We often tell new customers “The puppies tell the story.”
In our experience puppies tend to act similarly with respect to heat.
- If a puppy is curled in a “C” they are too cold
- If they are piled on top of each other they are too cold.
- If they are spending all of their time at the edge of the glass, their body is starting to thermoregulate better and the incubator is now too warm
- If the puppies are spending time at the glass and crying–they may be at a point they are ready to graduate from the incubator. Lower the incubator temperature by 2ºF and see how they react.
- If they are moving back and forth between the center and the glass, they are actively using the environment to regulate their temperature. This is a very good indicator of puppy health and that the environment is right for this stage of the puppies development.
- “Laying out long”–stretched out straight–essentially the puppy is maximizing surface area exposed to the infrared heat. this is a comfy puppy.
- Belly up to the heater–comfy puppy
- Moving just a couple inches at a time–the puppy is absorbing the heat energy from the mat, then moving to an adjacent spot to absorb more heat energy from the mat. This is a very good indicator of puppy health
- “Rolling” after being out of the incubator for feeding. What the puppy is doing is having more surface area in tough with the warm mat. A puppy that has lost heat can increase its body temperature by 1ºF. when they find a warmer part of the mat, they will generally settle down and let their body temperature return
Puppies develop during the time in the incubator. Please consider this a staring point of what to look for to become acquainted with the information puppies communicate to you by how they act in the Puppywarmer incubator.
