How to Prevent Disease in Orphaned Newborn Puppies
To prevent disease in orphaned puppies, give them plasma and serum during their first day to ensure passive immunity, which protects them from disease. After that, feed them a puppy formula, like Esbilac, to give them the nutrients they normally get from their mother's milk. If you can't get puppy formula right away, make an emergency mixture out of milk, oil, salt, and egg yolks. Then, have your vet deworm your puppies at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks of age to keep parasites at bay. You should also keep them indoors, since newborn puppies can get sick easily.
Ensure the puppies get passive immunity. Passive immunity protects newborn puppies from disease until they're old enough to get vaccinated. They get this immunity through colostrum ('first milk'), which a mother dog produces during its puppies' first day of life. Without a mother, your orphaned newborn puppies will need another source of passive immunity. Plasma and serum, which are two components of blood, can provide passive immunity. Your vet can collect plasma and serum from adult healthy dogs. Talk with your vet about collecting the plasma and serum before the puppies are born. That way, you can be prepared to give them passive immunity if necessary. Purchase a commercial puppy formula. After their first day of life, the orphaned puppies will need puppy formula to keep them healthy and prevent disease, since they won't be able to get milk from their mother. High-quality commercial puppy formulas are available at pet stores, and maybe at your vet's office. Examples of high-quality commercial puppy formulas are Esbilac® and Puppylac®. If you cannot get purchase puppy formula right away, make an emergency puppy formula at home. Mix one cup of milk, one tablespoon of corn oil, one pinch of salt, and three egg yolks (no whites) in a bowl. Feed the emergency formula until you can purchase commercial puppy formula. Bottle feed the puppies. Orphaned newborn puppies should be bottle fed or tube fed. Bottle feeding is preferable. Tube feeding is good for puppies that can't suckle very well, but increases the risk of a puppy inhaling the formula into its lungs, causing aspiration pneumonia. Here are some bottle feeding tips: Warm the formula to 99 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 to 38 degrees Celsius) on the stove. Do not use the microwave. Use a needle to poke a few small holes in the bottle's nipple so the milk comes out as drips. Let the puppies rest on their belly in a natural position while you feed them. Do not roll the puppies onto their backs while bottle feeding. Watch for milk coming out of the nose, indicating the puppy is drinking too quickly. Burp the puppies after feeding. Rub a moist, warm cotton ball or towel around each puppy's anus to stimulate urination and defecation after each feeding. Use caution if tube feeding the puppies. Not all orphaned puppies have a good suckle reflex. If some of the orphaned puppies cannot suck on a bottle, you will need to tube feed them. Have your vet or an experienced breeder show you how to properly tube feed your orphaned puppies. Consider using a surrogate mother dog. A surrogate mother dog could give your orphaned newborn puppies the chance to get colostrum in their first day of life. If you use a surrogate mother, watch it the entire time it is with the puppies. It may reject the puppies and try to kill them. If the surrogate mother accepts the puppies, it could nurse the puppies beyond their first day of life. Before the puppies are born, talk with your vet about using a surrogate mother dog. Deworm the puppies. Intestinal parasites can make puppies sick and make it harder for them to gain weight and grow into healthy adults. To prevent these parasites from causing disease, have your vet deworm your puppies at two, four, six, and eight weeks of age. Then, give your puppies a monthly preventive that protects against heartworm disease and intestinal parasites. A deworming medication kills the intestinal parasites. Give the monthly preventative year-round to give your puppies full protection from diseases caused by worms. Vaccinate the puppies early. By being orphaned, your newborn puppies may not receive enough passive immunity to be fully protected from disease. Your vet may recommend starting your puppies' vaccinations earlier than usual to make up for the lack of immunity. Healthy puppies that have nursed well usually start their series of vaccinations between 6 and 8 weeks of age. Your vet will recommend how early your orphaned puppies should start receiving their vaccinations. Keep the puppies as clean as possible. You can help to prevent disease by making sure that the puppies and their environment are clean. Immediately after birth, wipe their navels with diluted disinfectant and be sure to wipe their rears with damp cotton wool, in order to stimulate urination and defecation. Keep the puppies inside. Orphaned newborn puppies are at higher risk for sickness because of their lack of passive immunity. For this reason, you should keep your orphaned newborn puppies inside and away from other dogs that could make them sick. If you have other dogs in your home, keep them away from the orphaned puppies until the puppies are vaccinated. Keeping the puppies inside will prevent them from being exposed to feces of other dogs. These feces could contain parasites that would sicken the puppies. Examine the puppies’ feces. The color of a newborn puppy's feces can indicate whether the puppy is healthy or not. After you stimulate each puppy to defecate after a meal, look at the color of the feces. The feces should be brown and partially formed. If the feces are green, the puppy likely has an infection. Contact your vet if you see green feces. Your puppy will need to be treated for the infection. Keep the puppies’ environment warm. Newborn puppies depend on heat from their mother to keep them warm. Without a mother, orphaned newborn puppies are at risk of becoming cold, which could quickly become an emergency situation. Use artificial sources of heat to keep the nesting box warm: Heating pad: set the heating pad on low, wrap it in a towel, and place it under half of the nesting box. In case the puppies get too warm, they'll need a space in the nesting box where they can move to cool off. Heat lamp: place it over one side of the nesting box. Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature. Adjust the environmental temperature each week. In the first two weeks of life, newborn puppies cannot regulate their own body temperature. Until the puppies are four weeks old, you will need adjust the temperature to keep them warm and comfortable. Reposition the heat sources and continue using a thermometer: First week: 84 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (29 to 32 degrees Celsius) Second week: 79 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit (26 to 29 degrees Celsius) Third week: 73 to 79 degrees Fahrenheit (23 to 26 degrees Celsius) Fourth through twelfth weeks: 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Celsius) Observe how the puppies lie within the nesting box. The way the puppies lay in the nesting box will let you know if they are comfortable, too hot, or too cold. If the puppies are piled on top of each other, they are cold and using each other to stay warm. If they're spread far apart, the puppies are too warm. If they're lying next to each other, they're comfortable. Take the puppies’ rectal temperatures. A newborn puppy's body temperature should be between 95 and 99 degrees Fahrenheit (35 and 37 degrees Celsius). A body temperature below 95 degrees Fahrenheit is dangerous—the puppy's heart will slow down and the digestive tract won't work very well. If any of the puppies' body temperatures drop below 95 degrees Fahrenheit, slowly warm them up over two to three hours. Place the cold puppy on a hot water bottle. Wrap the water bottle with a towel so the puppy's skin doesn't get burned. The puppy will likely move off the water bottle when it warms up. 
Ensure the puppies get passive immunity. Purchase a commercial puppy formula. Bottle feed the puppies. Use caution if tube feeding the puppies. Consider using a surrogate mother dog. Deworm the puppies. Vaccinate the puppies early. Keep the puppies as clean as possible. Keep the puppies inside. Examine the puppies’ feces. Keep the puppies’ environment warm. Adjust the environmental temperature each week. Observe how the puppies lie within the nesting box. Take the puppies’ rectal temperatures. 