Puppy rejected by mother, raising by hand, possible surrogate?

**kasper** · 02-11-2007, 02:40 AM

I am brand new to this board, and am so glad I found it! I just posted this under Dog Rescue, but wasn't sure if it'd be more appropriate here...

My sisters dog just had puppies yesterday, well, 3 yesterday and 2 more today! She wansn't home when she gave birth yesterday, and the mom isn't taking one of the puppies. The vet said she needed to be bottle fed and kept warm... we've gotten a bunch of supplies to do this. My sister and brother-in-law both work full-time, and since I'm a stay-at-home mom, they asked if I would take the puppy home and try to save it, so that's what I did (I live an hour away so I couldn't be there)...

We've gotten her and are feeding her and keeping her warm with a heating pad. I have two other dogs at home, and am nervous about having them around the newborn. One of the dogs, Roxanne, is a friends dog that I am indefinately dog-sitting for, and have had her since November. She's a pretty tame, well-behaved dog, but I still don't know her well enough...

She gets very excited when she hears the puppy whimper, or when she sees her. She has been spayed, so I'm not sure if that does anything when it comes to "maternal instincts". She seems to want to be close to the puppy, maybe keep her warm? We have let her smell and lick her, but then she looks likes she's getting ready to swat at her, and I'm not sure if she's trying to move the towel to be close, or if she's trying to hurt her...

Okay, so to try and make a long story a little shorter... what should I do? Should I go ahead and let her try to be with the puppy, or keep her as far away as possible? I've read that puppies need to have their mothers, if possible, unfortunatly it's not possible in this situation. I've heard of other dogs becoming surrogates, but I'm so nervous, as the puppy is SO SMALL (5 oz)!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

**Canis-Lupess** · 02-11-2007, 07:22 AM

How do you mean by swatting at her?

Do you mean using her paw? If so, she could be trying to pull the pup towards her and our Mist did that when we were handling her pups for any reason. She'd use her paw to try and get them back. They can be a bit clumsy in how they go about it but thats dogs for you, lol.

Mist would also want to mother the pups of my other dog, Jess. In fact, with Jess's first litter, Mist actually started to produce milk for them and would suckle them. She went mad when she heard them crying and was desperate to be with them. Fortunately, Jess was a little inexperienced that first time and she was glad for Mists help.

Your bitch's maternal instincts may have been triggered by hearing the puppy cry etc...I'm sure she could still feel maternal towards puppies even though she has been spayed.
It's worth a try to see if she'll act as a surrogate mother.

When the puppy is a bit older and started weaning, going back with it's siblings might be a good idea. I hand reared two pups of our Mists from a large litter and they went back with the others after about 3 and a half weeks and did just fine from there on.

See if you can get your bitch to lay down in her bed or whatever and then put the pup in with her and see how she reacts. Stay close so you can pick the pup straight up if things don't go well but, in many cases, bitches do take to small puppies quite well and develop a desire to protect them.

**borzoimom** · 02-11-2007, 08:13 AM

There have been numerious studies out at one time, that a crying pup stimulates the milk "let down" sensation in the mother. ..
As far as care for the pup- make sure you wipe the back end with a warm cotton ball to stimulate the pup to go to the bathroom. The licking by the mother is the normal stimulation- and you are doing the same thing.
When is time to put the pup back with the group- the mother should NOT be present- remember- she will not recognize the returning pup as hers. ( she could see that pup as a threat to her pups.)

**applesmom** · 02-11-2007, 12:58 PM

As it stands now, since the mother of the puppy has rejected her, the puppy's chances of survival are slim to none. She certainly doesn't need the added risk of having an inexperienced dog lay on her, step on her or accidently harm her in some other way.

The warm fuzzy stories of strange dogs raising orphan puppies are 99 percent just that; stories!

My suggestion would be to concentrate your efforts on the puppy and keep the other dogs well out of reach of the puppy. If it manages to survive the first two weeks, that would be soon enough to allow the other dogs to even get close enough to sniff it.

Good luck with the puppy; it's a challenging task you've taken on!

**borzoimom** · 02-11-2007, 01:18 PM

I was trying not to say that applesmom- but you are right-. Usually when the mom rejects a pup, there is a reason.. clef palate to who knows.. Lets pray the pup makes it..

**applesmom** · 02-11-2007, 02:06 PM

Canis-Lupis you said; "I hand reared two pups of our Mists from a large litter and they went back with the others after about 3 and a half weeks and did just fine from there on."

Did you actually raise the pups without any contact with their mom or littermates for 3 1/2 weeks? If that's the case, I'm curious about the events that led to such an unusual decision.

Usually in large litters, even if it's necessary to supplement the mother's milk, all of the puppies are left together between feedings so they can be raised in as normal a setting as possible.

**applesmom** · 02-11-2007, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by borzoimom

I was trying not to say that applesmom- but you are right-. Usually when the mom rejects a pup, there is a reason.. clef palate to who knows.. Lets pray the pup makes it..

I didn't mean to sound overly negative. Naturally we'll all be pulling for the pup to make it and of course there is always a slight possibility that it will.

If the vet didn't detect any obvious abnormalities it may have gotten chilled and any one with experience knows what the outcome usually is when that happens.