Hi all. I have a litter of 8 GSD pups born 16 Aug. The day after the birth mom developed a fever which lasted 2 days. After being to the vet and getting meds she is recovering from her 'inflamed bowel', apparently from eating too much placenta and rich foods. Vet blamed the raw diet for this, too. Anyway, she is better now but her milk supply is a bit low. I am giving her broth and liquids with electrolytes, every two hours, as much as she can drink. This is to try and increase her milk supply again.

For food I am giving her cooked chicken pieces mixed with cooked rice. This is the only food she is not refusing - the usual ostrich meat/raw chicken/other is being refused. Her stools have firmed up nicely. She is looking after the pups very well.

My question is this: How will I know when to supplement them with evap milk/yoghurt recipe milk? They weighed between 460 and 600 gms yesterday. Mom has 8 teats but only 7 'functioning'. How much do they need to pick up daily? And if I do give them additional feeds, do I do it with a teat bottle or with a tube?

One more question - how do you mark the pups to identify them/ My current method is not working very well at all. Keeps slipping off.

 Quote: Luzelle Rensburg

Hi all. I have a litter of 8 GSD pups born 16 Aug.

I'm sure someone experienced with newborn pups will chime in, but the date is confusing. I hope mom and pups come along well.

Diff colors cheap nail polish on the foreheads for identification, maybe?

Since I'm not experienced with raw feeding I'll stay out of that part and wait for the experts. Although I don't have pups and do not plan to, I'm always interested in learning as well!

Good luck with the pups!

Hi - I meant to say 16 March, not Aug. Huge difference. I just weighed them all and they have all picked up between 40 and 80 gms! What a relief. Would still like to know if that is adequate.
So: 4 days old weighing between 560 and 690 grams. They look contented enough and moms milk seems more.

Paula - Nail polish - didn't think of that and will definitely be trying it soon. Though my girl is very good with the cleanup and tries to lick off everything. So cute when she washes those little faces so delicately with her big mouth.

I didn't chime in because I have no experience. How are the pups doing now? Still gaining?

Update. The pups are all doing well and gaining weight. The two biggest ones continue to be about 200 grams heavier, but I am not too worried since the others are all gaining steadily. Today at nine days old they weigh bt 840 - 1140 grams. They look like fat little rats.
From now on my husband must also join in handling them daily, he only has to hold them gently, pat them a little while they get his smell, then put them down again. This takes about 30 seconds each. We increase this time daily, especially from about 3 weeks old.
How I wish I could get some guidelines on how to raise decent puppies that are destined to be family dogs. I'm doing my best but sometimes it is frustrating to have such a lack of support and information. Can anyone recommend me some reading material?

Hopefully, some puppy people will help out. I did a search and came up with this, but of course I have no idea whether it will be helpful or not.

http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/lib-puppy.htm

Glad the puppies are doing well.

This Doctors Foster and Smith article might help, even though they are not orphaned:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+1651&aid=863

Also:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2&aid=854

and this is much more than bottle-feeding:

http://leerburg.com/bottlefeeding.htm

Here is an article on ENS I was looking for:

http://www.justamere.com/newsletter/stimulate.asp

QUOTE: These exercises work best during the puppy's third to sixteenth day of life which is a period of rapid neurological development. END It also goes on to talk about enrichment and socializing.

I am not a puppy expert at all, and I know nothing about this, but this is a pretty big topic on dog-breeding boards.

I hope the puppy folks will weigh in.