If you are lucky you have your puppy milk formula that you can buy at a pet shop or a vet.  But I was way out in the country (Makaha Surfing Beach) and not near a pet shop or vet so I called some breeders in Washington and they told me what to do.

First I went out and bought 5 preemie baby bottles with number 1 nipple.  I soon learned it was not enough.

Then I went back and bought extra nipples because they get clogged up with the milk and when you’re feeding all these puppies,  time is important.  Because you are going to be tired!  So have extra nipples ready and clean so you can switch nipples on the fly and you won’t have to worry about clogged up nipples that will not be able to squeeze out the milk so that it can reach the babies as they suckle.

I bought a case of goats milk or you can use evaporated milk (not condensed).

I warmed up the milk until I could barely feel it on the inside of my wrist and poured the milk into 5 clean, dry sterilized bottles.

I put the puppies in a safe area where they couldn’t wander off and get stuck somewhere and put towels on the floor.

Then I looked for the smallest of the puppies and started feeding.  I let them drink enough until they stopped on their own accord or just fell asleep in my arms.

I then noted which puppy got fed and how much he drank and I then put him in the baby pool lined with towels because as soon as a puppy feeds, he is going to pee or poop, so be prepared. 

Sometimes a puppy will stop feeding but will not go to sleep.  This is your cue that the puppy has to pee so take him somewhere with newspapers or old towels and let him relieve himself.  Make sure he is clean and dry and then put him down to sleep.

 If the puppy still does not sleep he is either dehydrated or needs more food.  Take your time and take your time with him to feed some more.  It took three days for me to feed three of the weakest puppies. 

Two of them almost died so I took extra time with them because they needed the most attention.  The one you see below was the weakest and you can see the difference between her and Stripe.  This picture was taken on the last day of my “vacation” and she was doing fine.  She was still small and probably would always be small but she was vigorous and feeding well. 

My brother Larry is holding her so you can see she is still tiny at 5 weeks.

OK that was one puppy.  Get the next smallest puppy and feed him the same way.  By now all the puppies are awake and crying to get fed.  Keep your cool and then call up a friend to help you out because it’s a lot of work.

This is the biggest puppy of the nine, I nicknamed him stripe.

This puppy I named Stripe.  He was the biggest, he got all the  milk he wanted because he was just so strong.  As I watched all the puppies try to nurse on the first day I got to Makaha, I noticed that half the puppies never got a chance to nurse because big bruisers like Stripe would take one paw and just sweep them out of his way. 

I made notes at who was not getting fed and then made sure I gave them extra time and attention to make sure they got fed twice as much as the big guys (BTW, I loved Stripe.  He was such a loving puppy) But he was the survivor and no one was getting in his way of the milk.

Let the mother dog see what you are doing so she will calm down.  After a while she may settle down and want to get away for a little time to herself.  Now is a good time to let her out into the back yard so that she can relieve herself and stretch her legs.

Do this with all the puppies until everyone is asleep and no ones crying for more food.

Now is a good time to take a break, eat some food and take a cat nap because in two hours you will have to do this all over again.