[bjh]

Originally Posted by Kittykatmeow

my yorkie had her first litter 4 weeks ago. about 10 days ago, she began to hop in and out of the box & nurse only about 5 minutes at a time. 2 of the 4 puppies are smaller & often get pushed out of the way by the larger 2 pups. mama often sits up & I have to force her down. 2 of the puppies are gaining well (maybe too well), but when I'd come home from work the 2 smaller pups would often have only gained a gram or even lost 1-2 grams during the day. I began supplementing about 1/4 ounce to each pup. so while mom (held down by granddaughter) nurses 3, I feed formula out of my hand (they don't like the bottle) to the other.

now my concern is whether the larger pups are gaining too much on the formula. daddy was 3 lbs. & mama is about 6 lbs. the largest puppy weighs 22 ounces at 4 weeks. his head & paws are a little wider than the other pups. my hubby tells me that I should stop giving formula to the chunky ones, but then I read that they should be allowed to eat as much as they want as puppies & that the weight would correct as they get older. they all seem to really like the formula.

any thoughts on that? obviously would prefer not to have overweight dogs but torn over whether or not to continue to supplement.

yesterday I added canned puppy food (about the size of 1 pinto bean) into 2 ounces of formula. they liked it!

It is not unusual to have different sized pups in the same litter. Some may be taking after the dad and some after the mom. Puppies can get overweight when the mom has a lot of milk. Your pups are ready for you to start the weaning process. I recommend you get a good quality dry kibble to start them on. There are several ways you can do it. You can grind the kibble up in a blender until it is really fine and just place it in a small bowl in their pen or you can soak it and mix it with a little puppy formula. Usually I will leave out some of the ground up dry food and also give them a bowl of moist food a few times a day. Once the pups start eating the moms milk will slowly dry up. Also the pups will need a small shallow bowl of water in their pen. Be sure you keep the nail clipped on the pups too so they don't scratch the momma or get hung up in the bedding.