Hand Rearing Pomeranian Puppies .

Pomeranian babies are very small at birth , an average newborn Pomeranian baby weighs between 2 and 5 oz at birth.

Puppies must be kept warm , at a constant temperature of 95-100 F [35 - 38 C] the first week. The temperature can be slowly dropped to 75 F [24 C] after the age of 3 weeks.

I personally prefer the use of an overhead infra-red light for heat purposes and I keep a bowl of water nearby to keep the atmosphere near the puppies moist. It is imperative that the puppies never become dehydrated. You can easily check that puppy is not dehydrated, by pulling a little skin up and checking how quickly the skin returns to normal.

The secret to hand rearing is not to overfeed. If the puppies sleep from one feed to the other with nearly no crying and their stools are formed with no undigested curds and they gain weight then the feeding regime is correct. If you observe undigested food [ curds ] in the puppies' stools , the mixture is too rich for the puppy. If you are using the formula below reduce the amount of whipping cream added [ if any]. If using a commercial puppy rearing formula, slightly increase the ratio of boiled water to formula.

Great care must be used with any changes in the formula feed to the puppies. Even a change to temperature of the formula if enough to cause stomach upsets in a very small newborn Pomeranian Puppy.

The Puppy formula should be freshly made up for each feed. As a rough guide the Puppies should be feed every 3 hours, 24 hours day for the first couple of weeks.

After feeding puppies must be helped to urinate and defecate. I use a wad cotton wool with baby oil to moisten the puppies bottom. If the puppy's bottom becomes chaffed , use a human baby nappy rash cream to sooth and cure this problem.

It is extremely important that all puppies defecates within the first 24 hours. During the first 24 hours ensure that all the puppies have opened their bowels at least once. Some puppies take longer to defecate and you just must gently rub the area around the anus with the positioned cotton wool wad. Don't be concerned if your puppy does cry, this is a good sign that he is trying to pass a motion, so keep rubbing until he has success.

Puppy Milk for supplementing newborn Pomeranian babies.

1 cup whole goat milk

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon honey or white corn syrup

1 teaspoon cold pressed flax oil

For weak pups a ¼ cup whipping cream ma be added to the above recipe.

I personally prefer to use a commercial puppy rearing formula, but in case of an emergency the above recipe for homemade puppy formula , may be of use.

Remember your newborn Pomeranian puppy is very fragile and that any sudden changes to your puppies diet could be fatal.

Copyright Denise Leo 2008. All Rights Reserved.