Best formula for puppies - Page 1

What would you recommend for bottle feeding a litter of puppies? I have had some tell me straight goats milk, some say formula, then others say mix it half and half. 

Has anyone used Esbilac? I have seen only good reviews online. 

Leerburg has some good stuff on this .. Esbilac does not taste good .. even store bought goat's milk tastes better.  Some probiotic is always good to help with digestion. Fresh goats milk straight from the goat would be my first choice

Use the Leerburg puppy formula:

• 10 oz. of canned evaporated milk OR whole goat's milk (not pasteurized cow's milk - this will cause scowers - dogs cannot drink normal cow's milk. Dogs cannot drink 1%, 2%, Skim, or Whole milk.) Whole goat's milk is by far the best to use. Walmart sells both evaporated milk, whole goat's milk and evaporated goats milk. Make sure you are using EITHER evaporated milk OR whole goat's milk. Do NOT use sweetened condensed milk!


• 3 oz. sterilized water (baby water OR boiled water that is then cooled). This is NOT needed if using whole goat's milk.


• 1 raw egg yolk.


• 1 cup of plain yogurt (avoid skim or fat free if at all possible).


• 1/2 tsp Karo Syrup or Corn Syrup (NOT HONEY!)
  
  **If you cannot find Karo or Corn syrup where you live, you can do a Google search for “substitute for Karo syrup” and get some options. When I Googled “substitute for Karo syrup," here is what I came up with - 1 c Karo can be subbed with 1 c white sugar and 1/4 c hot water (Cook it to dissolve in the water best you can get it to. Depending on the recipe, if you need the sugar to be completely dissolved you might need to add a bit more water).

Place ingredients in a blender and blend or use a wire whisk. Be careful to not over blend and create a milk shake full of bubbles and then tube bubbles into the puppy.

Keep cool and discard leftovers after 7 days.

Warm formula to body temperature (dogs are around 101 degrees). Discard any unused formula. This is a thick mixture - use a stomach tube to tube feed or enlarge the hole in the nipple for easy access for the pup

The goat milk is to replace the bitch's milk for puppies pre weaning age. Egg, sugar, yogurt for baby pups is too much....otherwise the the bitch's milk would have all those ingredients. Weaning age, yogurt, maybe, but not sugar. Only humans eat processed sugar on purpose, and we know what bad results come from that.

Evaporated milk is cows milk and I use it with older puppies around weaning age (3-5 weeks).  Despite everyone being sure that commercial cows milk is deadly poison I have fed it to older puppies with no problem but I add probiotic to give them the proper gut flora to digest it.  I feed my lactating bitches fresh cows milk by the gallons while they are nursing their puppies and see no problems plus the bitch gets to eat the cows milk who knows how many times either as milk or poop.  Fresh or evaporated goats milk is best but three times as expensive as evaporated milk.  Goats milk if they are small and weak switching to evaporated milk if they grow well and get stronger.  I grew up on a large commercial dairy farm and we always had milk that could not be sold which we fed to livestock and pets. I never once saw any animal die from eating/drinking cows milk including dogs, cats, pigs, local song birds, black birds, possums, adult cows, etc..  Taste Esbilac and then taste evaporated milk .. which one would you like to drink??  Condensed milk as pointed out is poison and expensive because all it is is evaporated milk with a lot of sugar or corn syrup .. you pay a lot for a little sugar and it is not good for man or beast.

Use the leerburg formula. Pups under stress need those extra calories. Or goat milk. The commercial formulas are not worth trying.