how young is too young for a bath? - Poodle Forum - Standard Poodle, Toy Poodle, Miniature Poodle Forum ALL Poodle owners too!

frostfirestandards · 03-09-2010, 01:31 AM

The puppies are icky! They can now poo on their own, and though Jamie cleans it up, there is still a little on them and they...well they are starting to smell like a pet shop.
I clean the box and blankie at least once a day, but it doesnt seem to help.

If I wipe them with a baby wipe will that hurt Jamie if she licks them?

BLECK!!!

Winnow · 03-09-2010, 01:47 AM

I would not give them a bath until they are 5 weeks old.

How old are they now?

My pupps where like this at first when they started to manage on there own.
But now they are much cleaner when doing there business.

Do you have a separate are for them to pee and poo in ?
Mine are in a closed area they have a wetbed to sleep on and then there is the food are and then they have a place where they can do there business.

How many puppies do you have ? I have six.

Marian · 03-09-2010, 03:52 AM

If you do use a wipe, don't use a human baby wipe. They make wipes specifically for pets, although I don't know if they are okay to use on puppies. Maybe you could just use a warm wet washcloth with a tiny amount of hydrogen peroxide on it to combat the smell.

desertreef · 03-09-2010, 03:54 AM

LOL... you are too funny! Yes, having so many puppies will create more of that 'pet shop smell'... wait til mom is no longer cleaning them up! If you don't get to it in time, they are in it, and then play with each other and it just spreads! You will need to give them LOTS more space soon.

I feel comfortable giving them their first bath at 4 weeks old. Get some help and make an assembly line. Not only will it go faster, it's much more fun!

Karen

cbrand · 03-09-2010, 05:18 AM

I agree. 4 weeks. Until then you can try wiping them down with a warm cloth, but you want to try to keep them from getting wet and chilled. Also, a soft slicker brush might take some of the dried poo off.

I have never had a litter as large as yours and it sounds like Mom has trouble keeping up with all the poo. Are the on any sort of schedule? Can you catch them in the act so to speak and whisk the poops away? (I do this when my puppies are older and Mom is no longer cleaning up after them).

Finally, do you have a potty system? I use an elevated grate set directly in my whelping box. When the puppies crawl on the grate, the change of footing makes them want to eliminate. The urine and small poops fall through the grate and keep everyone cleaner. As they get older, it gets them in the habit of going potty in the same place away from where they sleep.

frostfirestandards · 03-09-2010, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbrand

I agree. 4 weeks. Until then you can try wiping them down with a warm cloth, but you want to try to keep them from getting wet and chilled. Also, a soft slicker brush might take some of the dried poo off.

I have never had a litter as large as yours and it sounds like Mom has trouble keeping up with all the poo. Are the on any sort of schedule? Can you catch them in the act so to speak and whisk the poops away? (I do this when my puppies are older and Mom is no longer cleaning up after them).

Finally, do you have a potty system? I use an elevated grate set directly in my whelping box. When the puppies crawl on the grate, the change of footing makes them want to eliminate. The urine and small poops fall through the grate and keep everyone cleaner. As they get older, it gets them in the habit of going potty in the same place away from where they sleep.

Ok now I show my naivete (sp, but you catch my drift) I thought that :

Puppies HAD to be stimulated to potty, either by mom or a cottonball or whatever until they at least had their eyes open.

I thought that mom would keep them immaculately clean

I thought that mom would like a blankie to lay on

I thought it was all fun and games and FREAKING SWEET PUPPY BREATH for a few weeks.

Aparently puppies can poo all by themselves.
Jamie still cleans them and the whites still *LOOK* white, but they DO NOT smell like puppy breath!!!
how big is the spacing in the grate? I worry about little toes being caught, but if you are still using it, aparently no one lost a foot.

It wouldn't be so bad if there were not 5 billion of these little guys. I have a layer of puppy pads and then a blankie over top of that.

When they were mobile (although they are already trying to walk, and they do move fast!) I was going to extend their area to include a potty area, and someone suggested a litter box.

I think its going to be a long couple of months....
Oh yeah, and they are 1 1/2 weeks old now

partial2poodles · 03-09-2010, 06:22 PM

My little cuties are getting in a pattern of sleeping on the blanketed side of the pen and as soon as they open their eyes, they come over to the gate side (which is the newspaper pee and poo side) So I keep a rolll of toilet paper and a trash can there and a pick up the poops right away. The trash can is a wide mouth and when they are nursing, I hurry up and change the newspapers. As soon as they hear the rustling of the papers they gotta run over and investigate. They still walk thru their slurry of puppy food but they are starting to eat raw liver and chicken already. Puppy are definitely messy. I'm doing 1st baths this weekend....they'll be 5 weeks.

Cdnjennga · 03-09-2010, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frostfirestandards

It wouldn't be so bad if there were not 5 billion of these little guys. I have a layer of puppy pads and then a blankie over top of that.

I can feel your frustration! But this made me laugh!

You do have a big litter, it's not surprising it's a little overwhelming. I think Cbrand's suggestion is a really good one, especially in the coming weeks when they get really mobile. Ahhh!

Tess · 03-09-2010, 07:16 PM

I agree with the 4 weeks and make sure you are using a shampoo labeled safe for puppies. I towel dry mine ( really good) the first time and then introduce them to a hand dryer at 6 weeks. Before they go home, I use the blower on them using the lowest force of air.

poodlemommy1 · 03-08-2012, 10:59 PM

I had a litter of 9. I had a whelping box, 8x8. I bought 2 fleece dog blankets at Costco and changed interchanged them twice a day (washing machine was always running) because Mom couldn't keep up with the spoo poo either, and it gave her some gastric issues when they were 2 weeks old. There's no way around it, this is a breeder's JOB, to be knee deep in poop. I thought it would never end, either, but please don't bathe them before they are ready. They can catch a terrible, serious chill and you will feel horrible. When you do give them their first baths, you need someone (or 2 people) to help. One receives the pup after the bath and dries them briskly, the other person has ANOTHER dry towel and dries them some more, and there has to be a heat source close by, even in the summer, like a blow dryer set on low or a heater that blows warm air. Something. About the poop: I built a poop run in the room, an area separated by a tall, thin, long plank of particle board, and the puppies pretty quickly learned how to get out of the whelping box and go to the poop run. There were accident for sure, and it seemed that first the first 6 weeks all I did is clean up puppy poo, my back was killing me. But we take the responsibility on when we allow the dogs to breed, and it's a full time job, unless you are a pro and have the accoutrements like a grate, etc. Those 6 weeks were the most exhausting 6 weeks I have ever spent (even having my own baby, I wasn't that exhausted!) but now that they are all grown and gone.... I wish I could do it again. But that ship has sailed.