Natural Health Care + Diet Guidelines for your Puppy’s First Few Weeks
On this Post (Page) I want to focus on your puppy’s natural healthcare and diet for the first few weeks. It is not intended to talk about leash -, or potty training. The goal is to make the transition for your puppy from our home, or the breeder you chose, to your home, as easy and stress- less as possible. This post (page) will also be continuously up-graded, changed, added on, and you can see, if you followed my blog for many years, that it contradicts numerous earlier tips, and recommendations. My outlook in caring for my Butterfly flock has drastically changed, and the positive results are just incredible. The following recommendations/guidelines are just my guidelines, as I am an advocate of natural healthcare , for all creatures, humans, and pets.
I want to see that your puppy has a healthy start, to set stone for a long, happy and energetic life, you and your puppy both love and cherish.
The puppy you are taking home from Road’s End is already eating a Raw Meat Diet (click on the link to get to the Raw Meat page)
Be prepared to continue with the same diet, and have your menu planed beforehand. If you have a grinder you can grind chicken necks, and wings to give to the puppy, and only offer an occasional chicken neck as a "recreational bone". Some 9-10 week old puppies already eat small chicken necks. Small means: not too small to choke on , but still of a fairly small, skinless size.
I feed a puppy 3 times / day, and hope you will continue, till he is 4-5 months old, or depending on his size, if he is a skinny type pup, or a little eating machine. If he gulps down his food at every meal he gets, put a small ball in his dish, so he has to work harder to get to the food.
You will also get a small amount of food to take with you, when you are picking your puppy up from us.
Changing your puppy's diet from kibbles, or any commercial diet to RAW:
Get some of the kibble the puppy was raised, mix meat, egg, yogurt, DE with the kibbles, and serve small meals often. Reduce kibbles gradually every day.
There are some other items you should have prior to your puppy pick-up:
You can buy 100% food-grade DE at Amazon, and other places on line.
- Nutri Cal, or Caro Syrup. Your puppy may get depressed or stressed, and refuses to eat. This will keep his blood sugar up, and may prevent to get hypoglycemic. Follow the instructions by putting a pea size amount on your finger tip, and insert it in his mouth-pouch.
(Available in pet stores or also from amazon)
When you are going home with your new puppy avoid wanting to give it a “bath” right away. The puppy is already taxed with all new issues. A bath would stress him out too much, and you will end up with a pup with diarrhea, or runny stool, which brings more stress and possible dehydration on your dog. (See below) Let him bond to you, and enter a more quiet home, when you get back ;not have 20 children, grand parents, neighbor,s all wanting to hold him and hug him-; and let him sleep when he is getting tired. Puppies sleep a lot!
Stress Diarrhea
It is very stressful for any dog or puppy to go to a new home. While some dogs and puppies just seem to “fit”right in to their new homes and life styles, others get gastric problems, and develop diarrhea. Please be patient with your dog. Provide him/her a quiet corner to rest/sleep.
Dehydration is the biggest worry with any diarrhea so please be sure your dog is drinking, even if he/she doesn't feel like eating.
I use a small syringe (no needle), or an eyedropper, filled with water and a tiny bit of brown molasses. Molasses has wonderful properties, and helps to keep the blood sugar stable.
A tiny amount of plain Greek yogurt, or probiotics, added to the menu is helpful with treating upset stomachs
and/or diarrhea.
Canned pumpkin is also known to help treat diarrhea. Feed your Papillon ¼ Teaspoon, to help form firm stools.
- Sample Diet for Gastric Problems:
(RAW)
Lean meat, such as beef heart, skinless turkey breast, skinless white meat from chicken.
twice/day, no later than 5-6 PM in the evening.
Feed about 2-3 ounces/day to a 5 LBS dog.
- Herbs: Relaxant, Anxiety Relieve, Stress Remedy:
Chamomile. A few drops of Chamomile from a tincture, or tea added to the puppies food, or inserted in his cheek with a needle-less syringe, or eyedropper.
