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Weaning is more difficult than expected I dont know if momma is spoiling these babies or what... but they dont stop nursing from her & they are going to be 7 weeks on Saturday... I am trying to keep them in the cage with food for at least 10-15 mins, but they refuse. I started doing this yesterday. Before I would just let them out of the cage & put the food down but they would drink from mom for 5-10 mins & then eat but very lil. I dont know why she doesnt stop feeding them when they all have their teeth already. The other thing that annoys me is she wont stop eating their food, she'll kick them out & eat their food, why? Any help, suggestions, tricks would be appreciated... BTW they are eating btwn wellness puppy canned food w/ regular dog food in powder or regular dog food left in goat milk for an hour to become soft... they eat, but when they want, not like their being picky eaters... they just are being hard to wean. HELP:confused: |
O Yeah they love it if I feed them the regular size food wet, hand fed to them, but I cant do this all day with 4 puppies :( |
Now my experience is with cats but one time I had to separate the kittens from the mom to get them eating the food. They will only eat a little at first. My kittens continued nursing even though they were also eating food untill 3 months |
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The 5th week is when she's a bit more reluctant to feed them...that's when teeth are coming in...after the teeth are in they don't clamp down as hard. At times pups aren't ready to let go of nursing...mom's milk may still be rich....so, you just have to keep on trying.....I usually let mom call the shots, some have continued to nurse as a matter of habit until 10 weeks of age..... The one thing you have to be cognizant of is your mom not filling up...her breast can explode.....so, weaning must be done gradually. |
I put Roxy in a onsie (yes newborn size) when the puppies were 9 wks and still trying to nurse. This allowed Roxy to be with her puppies but it kept them from feeding. I only had to do this for about a week and a half until they completely quit trying to feed. |
@Roxy- good idea, I may try that. @Mardelin- yeah it seems like if I let her call the shots she'll allow them to keep nursing. I try to put her away as soon as they get out of the cage & feed them, I tell her to get on the couch & she looks at me all weird but does it. I have come to the conclusion yesterday that they are wanting to eat the regular dry puppy food, but I have to feed it to them, but if momma comes around, they run to her. This morning she didnt seem to happy to nurse, & Im kinda yelling at her when I see her doing it & shes getting the point, so hopefully she will stop. I will keep ya posted!!! Anymore ideas I would appreciate it! |
I had one girl that would nurse her pups at any age if I had let her. She loved being a mom. I finally had to put a onesie on her to stop the pups from nursing off of her, it worked great. |
Just be very careful that she dries up gradually- don't make her stop all at once as Mary said... I've had to deal with severe mastitis (in a rottie) and it wasn't pretty- and took 6 hours over 2 days to fully correct! If she stops feeding altogether too fast, they will get engorged, harden, then become infected- and even the earliest symptom is soo painful! The babygrow works great, but if she wants to feed them and you notice that she is still very full, let her (After they have their puppy food) for a minute, then put the onesie on her- a few days of that should do the trick... |
Why are you concerned with weaning them at 7 weeks? I let mom decide when to wean and some of them allow them to nurse even at 10 weeks. I start to offer food at 6 weeks, earlier if the seem interested. But I don;t ever separate them from their mothers completely. They are infants. let them nurse. |
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I bought a 10 week old puppy. I had a mother that was still nursing her 10 week old pups, and the new one nursed on her. they still eat their regular food, they just like to nurse a little once or twice a day. Some mothers won't let them, others will. I don't see any harm in it. |
I wasnt 100% sure... they do nurse from her at least 4-5 times a day but not for long... if ya'll think its fine then so be it. I do find them still at my fingers asking for puppy food though. I'll keep ya updated on it then. Thanks |
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Mac will be 7 weeks on Monday and he definitely prefers Momma over kibble. We have tried different foods. He does like homemade chicken broth on top of ground up kibble. He won't eat much, but he will eat! Maybe you can try that! I'm not in a hurry for him to quit nursing though! This is his forever home, so I have nothing but time!:) |
I let Mom decide when enough is enough. I wouldn't yell at Mom for doing what's natural. She'll wean them when it's time. |
So mine are 10 weeks old and one still trys to nurse and momma allows it, I do not try to stop it but do put food down, When I frist started putting wet food down momma would eat it up befor the pups could even get to it even if i gave her wet right before hand, I soon found out to give pups wet food but to keep momma away untill they ate, and to keep dry food down always.... This works good, as the pups do try to nurse and momma will let them every now and again they are eatting more dry food then nurseing, but the eatting good on their own did not start untill 2 weeks ago maybe a little less.. |
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