How to Care for Newborn Puppies - Providing Care in the First Few Days After Birth

1. Do not cut the placenta to the puppy. Cutting the placenta before the elastic walls of the blood vessels have contracted down can make hemorrhage from the puppy more likely. Leave the placenta intact. It will soon dry up, contract down and break off.[10]

2. Leave the puppy’s belly button alone. It is not necessary to apply disinfectant to the puppy’s belly button and placental stump. If the whelping box is kept adequately clean, the belly button should remain healthy.[11]

3. Replace towels and newspapers in the whelping box. It is important to keep the whelping box clean after the puppies are born, but you also need to take care with not disturbing the nursing bitch very much. When the mother goes to relieve herself, remove soiled towels and replace them with clean ones. Throw away soiled newspaper and replace it at the earliest opportunity.[12]

4. Let the mother and puppies bond for the first 4-5 days. The first few days of the puppies’ lives are crucial for developing a bond with their mother. Try to leave the dogs alone as much as possible in the first few days.
- Limit your handling of the puppies in the first few days. Only handle the puppies when you need to clean out the box, which should happen from day 3 onward.

5. Check to make sure the puppies are warm enough. Use your hand to feel the puppy’s body. A chilled puppy will feel cool or cool to the touch. It might also be non-responsive and very quiet. An overheated puppy will have red ears and tongue. It may also be unusually squirmy, which is the puppy’s best effort at getting away from any heat source.
- A newborn's body temperature should be between 94-99 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature will rise to 100 degrees Fahrenheit at 2 weeks of age. You don’t need to take the dog’s temperature with a thermometer, however. Check with your veterinarian if you have concerns or questions.
- If you are using a heat lamp, be sure to check the puppies regularly for flaky or red skin. Remove the lamp if this happens.[13]

6. Adjust the room temperature. Newborn puppies are not able to regulate their own body temperature, and they are prone to getting chilled. With mom not there you need to provide a heat source.[14]
- Adjust the room temperature so that you are comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt.
- Provide additional heat in the puppy’s box by placing a heating pad under the bedding. Set the heat to “low” to avoid the risk of overheating. As a newborn, the puppy cannot move away if it gets too hot.[15]

7. Weigh the puppies daily. Use a postal scale to weigh each puppy every day for the first 3 weeks. Keep a record of each puppy’s weight so as to ensure that the puppies are well and getting enough nutrition. Disinfect the pan on the scale before you weight each puppy. Use a household disinfectant to clean the pan and then dry it off.
- Watch for steady weight gain each day. Don’t panic, however, if a puppy fails to gain one day or even loses an ounce or two. As long as the puppy is lively and feeding, wait and weigh him again the next day. Call your vet if the puppy still hasn’t gained weight.[16]

8. Make sure visitors don’t bring in harmful germs. Visitors coming to see the new puppies are the most likely to introduce infection. Their shoes or hands may carry bacteria or viruses.
- Ask visitors to remove outdoor shoes before entering the room where the nursing bitch is.
- Request that visitors thoroughly wash their hands with soap and water before touching or handling the puppies. There should be limited touching or handling of the puppies.[17]

9. Don’t bring non-family pets around. Other animals can carry illnesses and bacteria that can be risky for newborn puppies. Even the new mother can be vulnerable to illnesses, which can also further expose the puppies. Keep away animals that are not your own family pets for the first couple of weeks after the puppies are born.[18]