help with 4 week old puppy!

[lute]

one of my neighbors got a puppy...a 4 week old puppy! the little dog is a male spitz mix. she's never had a puppy before so she's having me help her with it. she's comming over 2-3 times a week and im going to help her socialize, housebreak, train, etc.

i've never delt with a puppy this young and need some advice. the lady seems to really want to raise him right and is open to books,web refrances,etc.

[LKPike]

wooooow whered she get the pup from?? I can't imagine a shelter or breeder ever giving away a pup that young atleast hes obviously got a good home I know you'll do a great job with helping them, sorry I can't offer much other then making sure hes getting all the vitamins and everything he needs through the right food, hows she feeding him??

[lute]

she got him from her mother. it was an accidental breeding. i asked her if there was any way he could go back to his mother for a few more weeks. she said her mother was very upset about the puppies and didn't want them any longer.

she was feeding hm once a day, but i told her yesterday to feed him 3 times a day. i forgot to ask her what food she was feeding, but ill ask her tomarrow when she gets here.

what is a good food she should feed him?

[LKPike]

I'm not really sure that dry kibble would be the best thing for a small puppy yet? Certainly one feeding a day is way too little for a growing puppy.
I did a Google search, maybe this will help

"Until the animal is 4 to 5 weeks old, bottle-feeding is necessary."
"We recommend Esbilac for puppies.."

Care of Newborn Puppies

theres other links that popped up, just do a search on google.com for "feeding 4 week old puppy"

[Albea]

Your friend may want to take a look at this instructional set of booklets from HealthyPets.com
It's called "The Ultimate Puppy Kit" and is on sale for $19.95.


"The Ultimate Puppy Kit"

Please make sure the puppy is not fed dry food yet, he's much too young. You could ask Kara at Sunkissed Goldens what she does. Her litter is five weeks old now.

[LuckiLab03]

I don't have any advice, but they defintiely should have kept the puppies with the mom until at least 8 weeks old.

[luvofallhorses]

Originally posted by LuckiLab03
I don't have any advice, but they defintiely should have kept the puppies with the mom until at least 8 weeks old.

Ditto.

[lute]

thanks Leigh and Albea for the links! i'll definatly use them!

[tikeyas_mom]

I got Tikeya at five weeks. When we brought her home we put her on a high quality puppy food mixed with plain cooked oatmeal.

I wouldent start training this young. the puppy has probably gone through alot of stress leaving its siblings/ mother.

I would start training at 6-8 weeks.

good luck..

[aly]

Wow, I wish puppy could have stayed with mom for longer. But it does happen sometimes so at least your neighbor is doing what they can. I bottle-feed my fosters until 4-5 weeks, then switch them to a mushy mixture of Esbilac and high quality canned puppy food. At 7-8 weeks, I switch to dry kibble mixed with the "mush". Then I ween them to dry only over the course of a couple weeks.

I have a lot of experience fostering newborns so I can answer any questions if you have any. Right now I'd say the most important thing is socialization and getting used to alone time. The pup is at a crucial age where he could over-bond to humans and develop severe seperation anxiety. Crate training is a valuable asset even at this young of an age. Also expose the puppy to as many people and things as possible. Be careful not to get him around high-traffic dog areas until he's 6 months old and had his 3rd booster though (dog parks, pet stores, etc should be out of the question). Some socialization with one of your dogs would be beneficial though.

Anyway, good luck. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer

[lute]

Aly, thanks for the info!

what you said about the food is what i told her to do yesterday. so i'm glad i kinda knew what i was talking about.

the seperation anxiety may be a problem because she is home all day and is constantly with the puppy. she does put him in his crate. what can she do to prevent seperation anxiety?

the pup is being socialized with my puppers only for now. i told her that once he has his last set of shots to take him everywhere she can. she seemed to like that idea, but doesn't go many places. i told her i'd take him when we go to the petstore, park, etc. so there will be pics of this cutie.


i've been researching ALL DAY! i think i know enough to get her off to a good start.

[Vette]

Becareful with feeding medium/large breed pups puppy food.. heres the link that explains why.

http://gdch.org/pupfeed.htm

i dont know how true that is or not.. but just thought id share.