How to care for your new puppy

It was a Thursday evening after a lot of work at the clinic, I wanted to go have lunch and there was this puppy drooling saliva, carried by a woman in her mid-40s. She asked frantically: “Where is the doctor?  who is the doctor please?” At the sight of the puppy I got very weak and in compassion I tried to calm the woman down. I quickly carried the puppy from her straight to the examination table while asking her to explain what happened.

“A friend of mine gave me this puppy 3 days ago, her dog had seven of puppies” she said amidst tears. She went to a dog shop to buy things for the dog and among the items was dog soap. She said the puppy had bad odor and decided to bathe the puppy. She said that shortly after the bath the dog became sluggish and could hardly move and subsequently started drooling saliva profusely and was crying. She felt something was wrong when the puppy could hardly breathe and that was when she started looking for a vet. She said she was lucky that google displayed our website for her and she immediately copied the address and started rushing to the clinic.

This brief story above is one among many cases of similar occurrence we have experienced. Most dog owners resort to self-help when they have a dog or puppy. Some people have the notion that a puppy of two months should be taking milk and nothing else which is not correct. It is hard to see a Nigerian walk into a vet clinic to ask for advice on the way to care for their new puppy or puppies until issues as the one above ensues.

Let me use this opportunity to educate us on the best way to care for our new puppy just in case you just got one and looking for what to do.

Firstly, it’s important to take the dog to a veterinary clinic with the papers of the puppy. This document should contain the puppy’s last vaccination and deworming records. The doctor should be able to tell you the one that needs to be given and the next one will be scheduled by the doctor. The doctor should also be able to check the dog for ticks and fleas and other parameters to ensure that the puppy is healthy.

Secondly, it is important to note that puppies are not supposed to take only milk as its food for the day. There are commercial puppy foods available in Cans and dry form suitable for the puppy. I will recommend you buy any of these in a vet shop where a vet can explain how you can give the meals according to the age of your puppy. I won’t advice you to go to malls where you are left to choose without advice except you know what you are looking for already.

Thirdly, puppies play a lot and might play with their poop making them to start smelling badly. In this case you might just want to give the puppy a bath to eliminate this odor. You might walking into a shop and ask for any dog soap. This is very dangerous because most of the dog soaps that are made in Nigeria are made with an ingredient called pyrethrin. This pyrethrin is not good for dogs under 3 months of age and what happened to the puppy in the story above might just happen to yours. This instruction is written on that dog soap but very few Nigerians care to read it.

Furthermore, it is advised that puppies under the age of 3 months should not be given full bath due to cold and other issues but if you must bathe the puppy, you must do it when the environmental temperature is high or when the sun is high. Make sure you blow dry the puppy with a hand dryer after cleaning thoroughly with a clean towel.

When you notice ticks and fleas on the body of your puppy, you should get powders or sprays that are suitable for puppies to eliminate them. It is important to take these parasites seriously to eliminate them because they can transmit infections to your puppy that might impede his growth.

You should try to make sure your puppy does not play inside flower beds to avoid Miasis especially during rainy season. Miasis occur when the eggs of a certain fly penetrate into the skin of your puppy to form maggots which is the larval stage of the fly. Preventing this one might be difficult but you have to be very observant. Miasis can cause serious skin perforations that could lead to serious complications and infection. When it happens please visit a vet immediately for treatment and to obtain further advice.

You should feed your puppy 3-4 times daily. I have noticed that many Nigerians, especially the busy ones are rarely at home to give the afternoon meals. In this case, I advise you buy the dry food so that after feeding the “soft” food in the morning, you can keep the dry one in the bowl and another bowl filled with water for the puppy to keep eating until you return from work to give the evening meal. The dry food can hardly spoil during those hours you leave for work unlike the “soft” food.

It is important to keep the puppy in an enclosed space enough for him to play around. Remove any sharp object or any other thing that can harm the puppy. I will not advice that you chain the puppy when he is below 3 months. If you have to do it, he must be supervised to avoid strangulation.

Puppies, especially that of the mastiff breeds, grows very fast and are usually prone to calcium deficiency which can lead to bone problems, making them to have “bowl-legs” or “kay-legs”. These are avoidable if you can supplement their meals with calcium tablets because their bones are developing fast and adequate calcium is required in his meals to make it possible.

A word of advice: Please don’t beat the puppy for destroying things, just remove anything that he can destroy from his reach. Puppies are playful fellows just like children and must be allowed to play so that they can get enough exercise for better body metabolism, growth and development.