If y’all remember, my brother and sister – Ozzy and Brandi – were born here a few days before an ice storm. For whatever reason, their momma decided she wanted to up and move her babies. Â To make a long story short, she was able to move some of her babies, but not all of them. The ice storm was so bad that she didn’t make it back to get the last ones. That is how we came to have Ozzy and Brandi. There were actually 4 of the orphaned puppies left, but my Lady found homes for two of em after they got old enough to go to another home. At any rate, rasin’ orphaned puppies without their momma was hard work! My Lady says it’s never the best thing to have to do, but sometimes it just can’t be helped. So, my Lady wanted to give ya some tips on how to raise orphaned puppies!
Check out my Lady’s tip on How to Raise Orphaned Puppies
A young puppy can become orphaned for a number of reasons. Maybe their mother is sick, injured, or dead, or she could have a behavioral issue that prevents her from providing the proper care. Regardless of the reason, if a puppy is less than 8 weeks old they will need special care. And if their mother isn’t available to provide that care, a person will have to step in. We did that part with our own Ozzy, Brandi and two other siblings! Miss Molly even did her part! She would have been a good mother for sure! She helped clean, comfort, and take care of the orphaned puppies! We are so proud of her!
Brandi – only days old
If you’re dealing with a similar situation, these tips on How to Raise Orphaned Puppies should be very helpful!
1. Keep Them Comfortable
Young puppies need to be kept warm to stay healthy. As they don’t have thick fur or the ability to do much that would make them warmer, they’ll rely on you. A 1 week old puppy should be kept in an area with an air temperature of 90-95 degrees. At two weeks, 85 degrees. 80 degrees through the third week, 75 degrees in the forth week, and finally 70 degrees (room temperature) at five weeks and beyond. An incubator, heating pad, or heat lamp can help with this as long as they’re used safely so the puppies can’t get overheated or burned.
2. Keep Them Fed
If you’re trying to raise orphaned puppies, you’ll need to buy or make puppy formula. In their first 48-72 hours of life, feed the puppies in 2 hour intervals. After that, feed them in 3 hour intervals except for at night, where you can do two 4-hour intervals. At two weeks old, feed them every 4 hours (with a 6 hour gap between feedings at night). Burp them after each meal. When puppies are 3 weeks old, they can begin to eat puppy mush 3 times a day along with their puppy formula. At 4 weeks old, they can eat the mush 4-5 times a day, can have less bottle feeding, and don’t need to be fed at night. At 6 weeks, they can eat normal solid food.
3. Manually Create Potty Times
Until they’re 21 days old, orphaned puppies will need you to stimulate their bowels because their muscles are too weak for them to accomplish those tasks on their own. So you’ll need to rub a warm, damp cotton ball or towel on their genital and anal areas to get them to urinate and defecate. For some puppies, this will work best before a meal, and for others this will be most successful after they’ve eaten.
4. Prevent Diseases
Young puppies are especially susceptible to disease since their immune systems are so new and weak. To raise orphaned puppies that are healthy, you may need to get them vaccinated earlier than non-orphaned puppies (consult with your veterinarian). You should also provide your orphaned puppies with deworming treatment at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks old. Then put them on a monthly heartworm preventive product.
Ozzy and Brandi at 3 months old
5. Socialize Them
Just like human babies, puppies need to be given time to work on their social skills. So when you’re working to raise orphaned puppies, don’t forget to spend time with each puppy. Pet them, talk to them, and generally just show them love. When they’re about 5-6 weeks old you can start getting them used to more complex things, like household noises and other people and pets. Just take it slow, remembering that they’re essentially furry babies!
For further help, consult your veterinarian. They can guide you on what exactly needs to be done for your puppies depending on their situation, health, breed, and age. Raising orphaned puppies takes a lot of time and patience, just as with a newborn baby. It’s not an easy task, but it can be done.
Ozzy and Brandi at 3 years old
My two little orphans are now 3 years old and big healthy pups! They don’t remember their birth mother and actually, I believe they think I really am their mother 🙂 So, tell us, have you ever cared for orphaned puppies before? We would love to hear about it in the comments below!
It does take dedication to raise orphaned pups or kittens. I applaud those who do.
They are so cute, this is so awesome!
thanks for the info, good to know
no but these are very good tips raising orphaned animals
Excellent tips! I fostered orphaned puppies for the shelter once, it was so difficult! They had to be taken away from the mom & fostered because she was very aggressive. The 2 puppies had just come off the mom when they were given to me, mainly because there wasn’t an experienced orphan puppy volunteer or staff available at the time. They were maybe 2 weeks old. I had a very tough time bottle feeding them, they did not want to take the nipple! Honestly, I was a bit panic stricken. I only had to keep them a couple of days before a more experienced volunteer could take them. It was quite an experience.
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Great post!
What a great story! Takes dedication to raise orphans…great job, and what lovely doggies they are today!
I’ve never given thought to this before. The time and dedication to raise orphan pups is like having to care for a baby. Thanks for the information.
Wonderful post! Pinned it for feature reference! 🙂
You did a great job with Ozzy and Brandi!
Thank you so much! They are truly my babies 🙂
Very good info here! That’s great that they are now healthy three-year-old pups! Lucky that they ended up with someone who knew how to care for them.
It’s super labor intensive for sure! Good to know just in case although I hope I don’t have to!
That was a lot of work, but I’m glad she was successful! I raised baby birds a few times and it was exhausting to feed them all the time.
Oh goodness yes! It was more exhausting than my human babies, but it was so worth it!
I have never encountered orphaned pups, but thank you so much for a resource to refer to if I ever need it.
A very dear friend of ours raised 6 Siberian Husky puppies whose mother died not long after having them!
It’s not easy at all!
What great information – this is truly important and worth sharing! Raising orphans takes a true commitment – bless your heart for writing this post as it will likely help others!
Thank you so much Mattie Dog! I’m hoping that if someone is ever in that situation, it could be of help to know a little about it.
I have never raised orphaned puppies, but I have raised orphaned kittens. Sounds like the process is similar with the feeding schedule, socialization, and helping them go to the bathroom.
So glad Ozzie and Brandi joined your family! They look very happy.
Yes! The same agonizing schedule. But, it is so worth it! We love our Ozzy and Brandi so much!
Kudos to you (and Molly) for all your hard work! It takes a lot of time, dedication, care, and love to help care for abandoned puppies. This was a great post!
These are some great tips you have here! I could use this when I decide to adopt a dog. Thank you!
I have total admiration for those that raise orphan animals 🙂
It take a lot of hard work and dedication to raise a puppy but a orphaned puppy who is not weaned yet is a whole nother story! Great post.
Thank you for all the information, I have taken in baby kittens and raised them
This is great!
These are all great points! Socializing is such an important step–I’ve met pups that were adopted out at 5 weeks old, and they lack many social skills other pups have… =(
Great information. Two of our fur babies were dumped at our house when they were about 5 weeks old according to the vet. Both girls, now 4 years old and the best little sweethearts ever!
I have a couple of these kind also and yes they are my heart now!
I’ve never cared for an orphaned puppy, but have adopted many shelter pets. They’ve always been so sweet!
We found an abandoned puppy a few years back. We could not find the owners, nor would the humane society take the pup. It was really frustrating and I felt like we were all alone. This is a great post. We were blessed and a vet helped us learn the ropes.
What a great, helpful article for raising puppies!
Oh I never realized Ozzy and Brandi were orphan pups. You are so good at taking care of them, how they have thrived! This is good information. I’ve only taken care of orphaned baby birds, who loved to eat canned dog food!
Important tips when you want to help, this is a good post to start after u make your big adoption decision.
Thanks for the info and a great article. I learned several things!
That’s very useful info if your ever in that situation it’s good to be prepared.
Ozzy and Brandi are so adorable and healthy looking. I’d never have thought they were orphaned pups. That is a lot of responsibility, but if anyone can do it, and do a great job at it, it is you!
I have not raised orphaned pups before but this sounds like great advice.
All amazing tips! Puppies are so delicate! 🙂
Some thing interesting to read about especially if having a dog with pups
Ooh…puppy! Thank you so much for sharing this information.
I keep two orphan pups for my daughter while she works we don’t live close so I keep them at my house during the week they are 24 days old and showing signs of needing more solid food crying and wrestling for some time after eating even though their amt given is over what they need and one is a strong lapper already the other is lapping but not as pro as the other
My daughter and her sisters are against me trying to start some thin mush but I think they are ready their daddy was a Great Pyrenees and both puppies are large for their age
What do you think about this dilemma I think I may just go ahead and do it ?
At around 3 weeks, you can try and place the formula into a shallow bowl. Dip your finger into the formula and place it on their lips to try and introduce. Allow them to learn to lap it up. Go slow and continue with bottle feedings until they have the hang of it!
Once they have learned to lap it up (3-4 weeks), you can begin what I call “mush” food. Kibble with formula added to make it mushy and thin. Make it really thin to start with and then gradually reduce the formula over the next couple of weeks. In my opinion, they still need the formula in some form or fashion until at least 4-5 weeks to help meet nutritional requirements.
So glad to see them doing so well!
They are so cute, this is so awesome!
Love little puppies, So, darn adorable
orphaned pups are 7 weeks, eating solid kibbles, and drinking milk from a bowl. They also will drink water, when can we stop with the baby formula we have been getting from the vet?
Once the pups are eating solid kibble at around 6-8 weeks, you can stop the formula. I have always mixed the formula with the food (let it sit and get mushy) at around 4-6 weeks and then slowly added less and less. However, once they eating solid kibble on their own AND drinking water, the formula is not necessary 🙂