Bottle feeding and other newborn questions

~Jessie~

~Jessie~

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HELP!

I may just be crazy enough to go save the 1 week old chihuahua puppy I posted about.

Do you have any good sources of information for bottle feeding? How often would I have to do feedings?

Do I need to worry about the puppy transmitting any diseases to my current dogs? They'd be separated from the puppy at all times, but they'd all be under the same roof.

If I do this, I'm hoping to have the puppy for less than a week before I can hand him over to someone else.

Thanks in advance :)
 
k9krazee

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I raised a 3oz puppy with a cleft palate 9 years ago! lol

I made a mixture of goat milk formula (12 oz goat milk, 1 raw egg yolk, 1 TBL mayo -- then add it to a 1 c whole yogurt). I'm not sure the best formula to use these days but it worked great for her. We fed her every 2-4 hours for the first weeks (more spaced at night) beginning when she was 4 days old (with a syrige then bottle) and when she turned 4 weeks old I started giving her dry kitten chow available most of the time (recommended because of her cleft palate - I'm not sure when a normal pup would be weaned)

It was loads of work, time and energy and we did a horrible job of socializing her with other dogs and people and she was SUPER attached to her family but hated everyone and anything that wasn't her tennis ball or her people. She was also a picky eater forever probably in part by her cleft palate.

Good luck and hope you're able to help the pup! And kind of repeating what beanie said in the othe thread...is it even legal to sell a pup that young?!
 
Romy

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If your guys are up to date on their vaccinations I wouldn't worry about them. The greater danger is the puppy getting something from them, or from people's shoes tracking pathogens into your house from pet stores and dog parks and stuff. She's not getting maternal antibodies which would normally help protect her from regular germ encounters.

The biggest thing right now is keeping her warm and making sure she poos/pees every couple of hours. You'll have to help her with that because mom isn't licking her bum. There's probably extra concerns with hypoglycemia and toy breed puppies that small, hopefully someone with more specific experience will chime in.

ETA: We've had great experience using straight esbilac. Kaia's breeder has had to bottle feed a couple with problems, and they were raised on nothing but esbilac until they went to solid food. They turned out the same size and robustness (is that a word? lol) as their siblings despite having a rougher start and different nutrition than the others.
 
A

AmberH

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Sit Stay said:
I have no personal experience, but I've seen this article posted time after time from all sorts of different dog groups.

http://leerburg.com/bottlefeeding.htm
Click to expand...
I raised a puppy from 1 week on the Leerburg formula. I highly recommend it. He was a bigger dog than a Chihuahua but I fed him every two hours, including during the night. I had to make him go potty but by 2.5 weeks he was doing it on his own. He was a fun little guy. Had really yucky eyes for a long time but the Terramycin cleared it up. If the puppy is in good condition, I don't think it's that hard to keep them alive. I really enjoyed raising my puppy. He's 1.5 now and doing great!
 
~Jessie~

~Jessie~

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Thanks for all the replies! If I didn't have my hands full I would raise her myself. Luckily, my sister works for a vet hospital so she can feed her while at work. She volunteered for over a year at a wildlife rehab center and has a lot of experience hand raising newborn babies that are even smaller than chis . She's going to bring this puppy to be checked out by her vet tomorrow if she can pick her up tonight.
 
~Jessie~

~Jessie~

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I'm going to get the ingredients for the Leerburg formula on my way out. This is exactly what I'm looking for!

She's currently on walmart formula. Do I just switch her right away?
 
A

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~Jessie~ said:
I'm going to get the ingredients for the Leerburg formula on my way out. This is exactly what I'm looking for!

She's currently on walmart formula. Do I just switch her right away?
Click to expand...
I just switched my puppy over from the powdered stuff the rescue gave me.
 
Romy

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Aleron said:
I think leerburg has the best info out there for raising orphan puppies. Stay away from commercial formula, it can cause long lasting problems.

http://leerburg.com/bottlefeeding.htm
Click to expand...
Have there been studies demonstrating problems that commercial formula causes? We have never had an issue (some of the dogs raised on it are quite old and healthy now), but if there is documentation of potential issues that's something I'd like to see and probably discontinue using it if that's the case.
 
Samantha's pet

Samantha's pet

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Did you wind up having to pay her asking price?

Sorry I have zero advice but good luck and keep us updated! I'm curious about how it goes when you pick her up.
 
~Jessie~

~Jessie~

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She's here now. I won't go into details (as I'm just glad she's in my care), but I feel like I made a good decision.

My sister had car issues so I'm taking care of the puppy at least for the next day.

I paid $75 for her... which I hated doing but I felt was worth it to get her into a better situation.

I'm normally in bed by 11, but I'm staying up until 1 for her next feeding. Then I'm up again at 3:30.

She's adorable and so wiggly. She tried to suck on my finger on the way home. She's solid black.
 
golden&hovawart

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Thanks for taking care of her and doing this!.
For whatever reason,I feel she will end up,a foster failure for you o yr sister!.
Would love to see some pixs!.
 
~Jessie~

~Jessie~

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We made it through the night. She hasn't eaten much, but she's peed every feeding. She pooped for the first time (finally!) at 7am.

The bottle we're using is terrible (it came with her) and I'm picking up a better one from my vet for our next feeding within the hour. I'm also going to make the Leerburg formula recipe this morning. I wasn't expecting to keep her longer than a few hours so I didn't buy anything except for Esbilac.

I'm going to take out my camera and get some pictures from the next feeding :)
 
~Dixie's_Mom~

~Dixie's_Mom~

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Dying for pictures! We bottle fed Lucy and her siblings when their mother passed away. It was time consuming but not difficult. I think I was 13, 14 at the time and my mom had never done it before or done any research. We did it by ourselves, and all of them survived and were/are happy and healthy. Thankfully they were a little older (2 weeks?) and none of them were difficult or finnicky. It was an amazing experience, I would love to foster bottle babies someday.
 
~Jessie~

~Jessie~

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She's doing better this morning.

She took a huge poo which I think had been suppressing her appetite.

I gave her the Leerburg formula in the new bottle, which she liked a whole lot more than the Esbilac. She ate almost a full meal.

She's cuddled up to a stuffed animal I put in her box. Poor little thing tries to snuggle and suckle on everything :(

I took a few pictures after I fed her, but I wanted her to get sleep. I need to get some better ones this afternoon.
 
A

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~Jessie~ said:
She's doing better this morning.

She took a huge poo which I think had been suppressing her appetite.

I gave her the Leerburg formula in the new bottle, which she liked a whole lot more than the Esbilac. She ate almost a full meal.

She's cuddled up to a stuffed animal I put in her box. Poor little thing tries to snuggle and suckle on everything :(

I took a few pictures after I fed her, but I wanted her to get sleep. I need to get some better ones this afternoon.
Click to expand...
I'm so glad she's doing well! I can't wait to see her!
 
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