How To Use Oxygen In Newborn Puppies & Kittens

🇫🇷 Lire en Français | 🇪🇸Leer en Español | 🇧🇷Leia em português

I often emphasize the 3-H syndrome—hypothermia, hypoglycemia, and dehydration—when discussing newborn puppy and kitten care because these are critical issues, especially during the first week of life. However, there’s another crucial factor to consider right after birth: hypoxia.

What is Hypoxia?

Hypoxia occurs when a newborn doesn’t get enough oxygen.

This can be a serious problem because, during birth, puppies and kittens transition from relying on their mother’s placenta for oxygen to breathing on their own.

If that transition isn’t smooth—whether due to a difficult birth, weak lungs, or other complications—they may not get enough oxygen.

Without proper oxygen levels, their organs can struggle to function, leading to serious health issues or even life-threatening conditions.

Hypoxia and “Bacterial Translocation”

One of the key issues that can arise in newborns is something called “bacterial translocation.” I often mention this in my talks and it is something crucial to understand.

Simply put, newborns have bacteria within their organism (in their mouth and digestive tract for instance). If they suffer from any condition, like hypoxia or the 3-H syndrome, these bacteria can move into the bloodstream. And once in the blood, bacteria have the perfect environment to multiply rapidly.

This can lead to septicemia, which is a severe infection in the bloodstream.

Septicemia is particularly dangerous for newborns because their immune systems aren’t strong enough yet to fight off such an infection.

This highlights the importance of properly assessing and addressing conditions like hypoxia and the 3-H syndrome.

These are some of the most common causes of bacterial translocation in newborns, and the good news is—they’re something you can detect and prevent!

I am on a mission to learn everything about dog and cat breeding. Sign up to my newsletter to follow my journey, and receive exclusive content and offers!

How to Approach and Address Hypoxia?

I’ve already addressed some of the key steps you need to take in previous blogs, including neonatal resuscitation techniques and how to evaluate the overall health of newborns right after birth using APGAR scores. These are critical practices that I strongly encourage you to review because they lay the foundation for proper newborn care.

But what comes next?

➡️ For puppies and kittens with an APGAR score between 4 and 7—meaning they’re struggling but not in a critical condition yet—oxygen supplementation right after birth can be incredibly beneficial.

This extra oxygen support can help stabilize them and give their delicate systems the boost they need to thrive in those crucial early moments.

By the way, I strongly advise AGAINST relying on what we call analeptic drugs in newborn care. Analeptic drugs, like doxapram, are sometimes used to stimulate breathing, but their efficacy in newborns is highly questionable. If the oral and nasal cavities haven’t been properly cleared of amniotic fluid right after birth, using these drugs can actually lead to false aspiration, making the situation worse for the newborn.

In a kennel or cattery setting, these drugs offer very limited benefits and can create more problems than they solve. That’s why I recommend leaving their use to your veterinarian, who can assess whether they’re truly necessary.

And to effectively address this problem these days, I believe there are two essential tools every breeder should have:

an incubator
and an oxygen concentrator.

Key Specifications

When selecting an incubator or oxygen concentrator for newborn puppies and kittens, it’s crucial to understand the key specifications to ensure you’re providing the best care.

✅ The essentials for the Incubator

1. Temperature Control:

The incubator should allow precise control of temperature. For optimal care:

– First week after birth: Maintain a temperature of 30°C (86°F).

– Second week: Lower the temperature to 28°C (82.4°F).

– Third week: Reduce it further to 25°C (77°F).

The ability to adjust and maintain temperature within this range is essential for the well-being of the newborns.

2. Humidity Control:

Ideally, the incubator should also control humidity levels. Aim for a humidity of 55% with a tolerance of +/- 10%. Maintaining appropriate humidity is crucial for preventing dehydration and ensuring comfort. Side note: I recently read a paper that highlighted a significant discrepancy between the temperature set on pediatric incubators and the actual temperature inside. Since temperature control is critical for newborns, I would always recommend adding a small weather station to monitor the environmental parameters within the incubator. Most incubators I’ve seen on the market often do not monitor humidity, so this is an excellent way to ensure you’re effectively controlling both temperature and humidity for the well-being of the newborns.

✅ The essentials for the Oxygen Concentrator:

Based on the latest guidelines from veterinary neonatology:

1. Type: Opt for an open-circuit oxygen concentrator

An open-circuit oxygen concentrator is a device that takes in air from the surrounding environment, filters out nitrogen, and delivers concentrated oxygen to the patient. Unlike a closed system, where the oxygen is recirculated, an open circuit means that the oxygen is continuously drawn from the room air and delivered fresh to the patient.

(And the good news is, most commercially available options—like this one, for example—are already designed that way.)

2. Flow Rate: The device should provide an oxygen flow rate of greater than 4 liters per minute (L/min).

3. If you invest in an oxygen concentrator, I’d recommend also investing in a veterinary pediatric mask like this one.

A pediatric mask is specifically designed to deliver oxygen at a lower and controlled pressure (less than 12 mm Hg), which is crucial for the delicate airways of newborn puppies and kittens.

Interested to learn more about canine neonatology? Download my free ebook on the topic

How to use the oxygen concentrator?

When it comes to using an oxygen concentrator, there are really two situations to consider:

1/ You want to provide oxygen to a newborn puppy or kitten that seems to be suffering from hypoxia based on the signs we’ve discussed earlier.

➡️ A recent paper I read on the topic recommends oxygenating the individual for 1 minute with an oxygen intake of 40-60%.

This is VERY important because higher oxygen concentrations can lead to complications like oxidative stress and long-term tissue damage. Oxidative stress happens when there’s too much oxygen, causing harmful molecules to build up in the body, which can damage cells and tissues. In newborns, this can be especially dangerous, leading to serious health issues. That’s why it’s crucial to avoid over-oxygenating them.

NB: To achieve these concentrations, that is why the machine should deliver more than 4 L/min of oxygen, and the pressure should be less than 12 mm Hg—this is why using a pediatric mask is essential.

It is recommended to oxygenate for one minute, and you should see improvement. If not, it’s crucial to check quickly with your veterinarian.

2/ The second reason you’d use an oxygen concentrator is when you have a litter of newborn puppies and suspect they might be suffering from hypoxia.

In this case, you would connect the oxygen concentrator to the incubator to increase the oxygen levels inside… and this is when things get a bit trickier!

To achieve the required oxygen levels mentioned earlier, you need to consider several factors, including the volume of the incubator, the flow rate of the oxygen concentrator, the oxygen concentration delivered by the concentrator, and the duration of oxygen delivery…

These parameters all influence how quickly and effectively you can reach the target oxygen concentration of 40-60% within the incubator.

As I mentioned earlier, the only clear guidance I’ve found in the scientific literature is that for newborn puppies and kittens, the goal is to provide air containing 40-60% oxygen at less than 12 mmHg for one minute.

However, translating this into practical use within an incubator isn’t straightforward, likely because the optimal settings can vary depending on the specific incubator being used.

Ideally, we’d want to achieve the same oxygen concentration and pressure inside the incubator as we would for individual puppies. The best way to ensure this is by placing an oxygen detector inside the incubator to monitor the oxygen levels in real-time.

In human medicine, once hypoxia is resolved, an oxygen concentrator is no longer needed, and the goal is to maintain the oxygen level inside the incubator at around 21%—the typical concentration found in ambient air.

Some companies provide recommendations on how to adapt the flow of the oxygen concentrator for use with their incubators, which can serve as a helpful starting point (see here).

However, I strongly believe that continuously monitoring the oxygen concentration inside the incubator with a dedicated oxygen monitor is the best approach. This ensures you provide sufficient oxygen to the newborns without risking hyperoxygenation.

After reviewing all of this, I still believe an oxygen concentrator is a valuable tool to have in a maternity setting, whether you are breeding dogs or cats. While it is more straightforward to use with individual puppies/kittens, when using it with an incubator, proper monitoring of the oxygen levels inside is crucial to avoid any complications related to excessive oxygen exposure.