HEALTHY PUPPY GUIDE

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The following guidelines will hopefully be a help to you while raising your new puppy! This is just info I have picked up and used with success over many years of raising and buying puppies. I am not a licensed vet and will not be held liable or responsible for any use/misuse of the following information. It is your responsibility to keep your puppy healthy and care for all his/her needs!

Treat your puppy as if it were a newborn infant coming home from the hospital.  Do not over tire your puppy as they need a lot of rest and nap time.

Get all of the required shots, wormings, etc. your vet recommends. Have your puppy vet checked during the first 48 hours (business days) at your expense and get it on a schedule with the vet. Contact me immediately if the vet finds a congenital or other serious problem that we could not detect visually.

Keep your puppy away from cleaning fluids, mouse/rat poisons, house plants, outside pesticide and fertilizer sprays, antifreeze drips, etc.

Keep your puppy away from other dogs unless you know they are healthy. Also, a large breed of dog can seriously hurt the smaller puppies and toy breeds just playing or accidentally stepping on them.

Any diarrhea lasting more than 1 day should be treated by your vet.

Protect your puppy so that it does not jump or fall from high places (high in relation to the size of the small puppy).

Protect your puppy from extremes in temperatures. Even riding with them directly in front of the air conditioner vent can get them sick.

Children should not be allowed to rough-house with the new puppy and they should be required to sit down when holding it. Puppies can be severely injured of killed if they jump from a child’s arms while standing. Do not pass him/her around to other people as he is not a new play toy.  Accidentally dropping a puppy is very often fatal!

Do not bathe your puppy right away as this will add to the stress level.  Wait several days.

No long car rides after you get it home for several weeks as this can also add to the stress and upset the stomach.

If your puppy cries the first night, try to be gentle and mild tempered with it. It has just lost its immediate family. Let it sleep with you or provide a small stuffed toy or animal in his/her bed.

Never leave your pup unattended outside! Hawks have been known to swoop down and catch young toy breed puppies, not to mention snakes, coons and human varmints.  More and more we hear of dogs being stolen out of backyards or even in cars left unattended.

Feeding Your New Puppy:   We feed our puppies a good quality puppy chow such as Eukanuba Small Bites Petite or Purina Puppy Chow. Pedigree also has a fine “small puppy” chow. Give your puppy fresh food and water “free choice” to eat and drink when it gets ready. Do this 7 days/week, 24 hours per day. We sometimes supplement with Pedigree Puppy Lamb & Rice canned food.  If your puppy gets finicky, feed it boiled chicken and rice to which you can add a small amount of Karo syrup, Nutrical or honey. Chicken or turkey baby food is also good. Give it fresh, clean, non-chlorinated water daily. No milk, pork products or bones!

While discussing feeding your puppy we should be aware of the potential problem of Hypoglycemia “low blood sugar” which often occurs mainly in toy breeds between 6 and 12 weeks of age. This is a temporary condition that can occur without warning and is often brought on by stress from traveling, being chilled, missed meals, too much activity and lack of quality nourishment, their blood sugar level drops below normal, thus running out of energy. Symptoms include loss of balance, lack of coordination, weakness, can’t stand and possibly seizure-like activity. To prevent this from happening, put honey or Karo syrup on their food or give 0.5 (1/2) cc of NutriCal twice a day or more as a precautionary measure for 2 weeks or more. NutriCal can be purchased from your vet, Petsmart, or your local farm store. If you notice any of these symptoms, immediately give your puppy some honey, Karo syrup or Nutrical in his/her mouth. Force the mouth open if necessary and rub some on the roof of the mouth and/or tongue. Keep the puppy warm. If within 15 – 30 minutes the puppy has not responded, give it some more honey, etc. and take it to the vet immediately. It is best to be ahead of the game and prevent this from happening rather that wait until it does and then treat it.  Honey, Karo syrup or Nutrical 2 -3 times a day will really help for the first few weeks and they seem to enjoy it.

For constipation give 1 cc of mineral oil per day.

For upset stomach give 2cc of Pepto Bismol every hour until vomiting has stopped. If not better in 8 hours contact a vet.

For diarrhea give 2 cc of Kaopectate every 1 to 3 hours.

We hope you enjoy your puppy and have a long and happy live together.

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