What should I know to care for and feed a 4-week-old orphaned puppy?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your question. First off, vaccinations are extremely important! Vaccinations typically begin at 6-8 weeks of age and are given every 3 weeks until the puppy reaches 16-20 weeks of age. Heartworm and flea / tick prevention are important as well. I would also recommend having Jimmy's poop checked for parasites and put him through a round of deworming medication. Establish yourself with a veterinarian so that you can get all of this for Jimmy and have a veterinarian available for getting all of this done. As for food, feed a puppy food. You can start out with canned food and introduce hard food around 6 weeks of age. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns!

Oh my! Coco is adorable! Thank you for including pictures. The good news is that a puppy that is about 4 weeks of age, should be able to eat softened food and not need to be bottle fed. I am attaching a handout on orphaned puppies and kittens below which discusses softening food between 4 and 6 weeks of age. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=576 I would recommend taking her to a vet for an initial examination, fecal check and deworming. If we do not know her mom's vaccine status, they may also recommend starting vaccinations at that time as well. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! While not ideal, this can be ok as long as she is fed a milk replacer formula until she is about 6 to 8 weeks when she starts eating kibble or canned food. They usually can do ok by themselves. Good luck and have a great day!

At 4 weeks they are still fully nursing so you will have to supplement for forumla. 4 weeks is s good time to start introducing puppy food. You can start with canned food with some water added to make it thinner and softer and place a small amount in his mouth to get him interested in it. Once he starts doing well with that you can decrease the amount of water and start soaking dry food to add to the canned until he is fully weaned. They do make a supplement called Nutrical that is helpful for young puppies that are weaned but not eating great

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! 3 weeks is young. I’d recommend a puppy milk replacer and bottle feeding for another week or 2. Then mix the puppy milk replacer in with canned puppy food and gradually add dry food over a couple of weeks. I like Purina proplan orhl’s puppy foods. Good luck!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! At 4 weeks you can start to wean bottle feeding. I would start with soft canned puppy food for 1 week then mix in wet dry food over another week. By 6 weeks the puppy should be able to eat dry food or moistened dry food. I hope this helps and I wish you and Cujo the best!

Bones is adorable and so lucky that you rescued him. I am attaching a link to a handout below on raising an orphan. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=576 First, get Bones some puppy formula. You should be able to find this at a pet food store. The handout has instructions on feeding. This will give Bones the nutrition he needs and prevent dehydration. Next, puppies younger than 3 weeks of age need stimulation to urinate and defecate. Again, this is discussed in the handout. I would recommend contacting your veterinarian and have them evaluate Bones as soon as possible to make sure there aren't any medical problems or anything else that you need to be doing for him at this point. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.