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02-11-2008, 04:16 PM | #1 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: May 2005 Location: Northern, CA
Posts: 120
| weaning?? At what age do you guys start weaning your puppies? And when you do how many times a day do you feed them? Also, do you begin by keeping the mom away most of the day or what? Any info. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Deb
__________________ Abbie's mom |
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02-11-2008, 06:28 PM | #2 |
Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Southeast Texas
Posts: 7,959
| I introduce my puppies to food starting at about 4 weeks of age. I take dry puppy food (I prefer Chicken Soup puppy food) and grind it in a blender until it is very fine like corn meal. I put a small bowl of this ground up food along with a small bowl of water in the pen with the puppies. I like to use the small 2 sided bowls like they sell at Wal-mart. I put food in both sides of one bowl and water in both side of the other bowl. My puppies are in an exercise pen with bedding on one end, food and water in the middle and pee pads at the other end. At 4 weeks the puppies will go over and start eating the dry food and it gets them used to it slowly. They are still nursing their mom. I have used this method for several years now and it works great for me. The food does not spoil or go bad like it would if you are mixing a mushy food. I let my moma's nurse the pups as long as they want. Most moms quit letting the pups nurse when the pups are 7 or 8 weeks old. Puppies develop at different rates. Some puppies, especially if they are very fat, may not get up and start moving around as soon as pups from larger litters that are not so fat. Each momma is different also. I have had some moms that insist on sleeping with their babies as long 12 weeks and others will want to quit sleeping with them at 5 weeks. I have a wonderful litter now that is 5 1/2 weeks old and they have been sleeping all night without their mom for a week now and they never make a peep. I let mom nurse them around 10 pm. and then I put her back with them at 6 a.m. She only wants to stay with them 5 minutes and she is ready to get out of the x-pen. These pups have been eating the dry food since they were 4 weeks old. How old are your pups? |
02-11-2008, 07:41 PM | #3 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: May 2005 Location: Northern, CA
Posts: 120
| My pups will be 5 weeks on Wed. Mom doesn't have as much milk now as I have been trying to keep her away from the pups for a while before I feed them. They eat sometimes and other time not that interested. Mom stays with pups all night as they have a pen made up of a large crate broken down and both halves facing each other so they sleep in one end and a pee pad in the other. They can't get out yet so mom can jump in and feed when she want during the night. I try and keep her away most of the day and feed the pups about 3 times and then mom has them at night. Not sure if this is a good thing or not. Only 2 of the pups have teeth poping through now and the other 2 you can feel them about ready to. Can they eat the ground up food without teeth?
__________________ Abbie's mom |
02-11-2008, 07:59 PM | #4 | |
Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Southeast Texas
Posts: 7,959
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02-12-2008, 02:01 PM | #5 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: May 2005 Location: Northern, CA
Posts: 120
| Thank you for information. I have started letting abby back in with the puppies during the day as she seems to want to be there when I am gone. During the time that I am at home which is most of the time she wants to be with me. I take the puppies one at a time down stairs to play and she enjoys having one on one with each of them. They are sooooo much fun right now. It will be hard to let them go to their homes in a couple of months. Deb
__________________ Abbie's mom |
02-12-2008, 02:20 PM | #6 | |
Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Southeast Texas
Posts: 7,959
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02-12-2008, 04:54 PM | #7 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: May 2005 Location: Northern, CA
Posts: 120
| I tried the ground up food and the loved it. They seemed to eat it better than the mush that I was making. The only thing is as soon as I let abby in she cleans the bowl, but is not a problem as they have time without her to eat as much as they want. Thank you for the suggestion. Weaning will be MUCH easier now. I was all stressed out trying to figure out schedules to feed etc... and with the food readily available they can eat when they are hungry and mom can feed when she want. Everyone is happy. heheheh
__________________ Abbie's mom |
02-12-2008, 05:12 PM | #8 | |
Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Southeast Texas
Posts: 7,959
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