The first three weeks of a puppy's life are the most demanding part of raising a litter, and the most dangerous for the puppies.
A newborn cannot hold its own body temperature, cannot find the teat if it is pushed off, and has almost no reserve if something goes wrong. The dam does most of the work. The breeder's job is to make sure she can, and to notice early when one puppy is falling behind.
This guide covers the neonatal period — the first two to three weeks — in the order the jobs come up: warmth, colostrum and nursing, supplementing, daily weights, stimulation, the dam, and the signs that mean a vet call now.
The short version
- Warmth first: Air at puppy level 85–90°F (29.5–32°C) for the first four days, about 80°F by days 7–10, about 72°F by the end of week 4. A heat lamp over one end, never a heating pad under the litter.
- Colostrum in the first hours: The gut absorbs the dam's antibodies for roughly the first 24 hours, and absorption can start falling after 4–8 hours. A puppy that has not nursed in its first hours is a vet call now.
- Weigh every puppy every day: Up to 10% down on day one is acceptable in a warm, feeding puppy. After the first 24 hours, a loss or no gain — re-weigh once to confirm — is a same-day vet call.
- Stimulate to pee and poo after each feed: Until about three weeks a puppy cannot go on its own. If the dam is not licking them, you do it: warm damp cotton ball, gently, under the tail.
- Call now, whatever the scale says: Cold or limp, not suckling, crying that does not stop, laboured breathing, pale gums, vomiting or persistent diarrhoea. No feed until a chilled puppy is warm — at least 97°F (36°C).
What a newborn cannot do yet
Puppies are born with their eyes and ear canals closed. They cannot see, hear or walk. They find the dam by warmth, touch and smell, and their whole repertoire is sleep and nurse.
They also cannot thermoregulate. Merck puts full temperature control at about four weeks of age; until then the litter's warmth comes from the dam, each other, and the box.
For the first two weeks a healthy puppy feeds and sleeps at least 90% of the time. A puppy that cries persistently, crawls away from the pile, or feels cool is telling you something.
Warmth: 85–90°F for the first days, then step down
Cold is the first thing that kills newborns, and it works through feeding: a chilled puppy stops nursing, runs out of fuel, and gets colder still.
Hold the air at puppy level at 85–90°F (29.5–32°C) for the first four days, ease to about 80°F (27°C) by days 7–10, and reach about 72°F (22°C) by the end of the fourth week. You do not need to heat the whole room. Merck also recommends 55–65% humidity.
Warm one end of the box and leave the other cooler, so puppies can crawl to the temperature they want. An overhead heat lamp at a safe distance is the usual source. Heating pads can burn a newborn that cannot crawl off them, so they are not the way to warm a whelping box — if a lamp will not do, ask the vet who knows your litter how to set up heat safely. Measure the air at puppy level with a thermometer, not your hand, and remember that a big litter huddles and needs less heat.
A healthy newborn also runs cooler than an adult dog: 95–99°F (35–37°C) in week 1, 97–100°F in weeks 2–3, 99–101°F in week 4. Warm a chilled puppy slowly, over 30–60 minutes, and do not bottle- or tube-feed it until it is at least 97°F (36°C): a cold puppy's gut stops moving, and milk given then is regurgitated and inhaled.
| Too cold | Too hot |
|---|---|
| Crying that does not stop; crawling away from the pile; cool to the touch; weak or no suckle; limp. A tight pile far from the cool end is doing the lamp's job. | Puppies spread out along the edges of the box, away from the lamp; panting; restless. |
Read the litter, not just the thermometer: a comfortable litter sleeps in a loose group between the warm and cool ends.
Nursing: colostrum in the first hours, then feed-and-sleep
Colostrum — the dam's first milk — carries the antibodies a puppy is born without. The gut absorbs them for roughly the first 24 hours, and absorption can begin to fall after 4–8 hours. A puppy that has not nursed in its first hours is a vet call now, not at 24 hours.
So the first job after whelping is to see every puppy latch. Put a small, weak or crying puppy on the teats between the hind legs, which generally give the most milk, and watch that it is not pushed off by bigger littermates.
After that, check the litter every few hours: everyone warm, suckling and content. A puppy that is restless and does not have a fat tummy after feeds is not getting enough, and will benefit from supplemental feeding one to three times a day.
Have the dam and the whole litter examined by your vet within 48 hours of birth.
Supplementing: when, with what, how much
Not every litter needs it, but every breeder should be ready for it: a large litter, a puppy much smaller than its littermates, a dam short of milk or recovering from a C-section, or a puppy getting over a slow start.
Use a canine milk replacer, powder or ready-to-feed. Not cow's or goat's milk.
- A can of canine milk replacer powder — Esbilac (PetAg) or Breeders' Edge Foster Care (Revival). Bought before the whelp, not on an emergency run at 2 a.m.
- Soft red-rubber feeding tubes — 5 Fr for a puppy under about 300 g, 8 Fr above — with 5–10 mL syringes, and hands-on training from a vet or an experienced mentor before you ever need it.
- A digital scale that reads in grams (0.1 g steps for toy breeds). The differences that matter show up in grams, not ounces.
- A tube of Nutri-Cal or a small bottle of plain corn syrup — a dab on the gums can steady a low-blood-sugar puppy that is awake and can swallow while you get to the vet. A limp or unresponsive puppy goes to the vet now, warming on the way: sugar on the gums needs working circulation to do anything.
- Soft puppy ID collars in different colours, so five black puppies stay five separate weight records. Check and loosen them daily — a newborn can double its birth weight in a week.
Mixing and handling formula: reconstitute powder per the label with warm water and warm the feed to about 100°F (38°C) — body temperature, neutral on your inner wrist. Make no more than a day's worth, keep it refrigerated, and throw it out after 24 hours; formula left at room temperature goes after one hour. Warm a bottle in a cup of warm water, never a microwave, which leaves hot spots.
How much: if a puppy is getting nothing from the dam, Merck's energy figure for week 1 (133 kcal per kg per day) works out to about 1.25 mL of mixed Esbilac per 100 g of body weight per feed, given twelve times a day; in week 2 it is about 2.2 mL per 100 g per feed, eight times a day. Those per-feed amounts, at those frequencies, add up to the full daily replacement ration — and no single feed fills the stomach (about 4 mL per 100 g). A puppy that is also nursing gets a top-up, not that ration: ask the vet who knows your litter to set the amount, and let them set every volume for a premature, low-birth-weight or sick puppy. Our tube-feeding calculator gives the per-feed figure for your puppy's weight and week.
Bottle or tube? A puppy with a strong suckle can take a bottle: nipple hole enlarged only until formula drips one drop at a time, puppy belly-down, horizontal, head level — the position it would nurse in, never on its back. A puppy too weak to suckle is tube-fed by someone who has been shown how, not fed from a syringe: formula squirted into the mouth of a puppy that is not actively swallowing goes into the lungs. Measure the tube from the tip of the nose to the last rib before every feed, and never push against resistance.
For the complete workflow — formula choice, the schedule by week, position, burping, and how to avoid aspiration — see the pillar guide on bottle and tube feeding puppies. The focused tube-feeding step-by-step covers technique only.
Write down which puppy got what, and when. It stops double feeds, and it shows within a day or two whether the top-up is working.
Weigh daily: a loss after day one is a same-day call
The scale is the one instrument that catches a fading puppy before your eyes do. Weigh every puppy on a gram scale once a day for the first two weeks, at the same time each day, and keep the numbers.
Daily Weight Gain
A healthy newborn gains 5–10% of its body weight a day in the first weeks (Merck) — most puppies double their birth weight in 7–10 days (VCA)
A dip on day one is normal: a transient loss of up to 10% of birth weight is acceptable in a warm, feeding puppy. More than 10% is a vet call.
After the first 24 hours the rule is simple: a loss, or no gain, on any day — re-weigh once to confirm — is a same-day vet call. Do not wait for a trend. VCA warns that a puppy that begins losing weight may die within 48 hours if the cause is not reversed.
A puppy that is gaining, but more slowly than its littermates, is watched more closely and weighed twice a day. For the full numbers by size, see the newborn puppy weight chart; for a slow gainer, when weight gain becomes a concern.
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Three things this guide tells you to have ready
A monitor for the box, formula for the shelf, a scale for the daily weigh-in. None is required to follow the guide, and none is a heat source.
Govee H5075 Bluetooth thermometer & hygrometer
Air at puppy levelReads temperature and humidity where the puppies lie, so you can hold 85–90°F for the first four days and Merck's 55–65% humidity without guessing, and see the step-downs on a graph. It is a monitor, not a heat source.
PetAg Esbilac Puppy Milk Replacer Powder (12 oz)
Milk replacer on the shelfThe formula the per-feed figures above, the pillar guide and our tube-feeding calculator are calibrated to (13.2 kcal per tablespoon mixed 1 part powder to 2 parts water). This is the 12 oz powder. Mix only a day's worth, keep it refrigerated, and throw it out after 24 hours.
MINDPET-MED Pet Scale (11 lb / 5 kg, 0.1 g)
0.1 g steps · the daily weigh-inA pet scale sold for whelping that reads in 0.1 g steps up to 5 kg (11 lb), fine enough for a toy-breed newborn's daily gain to show, with an 11 × 7 in tray a newborn fits on. Use it while each puppy fits the tray and weighs under 11 lb.
Stimulation and hygiene until about three weeks
A puppy cannot urinate or defecate on its own until about three weeks of age. The dam does it by licking the belly and under the tail after each feed, which also keeps the box clean.
Most dams handle this without being asked. Watch that yours does — especially a first-time mother, or one recovering from a hard delivery or a C-section — and do it yourself for any puppy you are hand-feeding.
The technique: rest the puppy belly-down on a towel on your hand or knee. With a warm, damp cotton ball or soft cloth, lift the tail and stroke gently over the skin between the anus and the genital opening until the puppy urinates (and passes stool, if it is going to). Do it after every feed.
A well-hydrated puppy passes nearly colourless urine. Yellow urine, no urine when stimulated, or a tight, distended belly means the vet that day.
Keep the box dry. Soiled bedding holds moisture and bacteria against puppies with no immune reserve. Most breeders layer two or three washable whelping pads so the soiled top one comes off in seconds without lifting the litter or moving the dam. Change the dam's bedding, and clean her hindquarters with warm water only — no soap or disinfectant unless your vet says so.
The dam: what is normal after whelping
Her first days decide the litter's. A dam recovering well nurses, answers puppy cries, and is eating and drinking normally within a day or two.
- Discharge is greenish-black at first and should decrease significantly after 24–48 hours. If it does not, or it turns foul-smelling or bloody, call your vet.
- Milk is whitish — not bloody, not yellow.
- Appetite may be low for the first 24–48 hours. Then it climbs: at peak lactation, around three to five weeks, she may eat up to four times her maintenance ration, best split into four meals, with water always within reach. Bring food and water to her if she will not leave the puppies.
- Her glands get a look every day: a hot, hard or painful gland, or abnormal discharge from a teat, is mastitis until proven otherwise.
- Eclampsia (milk fever) is most common when the puppies are three to five weeks old: restlessness, panting, stiffness, tremors. Take the puppies off her and call immediately.
For feeding her through lactation see feeding the nursing dam; for what can go wrong in her first days, post-whelping complications.
Days 10–14: eyes begin opening; monitoring continues
By the end of the first week a litter that started well shows clear daily gains, feeds and settles, and sleeps in a loose, quiet pile.
Eyes open at about 10–14 days, one puppy at a time; the ears follow over the next days. Eyes still sealed at two weeks, or any swelling, bulging or discharge under the lids, is a vet visit — do not force them open.
Open eyes do not mean the dangerous part is over. The neonatal period runs to 21 days, and a puppy still cannot hold its own temperature until about four weeks, so the daily weighing and the warm box carry on. For what to expect week by week after that, see our puppy development week-by-week guide; from three to four weeks, the breeder socialization protocol takes over.
Through these weeks, keep visitors away from the box. Handling by people outside the care team stresses the dam and brings infection to puppies with no immune reserve.
When to call the vet
Most litters never need a vet between the 48-hour check and their first vaccines. The ones that do need the call early — a newborn can go from “a bit quiet” to dying in a day.
And by the scale: more than 10% below birth weight on day one, or a loss or no gain on any day after the first 24 hours, confirmed by one re-weigh — call the same day.
For the dam: discharge that has not eased by 48 hours or turns foul or bloody; bloody or yellow milk; a hot, hard or painful gland; refusing to nurse or eat beyond the first day or two; fever; and the restlessness, panting, stiffness or tremors of eclampsia at three to five weeks.
Small differences between littermates, a slower gainer that is still gaining every day, and a dam who picks at food on day one are all normal. A confirmed no-gain day or a loss is not: that gets the call the same day. Any sign in the box above gets it now.
Records: the log that makes the rest work
Newborn care runs across days and nights with more than one pair of hands. Memory is not a record under those conditions.
Daily weights, who was supplemented with how much and when, nursing observed, stimulation done, anything odd about a puppy or the dam: a few lines a day. It is what makes the weight rule usable, and it is what your vet asks for first.
Over several litters the same records show you what is normal for your dogs, which is worth more than any general chart.
BreedTools App · litter weights
Weigh the litter.
See who's falling behind.
This guide's weight rule is a daily log: a gram scale, every puppy, same time each day. The app keeps that log for you — and shows at a glance which pup isn't gaining.
Weigh the whole litter in a minute
Type a weight, hit enter, the next puppy is up. Same time every day.
Every puppy on the breed curve
Each pup's weights plotted against the breed's growth band. A flat line stands out.
Works in the whelping room
Log the 2 a.m. weigh-in with no signal; it syncs when you're back online.
Phone by the box, laptop later
One litter, every device — the log is always the current one.
Bring your Weight Tracker file
Export from the free tracker, import on signup. No re-entry.
The rest of the litter record
Vaccination schedule, milestones and health records for every pup.
Related Tools
References
- Davidson AP. Merck Veterinary Manual. Management of the Neonate in Dogs and Cats. — Neonatal period = first 21 days; no temperature control until about 4 weeks; whelping-area warmth 84–89°F week 1, 80°F weeks 2–3, 69–75°F week 4, 69°F week 5, humidity 55–65%; rectal 95–99°F week 1, 97–100°F weeks 2–3, 99–101°F week 4; rewarm over 30–60 minutes, keep at least 97°F (36°C), delay tube feeding until warm (hypothermia causes ileus, regurgitation and aspiration); overhead lamp preferred, heating pads can burn; antibody absorption may fall from 4–8 hours and generally ceases by 24 hours; a transient loss of at most 10% of birth weight on day 1, then 5–10% gain a day; weigh daily for 2 weeks; 133/155/175–198/220 kcal per kg per day, weeks 1–4; dextrose on the gums only with adequate circulation; sepsis signs.
- VCA Animal Hospitals. Breeding for Dog Owners — Caring for Newborn Puppies. — 85–90°F for the first four days, about 80°F by days 7–10, about 72°F by the end of week 4; heat the area over the box with a lamp; bigger litters need less; feed and sleep 90% of the time for two weeks; check every few hours; put weak puppies on the rear teats; restless puppies without fat tummies get supplemental feeds; vet check of dam and litter within 48 hours; discharge greenish-black, decreasing after 24–48 hours; milk whitish; mastitis checks; eclampsia at three to five weeks; warm water only on the dam.
- VCA Animal Hospitals. Feeding Orphaned Puppies. — Warm formula to about 100°F (38°C); make no more than 24 hours' worth, refrigerated; discard after 1 hour at room temperature; nipple one drop at a time; horizontal, head-neutral position; cannot eliminate on their own until about three weeks; stimulate with a warm moistened cotton ball after feeding; double birth weight by day 10; weigh daily for four weeks.
- VCA Animal Hospitals. Breeding for Dog Owners — Caring from Birth to Weaning. — Eyes open after one to two weeks, vet if not open by two weeks or with swelling or discharge; most puppies double their birth weight in seven to eight days; failure to gain or weight loss is cause for alarm, and may be fatal within 48 hours; the dam may eat little for 24–48 hours, then up to four times maintenance in four meals; peak milk three to five weeks; no cow's or goat's milk.
- Root Kustritz MV. Practical Matters: Identifying dehydration in puppies and kittens. dvm360, 2008. — Well-hydrated puppies pass dilute, colourless urine; visibly yellow urine means dehydration.
- American Kennel Club. Hypoglycemia in Dogs: Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment. — Dr. Jerry Klein: corn syrup by mouth or on the gums can temporarily stabilise a small puppy, which then goes to the vet straight away.
- Greer M. Neonatal Care (Society for Theriogenology, 2021). — Tube measured from the tip of the nose to the last rib; urine colour by week.
- Furthner E, Kowalewski MP, Torgerson P, Reichler IM. Verifying the placement and length of feeding tubes in canine and feline neonates. BMC Veterinary Research 2021. — 5 Fr tubes for puppies under 300 g, 8 Fr above.
This article is for educational purposes and does not replace care from a veterinarian who knows your litter. Improper tube feeding, formula preparation or heating can kill a newborn — get hands-on training before you need it.