No question about it: the healthiest thing for a newborn puppy is its mother’s milk. But what if the mother can’t suckle her offspring herself or doesn’t have enough milk for the entire litter? In such cases, you as the dog owner must intervene and offer the puppies suitable food. Do not use commercial cow’s milk – even adult dogs cannot tolerate the composition of normal cow’s milk. What gives an adult dog a stomach ache can be fatal for a puppy. For the little puppies’ stomachs, it is essential to use puppy milk that is compatible with the dog’s physiology.

Puppy milk consists of milk powder, milk fat and milk protein. Other fats and oils are added to this mixture. In this way, the supply of unsaturated fatty acids is guaranteed. The composition of the dog milk and the addition of additives such as vitamins, minerals and trace elements are precisely adapted to the needs of dogs and promote development and resilience from the first day of life. A particularly important and valuable additive in puppy milk is colostrum, the so-called beast milk. Although it is not completely equivalent to mother’s milk, it can be quite useful. This is the first milk that a mother gives after giving birth. This “milk” contains specific antibodies from the mother that are adapted to the local bacterial flora to ensure resilience in the puppies through the critical first days of life. It is important to know that added colostrum from cow’s milk can only stimulate the body’s defences in a non-specific way. This is because neither the species of animal nor the environment in which the colostrum is obtained suit the individual situation of the puppies.
If the puppy has to be fed by hand, it needs its bottle every two hours – even at night! Pay close attention to hygiene when preparing the dog’s milk!

Puppy milk is primarily intended for baby dogs. Dog owners whose female dog is expecting offspring should definitely have puppy milk in the house as emergency food in case of complications and shortages of the maternal milk supply. But puppy milk can also be good for the mother. Added to the feed, it strengthens the mother-to-be and prepares her for her own lactation. If it is foreseeable that the puppies will be bottle-fed, puppy milk is suitable as a mother’s milk substitute from the first day. Later, it can be given to the puppies as a supplementary food: Mixed into the puppy mush, it facilitates weaning from the mother’s teat to solid dog food. When portioning, be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions.