Taking Care of Orphaned Puppies
So, yesterday afternoon was a very eventful evening and night for Sheba and I. Last night at about 7:30 pm my neighbor comes and knocks on my door. She asks me if I knew there were two puppies sitting out by my mailbox, and of course I'm shocked and say no I had no idea. I don't usually go out to get the mail and bring the trash bin back up from the curb until about 8 or so because trash runs late in the afternoon on Wednesdays. Anyway, as soon as she tells me this I throw on my shoes and grab a flashlight and go out to where she said that she seen them. There is a fairly large cedar tree kind of beside my mailbox that is on her and my property line. Sure enough, as soon as I shined my light under the cedar tree, lies two baby puppies. A black one and a yellow one all huddled up together. So, I immediately grabbed them and brought them inside the house. The neighbor told me she would have taken them in but her Lily (her GSD) hates small objects and is uncontrollable when she gets around them (prey drive I'm assuming) so I told her that I would bring them in and see if I could get them better and up to a good size and keep them healthy.
So, I bring them in and they appear to be no more than 3 weeks old, just little infants in the dog world. Shouldn't have even been away from mommy. So I asked the neighbors on each side and several people in my neighborhood if they had saw a momma dog and no one has. So, I went to the store and grabbed some puppy formula and puppy bottles to bottle feed them last night. Then this morning I took them to the vet and the vet told us that they are at least three weeks old, but if they're older than 3 weeks its just by a few days. So, he ran fecal tests on them and they did have worms so he gave me some worm medicine and advised me to give them a couple bottles each day and also to make a mash of quality dry puppy kibble and the milk replacer and start them on it but also supplement with bottles. So far they are doing okay, but I'm wondering if there are any special tips that some of you may can offer me on making sure that they're well socialized, and stay extra healthy. I considered sending them to a rescue at first, but since I work at home now anyway, I'll be at home with them every day and can take care of them and I know most rescues around me are overrun with their own responsibilities.
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10-11-2012, 05:46 PM
