Care of Puppies from Whelp to One Year Old Health French Bulldog Puppies, including feeding and exercise of puppies

	Puppy Health
	Care of Puppies from Whelp to One Year Old
	Newborn Puppies

“Do Not Give Up, the Beginning is Always the Hardest,” says the fortune from the fortune cookie as I sit having a rushed meal at Pei Wei in St. Petersburg Florida with my best friend Olga, as I obsess over the many different maladies or catastrophes that may befall my litter of one French bulldog puppy, in her first few weeks of life.

Is it because I weighed her too soon? I cannot remember if my French bulldog puppy is supposed to lose weight in the first few days because she has extra birth weight, and is only getting colostrums (a yellowish fluid rich in antibodies that a mother’s breast produces after giving birth and before the production of true milk that provides puppies with immunity to infections).

Is it because my French bulldog puppy was a litter of one and there is something drastically wrong with her?

Is it because of the fact that French bulldog puppies are inherently fragile in the first weeks of life?

This fortune accurately describes what happens when a new litter of French bulldog puppies are born, especially if there has been sometime between litters.

It is good to be diligent, to be aware of the many things that you need to look for in French bulldog puppies, but it is not good to be neurotic, hence the calming words that came to me by chance from the fortune cookie.

I have extensive experience in the areas of whelping and raising them English Bulldog puppies in New York, but my experience of whelping and raising French bulldog puppies in St. Petersburg, Tampa (Sarasota) are of Florida, is fairly new.

I find that the French bulldog litters are easier to whelp and raise than their English counterparts primarily due to the fact that the mother can remain with the French bulldog puppies throughout the process, and that they can be whelped in high rise puppy pens together, rather than in the floor top whelping pen that I used with the English bulldog litter.

When I say that the mother can remain with them, that is if the mother likes the puppies, and if she knows how to step around them and not trample them accidentally.

I have been lucky with my two French bulldog mamma dogs thus far. Josephine has been a natural, taking to her first litter as if she had done it hundreds of times before. Caring for the French bulldog puppies in the best way she could, with lots of love, caring, caution and diligent attention. Juliette, the consummate diva, once over her own drama and realizing that she was the co-star and not the star of this particular performance, took to her one French bulldog puppy as if this were her life’s calling. Josephine’s second litter arrived less than two weeks after Juliette’s first litter, they had adjoining French bulldog puppy pen whelping crates and my bedroom was transformed into a French bulldog neonatal ward.

For those individuals and breeders who believe there is no human intervention in the whelping of French Bulldog puppies during whelping or neotnatal period (of generally five weeks), you are wrong, you need to help.

I tend to get involved prior to the birth of the French bulldog puppies. When I first have the French bulldog mamma dogs to be inseminated, I immediately start a regiment of pre-natal supplementation using human grade, organic pre natal vitamins, and folic acid, each day. When it is confirmed that they are pregnant, I begin to feed the French bulldog mammas to be puppy food and about two weeks prior to the due date, I supplement their diet with about two tablespoons of goat yogurt mixed in with their food each feeding.

It would be a breeder’s nightmare to lose a French bulldog puppy, as many can be prevented with the intervention of a gentle human.

In on of my most recent litters, I will give you two examples of how human intervention may have helped my two separate litters come to thrive.

· In the case of Juliette’s litter of one French bulldog puppy, who I will keep and have already named Babette, I was frantic over the birth weight drop of a few tenths of an ounce a day and spoke with my mentor, a breeder with thirty years experience and told her of my concern. She suggested that I give the French bulldog puppy a bit of probiotic in case the stomach and intestines might not have developed enough to adequately digest milk. I went to the health food store, and I might add I live my own life through alternative medicine using massage, chiropractic, acupuncture, a regimen of fasting twice a year, exercise, juicing and supplements to my own life, and purchase acidophilus in liquid pure refrigerated, live culture form. I gave the French bulldog puppy one ml from a syringe, after warming it up under warm water or holding it in my hand for a few minutes, morning and evening for two days, and found that my French bulldog puppy’s appetite quickly increased, and weight gain ensued.

· The second example is the “stuck tail” that I discovered on day two of my French bulldog puppy’s road to growth. During the night, her tail became stuck down over her poop hole and she was unable to relieve herself. I had to take her into the bathroom and run warm water over her tail to moisten it, so that it could be released. This was a fun experience, as my French bulldog puppy began to engage in some swimming motions and I realized that the instinct factor is pretty amazing when a two day old French bulldog puppy would immediately break into a swim upon the sensation of water. After releasing the tail, each day I took a swab and put a bit of first cold pressed organic olive oil under her tail. This was a good lubricant and a non toxic substance for the French bulldog mamma dog to ingest during routine cleaning of her French bulldog puppy after each feeding. Juliette seemed to like the taste and all the better for the cleaning chore!

· A male French bulldog puppy would often have gas and was curling up and crying a bit after meals. I gave the puppy a drop of infant liquid milicon each day for about three weeks, and this caused the gas to go away.

· An issue that I did not have in New York, but which occurred in the height of the flea season here in the Gulfport, Tampa, St. Petersburg area of Florida is that my puppies got fleas, yes, breeder’s nightmare to see a flea on a precious little one. However, fleas like puppies, and French bulldog mamma dogs need to take walks, so sometimes this is inevitable. This coupled with the fact that advantage cannot be used in whelping French bulldogs and frontline has to be used in its stead (and I do not find this product to be as effective), sometimes there is a flea issue. I used diatomaceous earth, an organic insecticide used in organic gardens. I powdered the puppies with the substance, spread it around their crates, washed their towels in borax, and then the fleas were gone in three days, never to return.

Other breeders have told me not to intercede and to have the attitude of “survival of the fittest” but in the two cases I just mentioned, these would have been really foolish reasons to lose a French bulldog puppy. Good judgment in the amount of intervention is paramount when whelping the French bulldog puppy.

Keep in mind that there are as many different ways of raising puppies, as there are breeders, much of puppy rearing is intuitive and automatic and with each and every litter comes the added experience of knowing when things are right and when they are not.

Lots of towels in dark colors (big ones and smaller lightweight hand towels), a small animal temperature regulated heating pad, heat lamps, a baby scale, syringes, pad of paper and pencil (for keeping track of birth times and weights), scissors (dull and sharp), surgical gloves, alcohol, iodine (or Beta dine), acidophilus, liquid pediatric vitamins, liquid infant milicon, goat milk yogurt for mamma dogs, and hand sanitizer.

French bulldog puppies are born C-Section, so it is important to take the mamma dog’s temperature a few days before the procedure to note any rises or falls, or to be sure to get her to the veterinarian a day or so before the first due date.

When picking up the puppies be sure to have a box, I use a plastic one with holes in the side for aeration and a top that can be closed for warmth, towels and a microwavable heat disc to keep the puppies warm on the way home from the vet. I bring a crate for the mamma dog with a towel inside, as she will bleed for sometime after birth of the puppies, and the towel will protect your vehicle.

I use the clamping ones purchased at any hardware store, and this allows them to be adjusted and moved about the pen to ensure the heat is where the French bulldog puppies are. French bulldog puppies are unable to regulate their temperature so it is important for at least the first two weeks to be sure the temperature is around 90-102 degrees Fahrenheit. The small animal heating pads keep the surface a constant 102 so the heat lamps are useful in coverage for French bulldog puppies who stray from the pad area.

I have a standard newborn nursery video baby monitor with remote so that I can have the camera focused in the area of the pen where the puppies tend to congregate so that I can see them on screen if I am working in my office, which is next to my bedroom. I am not comfortable only hearing them, seeing and hearing in the early stages is important.

The water bowl for the French bulldog mamma dog is best affixed to the side of the pen where it is above the heads or reach of the French bulldog puppies. In the early days, when the French bulldog mamma dog is recovering from her C-Section I place a water bowl on the floor of the crate, but I put it on another bowl, turned upside down to give it height. If you look at the photos by clicking the link, litter 09/19/2008, you will see photographs of Babette asleep in her French bulldog mamma dog’s food bowl, which she scaled and fell into. If that were water instead of food, instead of cute photographs, it would have been a catastrophe if not caught in the moment as the French bulldog puppy could have drowned.

I am an “in case” type person and always hope for healthy puppies French bulldog puppies and French bulldog mammas with plenty of milk but am ready in case one or both of these hopes fails.

I keep newbie nipples and feeding bottles available. If the mother does not have enough milk, I can warm up some goat milk (one can to one gallon of water) one part fresh goat milk to four parts water, mixed with 2 egg yolks and a whole dropper of pediatric vitamin drops and feed this to the French bulldog puppy.

If tube feeding is necessary, equipment is available for small animals, but measurement of the French bulldog puppy is paramount in success as it is essential for the survival of the French bulldog puppy that the milk or formula get to the stomach and not in the windpipe and hence the lungs which would cause the French bulldog puppy to aspirate.

If tube feeding, measure from the lips of the French bulldog puppy with the head tilted back while lying on the stomach, to the sternum and mark it on the tube. After inserting the tube be sure it goes to the point of the mark, or you may be in the windpipe instead of the esophagus of the French bulldog puppy.

Look and feel vibrant, vigorous and strong
Twitch while sleeping (activated sleep)
Nurse with great energy
Tongues are pink and warm
Skin returns quickly to normal when it is pinched
Bellies feel full, but not bloated

Look and feel limp and flaccid
Stop twitching in their sleep
Rattle when breathing
Cease nursing, show weak attempts at nursing or cry while nursing
Tongue is not pink colored and is cool to the touch (sometimes looks ruffled)
Cry most of the time
Double up in cramps
Skin stays creased when pinched
Diarrhea and/or vomiting

French bulldog puppies can be checked by pinching the skin on the back of the neck or on the top of the back. If hydration is OK, the pinched skin will bounce right back into place. If the pinched skin stays creased, the puppy is dehydrated and needs fluid replacement. Also a dehydrated pup's coat will sometimes have a ruffled look or scruffy appearance. Another way to tell if a puppy is dehydrated is by the color of the urine. Using a cotton ball on the genital area, if the urine is dark and scant, it means the puppy is dehydrated and there is electrolyte depletion. Normal urine will flow freely and be light yellow in color.

Initially, in the first few days it is important to monitor the nursing process. It is important to see that each of the French bulldog puppies is finding a teat with milk and nursing, by locking onto the teat and sucking. I look at the mouths of the French bulldog puppies from the side to be sure I see milk in the mouths. Initially, I weigh each French bulldog puppy before and after eating to see if there is a weight change, thereby indicating that they did, in fact, have milk. I also look at each French bulldog puppy as they nurse to observe if their stomachs appear to enlarge and fill with milk. Sometimes some French bulldog puppies initially have difficulty finding and latching onto a teat. It is necessary to assist these French bulldog puppies, sometimes holding them in place so they can drink enough to gain enough strength to do it on their own. Once they get the hang of locating a teat and latching on, there is no turning back.

French Bulldog puppies is similar to most other breeds. As French bulldog puppies begin to get teeth, it is not easy for the mother to nurse, and this is time for the puppies to begin eating on their own. I keep the French bulldog mamma dog’s food bowl in the pen with the puppies. As the puppies develop and begin toddling around, they begin to become interested with the bowl and the scent of the food, they may even sample some. This is ideal. If they do not, around the 4^th to 5^th week, as soon as teeth are noticeable, French bulldog puppies can be put around the puppy ring and encouraged to eat puppy food. At first, they may need something with more of a scent than the food alone to encourage eating. I have used goat yogurt and or strained meat baby food to get them started. Once they are started they keep going.

Once eating, I am sure to keep plenty of water available for them to drink at a level they can reach and if they need some encouragement, I put my fingers in the water, or use a syringe to help them become interested.

I keep the French bulldog mamma dog separate from the French bulldog puppies during this time, as they will still want to nurse, and she will continue producing milk if there is a need. It is supply and demand. It is best to keep them in separate rooms, if possible, during this time.

The French bulldog mother should begin to stop producing milk, and it is important to feel her occasionally to be sure none of the teats are hot or hard. If they are this means that the milk is impacted, and warm compressed must be applied, and some hand milking to alleviate the blockage.

Rubber or foam on grating of bottom of pen to provide padding, covered with a towel. Between the towel and the padding, over a thin towel to avoid the foam or rubber from overheating, I place the heating pad.

I change the towel at least twice a day, especially in the first few days when the mother is bleeding and as the French bulldog puppies get past two weeks when they produce more waste.

I take the weight of each of the French bulldog puppies twice daily, morning and night. I keep a chart to determine if the French bulldog puppies are gaining weight in proportion to each other. This is good to monitor health as well as to provide to a new owner who may be interested in all the nuances of the early stage of their French bulldog puppy.

In the Tampa Bay area, including Tampa , Gulfport , St. Petersburg , Pinellas County , Manatee County , Sarasota , Sarasota County and Pasco county, the requirements are that, for sale:

A French bulldog puppy must have a health exam within twenty one (21) days of sale

A French bulldog puppy must have no evidence of internal or external parasites (fleas and ticks excluded)

A French bulldog puppy must be vaccinated against distemper, hepatitis, Leptospirosis, parainfluenza, parvovirus and bordatell

A French bulldog puppy, over three months of age, must have a rabies vaccination

A French bulldog puppy will have their second set of vaccines four weeks after the first set

A French bulldog puppy will have their third set of vaccines four weeks after the second set

A spa treatment is in order for each human who partakes in this endeavor, because in the field of French bulldog puppy breeding, the breaks in between litters, however lonely, are short and soon to be followed with more puppies!