How to Make Puppy Milk Homemade

Did you know that you can make puppy milk replacers with evaporated milk and goat milk?

Ideally, it's best to use commercial puppy milk formula in case a mother dog can't nurse her babies. This is because it's made to mimic the natural milk that a dam produces.

However, in emergency situations, you might run out of choices.

If your local pet store has run out of them, you have to learn how to make puppy milk homemade.

Why Puppy Milk Replacements?

You may ask, why would there be a need for puppy milk replacers? Can't a mother dog nurse her babies herself?

There can be many reasons why a mom dog refuses to feed her puppies sometimes. To name a few, here are some of the causes why she rejects them:

1.    She's Sick

During postpartum, it's quite common for a mom dog to suffer from mastitis. It's an infection that causes a dam's mammary glands to become inflamed and swollen.

Because of this, it would be too painful for her to breastfeed her babies. Nursing them would be harmful to her puppies, too, because the infected teats are toxic to them.

2.    She's Feeling Overwhelmed

A canine mother may feel overwhelmed taking care of a litter right after giving birth. She may also feel heavily exhausted from being in labor for hours.

So, even if she wants to, she just doesn't have enough energy to take care of her young ones.

Homemade Milk Replacement Recipes

There are two common milk replacement recipes that you can easily follow.

However, you should remember that a milk replacement should only be a temporary fix. Once you're able to, you have to go get some puppy milk formula for your puppies.

Evaporated Milk Recipe

Evaporated milk is one of the safe options you can choose to make your artificial puppy milk with. It's concentrated milk that had 60% of its water content removed, making it thick in consistency.

It's packed with nutrients like protein, carbs, fats, and natural sugars that are essential for growing puppies.

To create your homemade milk replacers, you'll be needing the following ingredients:

1. Ten ounces of evaporated milk
2. Three ounces of distilled water
3. One teaspoon of corn syrup
4. One drop of pediatric multivitamin
5. Two raw egg yolks
6. One cup of whole yogurt

Instructions:

• Step 1: Pour your evaporated milk into a blender and then add distilled water.
• Step 2: Drop the egg yolks into the mix and add the yogurt.
• Step 3: Drizzle some corn syrup and lastly, add one drop of the pediatric multivitamin.
• Step 4: Blend the ingredients enough to combine them. Do take note that it's important not to overmix or else the milk will be too thick to consume.
• Step 5: Warm the blended milk to room temperature.

Goat Milk Recipe

One other option you can go for is goat milk. This type of milk is also rich in nutrients similar to evaporated milk.

It also contains calcium, potassium, and phosphorus.

Your puppies can easily digest goat milk. This makes it an excellent source of nutrition for your fur babies without causing upset tummies.

Prep the following ingredients for the goat milk recipe:

1. 12 ounces of fresh goat milk
2. One cup of whole yogurt
3. One raw egg yolk
4. One tablespoon of mayonnaise
5. One teaspoon of corn syrup

Instructions:

• Step 1: Pour your goat milk into a large glass bottle. Add in the egg yolk and the mayonnaise, and shake the bottle until the egg mixes with the milk.
• Step 2: Mix in the yogurt and drizzle the corn syrup on top. Shake the bottle hard to mix all the ingredients.
• Step 3: Warm the milk to room temperature.

Add Some Gelatin

In case your puppies aren't responding well to the goat milk formula, you may reinforce it with unflavored gelatin. Yes, gelatin is actually safe for your puppies to consume.

In fact, you can find gelatin in many dry and wet dog food. This is because it offers several health benefits like the following:

• Helps your puppies gain weight.
• Boosts their appetite.
• Prevents arthritis that's common with dogs like the Golden Retriever.
• Promotes brain health.

So, if you'd like to try this tip, you may simply add these two ingredients to your goat milk formula:

1. Two raw egg yolks
2. Two packets of dissolved unflavored gelatin

Why Can't You Use Regular Cow's Milk?

Cow's milk doesn't provide any benefits to newborn puppies at all. We have listed a few of its disadvantages below:

1.    No Nutritional Value

Cow milk doesn't contain any nutrients. It lacks phosphorus, calcium, and calories that puppies need for their development.

2.    Causes Adverse Reactions

It can actually make your puppies sick. If they consume cow's milk, they may end up suffering from abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and watery stool.

But Aren't Dogs Lactose Intolerant Anyway?

The answer is yes and no.

When puppies are born, their bodies produce an abundant amount of enzymes called lactase. These enzymes help break down the milk puppies drink from their moms.

However, cow's milk is so high in lactose that a puppy's enzymes are unable to break it down. This then triggers lactose intolerance.

Additionally, most dogs develop intolerance toward milk as they age. This is because their bodies produce less lactase over time, making it hard for them to digest milk.

Lactose intolerance symptoms in dogs may vary. These include the following:

• Ear infections, which are commonly experienced by Cocker Spaniels.
• Constipation
• Flatulence
• Excessive scratching and licking

3.    Source of Diseases

Too much cow's milk can be a source of many diseases. Because it's high in fat and natural sugars, your puppies may become obese or develop pancreatitis.

Proper Storage

Puppy milk formula is a potential breeding ground for bacteria. So, it's crucial to learn how to properly preserve it.

Here are steps you can take to ensure you don't waste your homemade puppy milk:

1. Do not prepare a large batch in advance. Make enough milk that you can use within 24 hours.
2. Always keep the milk refrigerated.
3. Sterilize the utensils and glass bottles between each use.

Paul S.

Paul has been creating content for the dog niche for many years. The information he shares comes his first hand experience growing up in dog lovers household and then owning multiple dog breeds of his own as an adult. Paul enjoys doing the hard research to collect, analyze and present our dogtemperament.com readers with the best answers to their questions.