German Shepherds Forum banner

NEED HELP , tube feeding a three week old puppy how much formula should be fed a day?

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  KayDub 
#1 ·
PLEASE HELP,
A German Shepherd puppy. The mother had to go to the vet so he must be tube fed. The puppy is now three weeks old, the weight of the dog is 8 LBS the goal weight 100 lbs. Question is how much formula should he be getting for the entire day and how many servings and how much per serving? PLEASE IF YOU KNOW THE MATH AND THE ANSWER PLEASE WRITE BACK A.S.A.P! ALL SOURCES on how you obtain the answer would be very helpful as well.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP AND TIME. HAVE A GREAT DAY!
 
#2 ·
Don't tube feed a three week old puppy. Wean it. Use a bowl or puppy pan. At three weeks it doesn't need to be tube fed. It should not be tube fed, unless it has some birth defect.

Tube feeding is not optimum because if it eats or drinks on its own, you can actually put too much inside the dog. So if you're tube feeding you will have to stop any other forms of intake. Because you put the right amount in every so many ours. To do this, you have to shove a tube down their mouth, and after a week they have a gag reflex, so it gets much harder.

If the dog will not drink or eat out of a pan, then warm the food slightly, or give something different. But a healthy puppy will not starve itself to death.

I do not know if it is even possible to tube a puppy that is 3 weeks old.

That is a big puppy anyway, sounds healthy, it should wean just fine.
 
#3 ·
This is just my personal opinion I have no sources I just went through a similar situation last month. First of all I agree 8lbs sounds like a very healthy actually heavy pup for 3wks. My breeder called me when my pup was 4wks old the mother came down with milk disease or milk fever as some call it. However he had her eating I just couldn't get her to take to the water bowl & she had very cloudy eyes so I worried about her nutrition. She weighed 4.3lbs, I gave her watered down parts of formula in a bottle at her own pace she would take anywhere from a half to 1oz 3-5 times a day. I hope your pup does well I wish you all the best!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top