Caring for Boerboel puppies.....

  As I mentioned in the previous post Remy just had a litter of four puppies. I thought now would be a good time to relate my tips for caring for new born Boerboel puppies.
 As of today the puppies are two weeks old this week and so now they are becoming significantly more active.Up until now I have been leaving the care of the pups up to Remy, after all she is a very good mama. The best thing I for me to do up to this point is to make sure Remy and her pups are kept warm and semi secluded. We used a closet in an unused room for a whelping box, it provides Remy and the puppies a place to relax without disruption from our normal household activities, while at the same time it is still close enough that Remy knows we are not far and have not forgotten about her.
  It is very important to remember that Boerboels are very protective dogs, taking this into consideration we selected a space in our home that is not in a frequently traveled part of out home, so that  Remy is not disturbed by guests that come over to visit. Remy's protective nature is understandably elevated since now she is now looking after her human and k9 family. Keeping Remy calm is imperative for the safety of her puppies. In a fit of excitement Remy could possibly trample a pup or drag one or two who may be feeding. Those puppies have an iron grip when feeding.
  For the first two weeks our primary responsibility was to make sure Remy had enough water and food. It is very important to make sure there is plenty of water available so that she will be able to produce the milk to feed the pups, since they are entirely dependent upon mom for nutrients. As followers of this blog know Remy is normally fed raw meat and bone. Since the puppies have arrived I have switched her to Puppy Chow supplemented with chicken gizzards and beef liver. I switched from raw feeding because I did not want to risk not provided enough of anything that was necessary for the puppies. Finally I have also made sure that Remy always has fresh water and food close by, so she can have her needs met while staying close to the puppies.
  For the first couple of days it is normal for Remy not to want to leave the puppies alone at all, in fact she is not too thrilled when we came by to check on the puppies. You should see the look on her face.
  The decision to cut or not cut the tails should be made before the pups arrive so that you are prepared to have it done in the first five days. You do not want to hurt the puppies so it is best to do it early before the cartilage hardens. We cut the puppies tails at 6 days. If you have a Boerboel, or any dog for that matter take her far enough away so she does not hear the puppies cry out. 
As week two approaches it is time for the puppies to be wormed, wal mart has a good dewormer, but these pups will be wormed by our vet since Remy is do for a post delivery check-up.
I will continue to update the whelping process as the puppies grow so please follow me to receive all updates.