in the middle of nowhere. On Friday a stray dog wandered onto the site and gave birth to 9 puppies then she left, leaving the puppies behind. When my husband got to work on Saturday the puppies were abandoned. He tried to find a vet or animal rescue place, but there is nothing within an hour radius. So, being the big mush that he is, he took the puppies back to his camper with him last night and started bottle feeding them.

We both have had dogs our entire lives, but we have never raised puppies let alone bottle fed orphaned puppies. Does anyone have any experience with this? I've done a ton of research online in the past 24 hours and I found a lot of good information, but any extra advice would certainly be welcome.

[michelle smith]

Most farm stores and pet stores have puppy replacement milk you can mix for them.Of course you need to stimulate their bowels by gently rubbing their behinds with a warm napkin or rag so they can pee and poop.A bottle of warm water they can cuddle around makes them happy too.Everytime you feed them you have to make sure to do the other so they can eliminate.It'll be lots of work but very rewarding!Good Luck

[CarrieAnn]

Well, things could be better, but they could be worse too. Between Sunday and Monday 4 died so he has 5 left. The 5 that he still has are doing great - growing everyday and eating like crazy. He is stimulating them with a cotton ball to help them eliminate and that's going well too. It would help if he was in an area that had more resources. He had to drive almost 3 hours round trip the other day to find the powdered formula. But it was worth it because they're doing so well now.

I know he's upset about losing some of them, but I think he still did the right thing by taking them. None of the other guys on the job site were going to do anything about it so if my husband hadn't taken them they all would have died. The past 72 hours has definitely been a learning experience for both of us.

[Roustabout]

Poor little ones. I had a border collie die from milk fever when her pups were 12 days old. Between me and my mother we raised 6 pups to 8 weeks of age and gave away all but two of them. She kept one and I kept the other. They were spoiled rotten and were the best dogs we have ever had. Oh and tell "MoM" he's doing a fantastic job!

[CarrieAnn]

Lol, thanks, Roustabout. He is a mom now He gave away 2 already to a couple of guys who work for him. They have been helping him feed the pups all along so they know the routine well enough to take them now. So, he has 3 left. He picked out one of the males to keep so we'll just have to find homes for 2 of them which hopefully won't be too hard.

I was telling him just last night that the one he keeps will probably be the best dog he's ever had. There must be an extra special bonding that takes place between a pet and an owner who has to play mom from day one.