Pomeranian babies are very small at birth, an average newborn Pomeranian baby weighs between 2 and 5 oz at birth.

Puppies must be kept warm , at a constant temperature of 95-100 F (35 - 38 C) the first week. The temperature can be slowly dropped to 75 F (24 C) after the age of 3 weeks.

I personally prefer the use of an overhead infra-red light for heat purposes and I keep a bowl of water nearby to keep the atmosphere near the puppies moist. It is imperative that the puppies never become dehydrated. You can easily check that puppy is not dehydrated, by pulling a little skin up and checking how quickly the skin returns to normal.

Chilled puppies are unable to digest their food. A chilled puppy must be slowly warmed and stimulated by rubbing prior to feeding.

Puppies can be fed with a special bottle or you can tube feed. Bottle feeding is a little easier for novice breeders.
I have found the biggest problem is making the correct size hole in the teat. Too big and the puppy can nearly choke, or end up with milk in the puppy's lungs, or milk coming out of the puppy's nose.
If you find milk coming from the puppy's nose check the size of the hole in the teat. Also check the roof of the puppy's mouth for a cleft palate.

I personally prefer to tube feed puppies. Once you have mastered the art of tube feeding, you will find that tube feeding a newborn puppy is the fastest and safest method. Care must be taken to be sure that the tube enters the esophagus and not the trachea. Always make a make on the tube as far as from the tip of the nose to the last rib. Then insert the tube to to this mark and you can be sure that the tube is correctly inserted. I would recommend that ask you vet to show you how to tube feed a puppy.

The secret to hand rearing is not to overfeed. If the puppies sleep from one feed to the other with nearly no crying and their stools are formed with no undigested curds and they gain weight then the feeding regime is correct. If you observe undigested food (curds)] in the puppies' stools , the mixture is too rich for the puppy. If you are using the formula below reduce the amount of whipping cream added (if any). If using a commercial puppy rearing formula, slightly increase the ratio of boiled water to formula.

Great care must be used with any changes in the formula fed to the puppies. Even a change to temperature of the formula if enough to cause stomach upsets in a very small newborn Pomeranian Puppy.

The Puppy formula should be freshly made up for each feed. As a rough guide the Puppies should be feed every 3 hours, 24 hours day for the first couple of weeks.

Hygiene is very important and all equipment used to feed the puppies should be sterilized between feeds.

After feeding puppies must be helped to urinate and defecate. I use a wad cotton wool with baby oil to moisten the puppies bottom. If the puppy's bottom becomes chaffed , use a human baby nappy rash cream to sooth and cure this problem.It is extremely important that all puppies defecates within the first 24 hours. During the first 24 hours ensure that all the puppies have opened their bowels at least once. Some puppies take longer to defecate and you just must gently rub the area around the anus with the positioned cotton wool wad. Don't be concerned if your puppy does cry, this is a good sign that he is trying to pass a motion, so keep rubbing until he has success.

I personally prefer to use a commercial puppy rearing formula, but in case of an emergency the following recipes for homemade puppy formula, may prove of use. I have hand reared litters on Recipe 3 with success.

Remember your newborn Pomeranian puppy is very fragile and that any sudden changes to your puppy's diet could be fatal. Any changes in a puppy's diet must be made slowly, making small changes each day. If you want to change puppy from one milk formula to another formula, please do this by feeding 95 % the old formula with 5% the new formula added for the first day. Slowly increase the percentage of new formula day by day until the puppy is 100% on the new formula. If any stomach upset at all is observed, whilst you are changing the formula, I would stop increasing the percentage of new formula for a few days and maybe even go back one step.

Puppy Milk recipes for supplementing newborn Pomeranian babies.

Puppy Formula Recipe 1

1 cup whole goat milk

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon honey or white corn syrup

1 teaspoon cold pressed flax oil

For weak pups a ¼ cup whipping cream may be added to the above recipe.

Puppy Formula Recipe 2

13 oz. can of evaporated milk

Equal amount of water

4 oz. of plain yogurt

4 egg yolks

1 tablespoon of liquid vitamins.

The water element is very important in any formula. The newborn puppy has a tremendous need for water, since he himself is almost 85% water.

Puppy Formula Recipe 3

50/50 Evaporated Milk and WARM (pre-boiled) water
1 beaten egg yoke
1 Teaspoon of Sandoz Calcium
1 Teaspoon of Glucose Powder
3 drops of Pentavite Vitamin Drops
Strain with a tea strainer.

Puppy Formula Recipe 4

12 oz evaporated milk
3 large egg yolks
2 tbls of dark karo syrup
1 cup of plain yogurt (no non fat)
mix well
then add 8 oz of clear pedialite
Formula keeps for 2 days.

Copyright Denise Leo 1997-2012. All Rights Reserved.
Breeder of Best in Show winning Champion Pomeranians
Not to be reproduced in any form without written consent of the author.