I rescued a GSD mom on New Years Day and she thanked me by having 12 puppies that same night. Eva is severly emaciated, and while she is nursing her pups I have also been bottle feeding them using Ed's formula. We lost 2, but have 10 that are fat and happy- and are eating me out of house and home. Currently they are in a baby pool in an extra bedroom, but in the last 2 days have begun to crawl out of it.

I have a great whelping box set up in my barn- but wonder if its too cold to move the pups out there. Its generally 50+ in the barn unless we have really bad weather. (not drafty, well insulated, thick rubber mat floor). I can set a heat lamp up for them also. Would they be ok at that temperature with the lamps on them? they are huge pups- and even an x pen is going to be a small area for all 10 of these guys. Ideas?

Answering myself here- while at times I think it would be fine for them in a stall (60+ usually right now) we are getting some colder weather later in the week. I cant risk it. BUT-- what can i set up inside the house, any ideas other than an x pen? if i use a wall on one side- how can i stabilize the x pen against it?

can you gate them into a kitchen or laundry room? somewhere with tile or linoleum floors?

I used 2 or 3 ex-pens clipped together when my litter got too active for a single one. You can also clip the ex-pen to a large wire dog crate in the mean time.

Check out craigslist for some good used ones (since I know ex-pens can get expensive)

Jennifer: gating them in the kitchen would = chewed kitchen cupboards and baseboards; in a laundry room, hoses and shelving would be at risk (if the pups are anything like mine were!)

Good luck! My litter was a surprise rescue also. Don't forget to have fun with them.

any experience adding rice cereal to their milk? I tried grinding up some beef in it and that did not go over well.

Carla,

Dogs are carnivores and have no use for rice. It would fill them up but be nutritionally void. Don't add rice cereal or any other kind of cereal.

If they don't like ground beef, maybe you are adding too much at first, or try mixing some ground chicken or turkey. You can also add a bit of canned dog food to give them the taste of meat.

I see you are using Ed's formula so that's a great base to start from.

I didn't start weaning my pups until I saw them trying to eat from their mother's bowl. Are they doing this yet? If not, they may just not be interested in weaning yet...

I really think 50 degrees is not an issue; how cold is it going to get if the weather gets really bad? Where do you live?

Xander was born in the beginning of January, outside, in a hand dug den that my psycho (but much loved if he's reading this)friend built for the birth. It was about 15 degrees outside. Then, when they were a few weeks old (2-3, I think) the puppies and dam were moved to a horse stall filled w/straw and halves of plastic crates where they could go in and huddle together. This wasn't at my house, and it wasn't my idea, but I must say the puppies were no worse for the wear.

Provided the dam is doing well w/them, they would probably be just fine in the barn. Get a heat lamp or heating pad if you're really worried, but in Xander's case, I wonder if his as-close-to-wild-as-you-can-get birth isn't part of why he's so super-healthy and totally insensitive to cold. He seriously has zero desire to be in the house.

I would keep the dam w/them in the barn, and use the upside down half crates unless you can put an insulated dog house in there. I know w/Xander's litter, once they came up here w/me (they were only 4 weeks old), they continued to huddle together outside, but much preferred that to being in the house.