Tube Feeding Your Puppy - Part 1

A safe way to nurse a newborn puppy without the risk of strangulation is by using a feeding tube.  The equipment needed for tube feeding an orphaned or abandoned puppy is quite simple.  You will need a #8 or a #10 French infant feeding tube, a hypodermic syringe, and a substitute for mother's milk.  The tube and syringe are disposable and can be thrown away after each use.  On the other hand, there are also reusable equipment such as glass barrel syringes and rubber feeding tubes that are available but must be thoroughly cleaned right after each use.  One great advantage of these feeding tubes is that they can be placed in water and boiled, along with any other equipment, when sterilization is required.

After the proper equipment has been gathered, the feeding of a puppy with a stomach tube is performed by applying the following steps:

Step 1: Fill the syringe about ½ full of the warmed mother’s milk substitute and put it aside for future use. Then, determine the proper depth to which the tube should be inserted by measuring, with the tube, the distance between the puppy's nose and a point just behind the elbow or just in front of the last rib. This is approximately where the stomach of the puppy is located.  Continue to hold the tube by your thumb and forefinger.                                        ;

Step 2: The next step is to mark the tube at the correct depth measured in step 1. This can be done using a marking pen, or with a tiny piece of tape.

Step 3:  With the marked tube still held between the thumb and forefinger, hold the puppy with the opposite hand, placing the thumb and forefinger on the cheeks, one on each side of the puppy's mouth.  Use the remaining three fingers of the same hand to grasp the puppy.  The middle finger is placed around the puppy's neck, in front of the forelegs.  The fourth finger grasps the rib cage just behind the front legs.  The little finger is placed in front of the hind legs, either in the groin or around the abdomen, depending on the puppy's length.  Once the puppy is held firmly in hand, pry its jaw open with the little finger of the hand holding the tube.  Gentle and steady pressure is placed on the sides of the mouth at the same time.  By maintaining this light pressure, the mouth can be held agape once it is opened.