How do you go about weaning. what you feed how often, with what everything from starting to wean to when they are fully weaned.

I ask as i have an idea of how to do it i opened my Book of the bitch and other breeding books and there is hardly anything ON weaning book of the bitch was as helpful as hitting my head ona wall as all it said in the weaning second was roll a peice of meat nad out it in the puppies mouth at about 3 weeks of age the rest of the weaning chapter was about playpens and bigger spaces and getting them used to noise NOTHING about weaning or have i missed something?

Anyway though ti would ask you all on here. i had a tiny piece of raw mince on my finger and rollo gobbled it. so i heated up some ND and smashed it (only a small amount) and put it on a plate all of them but Stardust were in at the plate, licking it standing in it licking it off each other. was only a small amount as they were all screaming and Candy is slowly losing the interested to stay in the box to feed a coulple if times i have had to force her to lay down so they could feed and if she is going to start this now i thought i better try and get some food on the go and i was wondering how you all do it so my pups get the best i can do for them

thanks
xx

__________________
You never own a Dalmatian because a Dally will always Own you!

Candy -Black and White Dalmatian - 4 years
Floss - Black and White Dalmatian - DOB 24/02/2011





RIP Misty, Our beautiful Greyhound went to sleep 22-03-2011

http://www.tuthillsphotography.co.uk

Hi candysmum

hope this will help a little

There is no fixed rule, but the most frequent thing is to initiate the weaning in the third or fourth week.

A good type of food specially designed for puppies is not difficult to find and it get very easily digested. It is concentrated and caloric enough to satisfy the growing needs; it contains all the needed nutrients and requires no supplement.

In order to serve it, pour warm water on the food, leave it soaking and stir it until it gets an appropriate consistence to be eaten by lapping. To encourage them to eat, you can wet your finger on the preparation and let them lick it or suck it, closer and closer to their bowl every time. Take it out 15 minutes after serving it, even if there are remains.

Once they have already gotten used to the new food, reduce the quantity of water gradually.

A little later, always leave a bowl with food (with no water) at hand among the normal servings.

The daily ingestion will depend on the size and the breed of the dogs. Let yourself be guided by the directions on the package, but not exactly as they are given.

Puppies no longer need milk. In fact, its ingestion may cause them digestive problems as diarrhea because little after the weaning the dog's organism is incapable to assimilate the lactose.

Hope this helps in some way! it is the way that i did it with rosie's pup's! i went for any sort of puppy food the complete version!

When I begin to wean my puppies I do it with a good quality raw mince adding cool boiled water. I roll a very small piece up into a small ball and put it gently into their mouths. Some are very eager and cannot wait for more licking your fingers as you go. Whilst others take a while longer. It just takes patience which we all have pleny of or we wouldn't be breeding, would we. I then progress to putting some on a flat surface (I use a large tupperware lid). Once again some take longer than others. But one thing they all do is walk in it and get covered in it, bless them. I do this a couple of times a day for a couple of days to begin with and then steadily increase to three meals with larger quantities, then increase to four. Once they are feeding okay I then soak a litte dry puppy food in boiled water and then mash to a pulp, let it cool and then add to the raw mince. Gradually I will increase the quantity of mashed puppy food and decrease the quantity of raw mince until they are completely eating the puppy food. Once they are use to this I start putting less water in the dry puppy food until evenutally they are completely on dry. I do also leave a little dry puppy food in a bowl in their pen, so they can help themselves when they wish. As mum begins to slow down feeding them, I will also give them goats milk which they love.

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In the doghouse & catility with Tiekeltri

Life without cats and dogs! I don't think so!

Hi there,

I start weaning at about three and a half weeks of age, once pups are up and moving about, eyes open and able to focus. We start with really well soaked, fairly runny puppy food (the one mums on) i lift each puppy and feed it just a little, letting them lick it off my finger (just a taster really) i do this for the first 2 days twice a day. On the 3rd day i put a little onto a saucer and let them try to eat it themselves - messy fun lol!!

On the fourth day i make it less runny, a consistency they have to chew a little but can still lick too if you get what i mean?? I do that twice a day for about a week putting a few pups at the bowl/saucer each time- building up to 3x and then 4x meals by the time they are 5 weeks old. I then start to add less water (just enough to make the kibble soft but hold its shape (previous to that its more of a weetabix consistency). By seven weeks i just soak it for a short while (splash of boiling water) so its still got a bit of a crunch to it.

I know a lot of breeders will start pups on raw mince or chicken mince and i was advised of this when i started breeding - as with all things it really is each to their own ,no right or wrong, but i personally dont like to risk raw food on my youngsters (im not against a raw diet -my adults eat a semi BARF diet of rabbit, venison etc), i just prefer to start them straight onto a good quality puppy food.

Hope everyones advise gives you an insight into what others do

Ang x

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No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.

What it is with "spotty dogs" I dont know but ours, they were like gannets they were so easy but on the other hand when they were about 6weeks old they would start screaming for there breakfast, 8 baby spots making a noise early in the morning is a good way of getting you out of bed really quick
I have followed your story since a week before the "spotlets " were born, thankyou for sharing it.

Jeanette

thank you all.

well they are 3 weeks in 2 days. They were all shouting for food and candy wasn't interested so i took some of candys ND heated it a little and smashed it up an dput it on a plate in the pen and EVERY puppy was at it like they hadn't eated for a week. licking it off my fingers standing in it CHUCK Sat on it enough to say this is mine go away (it was only like 1 teaspoons worth of meat not a lot at all.) they cleared the plate. licking it off each other i finally got candy in the box adn got her to lay down but the little ones DO have teeth now so i am wondering if this is why she is more reluctant to feed them

so i may give tme two small meals tomorrow and see where we go i know its just before 3 weeks but they seem to want/need it.

__________________
You never own a Dalmatian because a Dally will always Own you!

Candy -Black and White Dalmatian - 4 years
Floss - Black and White Dalmatian - DOB 24/02/2011





RIP Misty, Our beautiful Greyhound went to sleep 22-03-2011

http://www.tuthillsphotography.co.uk