Newborn puppies are often considered the most fragile individuals inside a canine breeding unit. One of the reasons for that: at birth, their immune system is completely immature and unable to produce an efficient response against any pathogen. What’s Mother Nature’s solution to that? The colostrum !
This is the first milk produced by the bitch, generally around parturition, which is highly concentrated in antibodies. This acts as a vector, transferring immunity from the mother to her puppies. Why do breeders need to know about colostrum? Because in all mammalian species, no or lack of colostrum intake will lead to increased rates of neonatal mortality… Several strategies can be used today in a kennel to try to lower this risk. Moreover, new data on colostrum absorption in puppies were recently published. To stay on top, canine breeders definitely need to be aware of these! Check our last article on this topic in our Publications section, subsection Breeding
DR. EMMANUEL FONTAINE 