How to Keep Newborn Large Breed Puppies Warm? Newborn puppies are born without teeth and with their eyes and ears closed. Naturally, they rely on their mother to keep them safe and healthy.
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One of the most important parts of caring for newborn puppies is keeping them at the right temperature. Keeping newborn puppies warm is here.
Why temperature is so critical?
Dogs are warm-blooded, meaning they can maintain a certain body temperature. For adult dogs, the normal body temperature ranges from 99.5 F to 102.5 F.
Newborn Puppies cannot successfully control body temperature in the first weeks of their lives, so they need help to stay safe and warm.
During the first week, the puppy’s body temperature may drop below 95 F. Over the next two weeks it will slowly rise to 98 F.
After the puppy reaches one month of age, their body temperature drops to the normal body temperature of adult dogs.
If a puppy is allowed to stay too cold, her digestion will be affected. She may find it very difficult to do nursing or suffer from a compromised immune system.3 Proper warmth is important for new babies!
How to keep newborn puppies warm
When the mother dog and children are healthy, the puppies depend on their mother to produce the extra warmth they need.
This is one reason why you see newborn puppies lying close to their mother. But you can help too! Provide a suitable “nest” or wheeling box for the mother dog and puppies.
It is a safe, warm, and somewhat confined area that is free of drafts and distractions.
You may want to supply a suitable bed with an additional heat source.
This replaces the mother dog’s body heat and helps keep the area warm if she is away from the box for a while.
Heat lamps can work for this purpose or you can choose a heating pad with a thermostat that can be adjusted to be safe for pets. Don’t forget to talk to your vet about the right recommended temperature setting for your child.
When puppies are born, start by heating the wheeling box from 85 F to 90 F. By the next week you can slowly lower the temperature to about 80 F, and then lower it to room temperature after the puppies are one month old.
By then they will be able to control their body heat better.
Pay attention to your puppy’s behavior. It can give clues as to whether it is too hot or too cold.
When the puppies are close to each other under the heat source, they are too cold and try to use the group’s body heat to stay warm.
If the puppies are scattered in different parts of the box, it means they are too hot.
When you are worried about a particular puppy, you can always check its body temperature with a puppy-safe thermometer, to be on the safe side!
It is important to give proper warmth to newborn puppies. With some simple supplies and some TLCs, you can help keep newborn puppies warm.
Provide artificial warmth
Regardless of whether the puppy is orphaned or surrounded by the mother, some extra heating may be the answer to keeping the newborn warm, especially in the fall and winter.
Depending on the location and equipment of the shelter, you can add something like a hot water bottle over the blankets or buy a smaller heater.
Electric heaters can be used outside if dogs are sleeping in a dry area.
Change the bedding often
Since newborn puppies do not move very far, they go to the bathroom to sleep. I.e. towels or blankets get wet.
Wet material does not retain heat well, so you should change the bedding material at least once every day.
Also Read: Why isn’t My Male Dog Interested in Mating?
If you observe rain, wrap the newborn puppy immediately with a dry towel until dry – and at this point dry and replace everything in the sleeping area.
So, at what age should a puppy be kept warm?
These puppies need to be closely monitored and kept warm from birth to the first week.
Each week, their rectal temperature rises. The safe age to complete consistent monitoring is 4 weeks.
Once your puppy has reached this stage, all you need to do is make sure the environment around your puppy is good for them and not expose them to any extreme temperature.
Puppy Age | Room Temperature |
NewBorn to 7 Days | 85 -95 F |
Day 8 to Day 14 | 80 – 85 F |
Day 15 to Day 21 | 75 – 80 F |
Day 22 to Day 28 | 70 -75 F |