Orphan Pup weight

[michellemoose]

Hi there....
I am new to this site and a new rottie mom. I don't think he is a purebreed but he sure looks like one. I rescued a little 3 day old boy from the local dump where he was born. He had 9 siblings who all died from being left out in -2c weather. Mom was very young and didn't have much milk and irresponsible owners didn't care enough about the pups to bring them inside. He was cold and weighed only 275 grams when I bought him home. I got some canine mammalac from the vet and have had no problems feeding him. He is a hungry pup and eats double the amount the instructions say for his weight. He almost doubled his weight in the first week to 540g. He is now 3 weeks old and weighs 1.4kg. My question is how much on average should a pup be gaining daily/weekly at his age? He is drinking about 15 oz of formula daily. He is a happy pup and hardly ever cries. His eyes opened on day 17 and his hearing and smell seem to be good. He is very curious and likes to explore his area. He is getting playfull and has a cute little growl that sounds more like a cat. We have 2 other dogs who we are introducing to him slowly. If any one has any other helpful hints for raising an orphan, I would appreciate them. Thanks. I tried to include a picture but couldn't figure it out!

[SABELLESMOM]

Bless you for saving his life! Goodness what a rough start. I wish I had ananswer fo you but, I'm certain someone with more knowlege than I will chime in soon enough. Tell me about your other dogs. I think it will be a good thing for him to be exposed to them in the long run.

[brunie's mom]

So nice of you to have saved this pup.

I also am not a breeder, but I did read in the Chit Chat forums in the thread by Frontierotts, that her 2 week old pups are anywhere from 2lbs. 6oz. to 2lbs. 9oz.

At 3 weeks I would think about 3 lbs?? Also I have read on these forums that some breeders start feeding a gruel type of mix to their pups by the time they are 3 weeks old. They take a good quality puppy kibble, pulverize it and mix with goat milk and a bit of canned. Or you could soak the kibble for half an hour or so and then add a bit of canned...as long as it's soupy and the pup can start lapping it up.

I'm sure some of the breeders will be able to answer your question.

Being that he was a "throw away" pup...I would also think he would be full of worms. Ask your vet about when he should be wormed.

Gina

[damp]

I have to disagree with the above posts... a 3 days old pup without mom and siblings should be culled.

[frontierrots]

Now Damp that is decidedly not nice.

If a person has the desire, ability and dedicaton to hand raise a pup it can be done. ESPECIALLY in a house with other dogs so that he can learn dog language skills!

I have raised two orphans. a treeing walker coonhound whose dam had no milk and the owner did not notice til all but this pup died. The other was a Shiba inu whose mom died at 1 week after birth. BOTH pups grew up to be absolutely norml dogs with no problems because I made sure they had dog language skills

Pups should gain 1-5 oz a day and be pooping and peeing well. If the urine is dark yellow then dilute the formula a bit toadd water

Make sure that the pup has access to safe dogs to learn skills and also work at teaching it people manners also

BEST!

[damp]

I don’t post here to be nice nor to be rude… but only to be realistic!!!

[poohbearsmom]

Originally Posted by frontierrots

Now Damp that is decidedly not nice.

If a person has the desire, ability and dedicaton to hand raise a pup it can be done. ESPECIALLY in a house with other dogs so that he can learn dog language skills!

I have raised two orphans. a treeing walker coonhound whose dam had no milk and the owner did not notice til all but this pup died. The other was a Shiba inu whose mom died at 1 week after birth. BOTH pups grew up to be absolutely norml dogs with no problems because I made sure they had dog language skills

Pups should gain 1-5 oz a day and be pooping and peeing well. If the urine is dark yellow then dilute the formula a bit toadd water

Make sure that the pup has access to safe dogs to learn skills and also work at teaching it people manners also

BEST!

Personally, I don't think damp was being 'decidedly not nice'. I likely would have responded similarly to the initial responses, and I'll tell you why...

I think it takes special skills, and a lot of knowledge to be able to rear a pup like this without inhibiting it's ability to exist in our world as we know it.

Special skills include the knowledge of behavior and imprinting that someone like you, or another obsessed individual possesses.... this is not a job for any Tom, Dick or Mildred.

That this person has reared this pup successfully to this point is to be commended, for sure... and I do hope that this is successful to the end of rearing, and into maturity... however, let's be honest... the chances of these types of situations ending on a positive note are diminished somewhat when a lack of behavioral and rearing knowledge exsists... and that is the problem in the majority of situations like the one presented to us here.

That being said, this puppy is now of an age it's safe to start weaning, so we should progress in our conversation to assist her the best we can... and THAT being said, it's also important that we allow her to keep an open line of communication with us, so that any red flags that are blatant to the experienced can be passed on to the OP here.

Simply giving someone a hoorah for saving a puppy isn't enough in a situation like this..... that's the main point I'd like to make with this reponse.

In regards to weight gain, and the feeding of this pup... yes, the pup should be gaining between 1 and 5oz a day at this time, perfectly normal.

The formula I make for pups consists of whatever kibble they are going to be eating pulverized with goat milk, an egg yolk, and a bit of yogurt, with water to bring it to a 'lappable' consistency.

I think it's more beneficial to keep up with this topic, and assist the OP in making practical decisions when they're needed.

Is this bettering the breed? No. Is it helping someone in need of sage advice? Yes.

[LavenderRott]

Thirty years ago, my mom hand raised a litter of 3 puppies (with help from the family cat) that lived to ripe old ages with no ill effects. The male of the litter consistantly scored 195 and above in obedience trials for both his CD and his CDX. So yes, it can be done.

While I understand and agree with culling litters of deformed puppies, I have a harder time with culling puppies that have cosmetic defects such as long coats, white on the chest and born without a tail or those who have become orphaned.

[frontierrots]

When I said not nice I meant that to say that to a person who has raised the pup for 3 weeks and obviously is not going to kill it now is pointless and "not nice"

to the original poster. If your dogs are nice puppy friendly dogs then by all means allow supervised interaction on a restricted basis at first. It is vital that the pup learn dog language skills and have a canine that can tell him when he's being inappropriate.

A help for you would be the book "After you get your puppy" by Ian Dunbar. You have a great deal of socializing work ahead of you but IF you are dedicated and IF you listen to advise from experienced people it can be done. But it's not easy

at 3 weeks old I switched the orphans over to a dish instead of a bottle

Also be sure you handle this pup all over every single day. Feet, body, mouth, ears, on it's back, restrain it etc.. so that it has no phobias about any handling. Single pups and orphans often are touch sensitive because they don't have littermates climbing over them

[damp]

I did notice the thread title is “Orphan Pup weight”. However, weight and survival to me it not the problem, as long as you can open the pup’s mouth and feed it. Feeding and gaining weight has only to do with beeing alive, but nothing to do with being a dog/rottweiler!
Singletons CAN be raised to nearly normal dogs, so CAN orphans but this pup has all odds against it: Singleton, orphan and BYB breeding.

Sorry, if I am not being nice, but such a pup has no place in the world IMO.

You are raising a Rottweiler, who may never knows he is a DOG. It’s not a “carpet pisser” you can pick up and carry away if it shows aggressions, lack of bite in inhibitions etc. etc.

Sorry but I can’t give you any applauds for JUST trying to raise this pup!

[Anne]

Michelle, I would like to thank you for caring for this pup. Since none of the siblings survived this little boy is obviously a fighter and with your care and attention can grow to be a wonderful dog. He will need to be obedience trained of course.

Please don't be disillusioned by negative posts.

[macho rottie]

I also would not have let that little guy die. No way. Thank you for saving him and putting out such a tremedous effort to make sure he will be raised properly.

[dmoniz]

My Logan was an orphan pup, with 2 others dropped at the pound at about 2 days old. Rottweiler breeders/lovers took them home, cropped thier tails and removed their dew claws (they work at a vets office) and hand raised them to 7 weeks and then found them homes (one bing mine). I am still in touch with these women to keep them up to date on Logan's adventures and they keep in touch with the others as well. They are all doing incredibly well. I am sooooo grateful to these women for without them Logan probably would have been culled at the pound. This dog is better than any dog I could have gotten at a breeders (in my opinion). It would take me years to find another with his abilities. He is a complete natural at everything I have tried with him. He got his JHD after only 4 months on sheep. Has already earned his CGC. He is ready for both rally and the obdience ring. I have done conformation fun matches and have been told that is he had papers he would be a champion. I also hooked him up to a cart last weekend and he took to it like a fish to water. In addition, we plan to get a TDI on him next month.

It brings me to tears everytime I think that he could have been killed by either the people who bred him instead of bringing him to the shelter, or the shelter instead of giving him (and the others) to Linda.

To give this pup the best chance in life make sure he is well socialized, find some other pups his age to interact with. Logan was lucky enough to have his siblings and my friends Berner (same age) after I took him home. I also have other dogs that are great with pups.

Thank you for taking this pup in and I hope for the best.

[gomer9855]

My mom bottle raised two pups from birth after the mother refused to feed them the tried to kill one. They were lab/shepherd mix. My brother has one and their friend has the sister. Bother are female, both are very healthy. They had my mom's poodle/beagel to teach them manners (and DID SHE! ) as well as my rotties.

My brother's dog has had some serious guarding issues in the past (I've posted about it here). They've taken her to a behaviourist and a very good trainer, and discovered that it was their fault. They were treating her like a lab, when she needs the discipline of a GSD (and I am not being offensive to GSD owners, but it's a fact that they are working and as such need more trainging/discipline then your typical lab. Plus the mother was the GSD and not a greatly dispositioned dog from what I saw of her). She Looks and acts GSD, and now that they've put her in boot camp training have had 0 problems with her. She's actually very well trained and complacent.

So I don't condem anyone for hand-raising pups, but like Damp says it's hard to do and get right. But maybe my mom's pups would have turned out even worse if they had been raised by a nasty mother dog.

As a side note, and this probably doesn't apply, but I've hand raised many kittens from birth and found them to be far more affectionate/people friendly than most cats. Funny how that works, isn't it?

Good job, congrats on the pup, and good luck in the future!

[michellemoose]

Thanks for all the info and the kind support.....to all the puppy killers....it did not even enter my mind and I can't believe it would be an issue, there is nothing wrong with him. He is getting lots of love and attention. It has been quite an experience being a dog mom, 24 hours a day, it is probably one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. He is growing so fast and every day he gets a new doggie trait. My 2 other male dogs are slowly getting used to him, the one lets him snuggle up and crawl all over him when he is in the mood. The other one is the boss and lets him know it, they have meetings under close supervision! His little teeth are coming through and they are sharp! No more fingers in the mouth. I started him on a gruel mix yesterday and he took to it right away. Does anyone know how much I should be feeding him? He is down to 4 feedings a day and one night time bottle. I have just been mixing up a small bowl and letting him eat as much as he wants. He is starting to run now and he sure can move! Never a dull moment! Please keep the positive comments coming. :)