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Haydok PatileriFor the animals of Beytepe.

When you come across puppies

Picking up a puppy you find alone is usually not a kindness. The mother is probably close by.

Look for the mother first

Finding a puppy alone does not mean it has been abandoned. The mother may have gone to look for food, may be moving the litter, or may have backed off because she saw you. It is normal for her not to return for hours.

So the first thing to do is wait. Watch from a distance, out of sight, for an hour or two. If she comes back, the best thing you can do is nothing at all: puppies grow on their mother’s milk, beside their mother.

Handling puppies and moving them makes things harder. The mother may decide the den is unsafe and start carrying them elsewhere — which means more hours in the cold and in traffic for them.

Behlül adlı köpeğin fotoğrafı

If you find puppies

Do

  • Watch from a distance; give the mother an hour or two to return.
  • If the mother is there, leave food and water for her — she is the best carer they have.
  • If the den is soaked or in the road, move it only a few metres, somewhere safe.
  • If one puppy is clearly weak, cold or limp, get it to a vet without delay.
  • Photograph them, share the location: most rescues start that way.

Don’t

  • Do not take the puppies away before you have looked for the mother.
  • Do not handle them needlessly.
  • Do not give cow’s milk — it causes diarrhoea in puppies, and worse.
  • Do not separate the litter.
  • Do not put a found puppy straight next to your own unvaccinated animals.

Common questions

The mother has not come back. What now?
If you have waited a few hours and the puppies are cold, crying or listless, it is time to step in. Put them in a dry box on a towel, keep them warm but not against a heater, then call the nearest vet clinic and your municipality’s veterinary unit. Very young puppies need feeding every few hours, and the vet will tell you with what and how.
Can I take them home?
For a short while, yes — but treat it as a stopgap rather than a rescue. Unvaccinated puppies can carry disease, so keep them in a separate room away from your own animals and get them to a vet at the first opportunity. If you cannot take this on permanently, start looking for homes the same day: a puppy grows, and being put back a few months later is worse for it than never having been taken.
I saw puppies on campus — should I write to you?
Yes, please do. If it is in or near Beytepe we will do what we can. Send the location and a photo, and tell us whether you saw the mother — that changes the first decision.

More in this guide

Dog advice
Finding puppies on the street — what to do | Haydok Patileri