Age for weaning
 

Can anyone tell me when it is appropriate to have puppies go to their new homes?

12 weeks old

At least 12 weeks :)

Okay, before reading this thread I was already concerned about my new pup. I currently have a 4 year old female that I got from a breeder and I got her at 4 months old, however I had a friend who recently had a litter and decided to add another to the mix. We brought Tango home on Friday night, but he is only 7 weeks old!! He's very tiny too. There were 5 pups and all of them were adopted. After much reading, I asked my friend if I could maybe leave Tango with the mom a little longer and she agreed, but she had already weened them and the mom's milk is all dried up. At that point I figured I might as well take him because I don't work and I could probably have a better watch over him for hypogycemia. I am well aware of this problem so I've been extra careful and watchful of him. I could not find nutra cal but I bought a product call puppy-vite. Seems like a similar product. Anyone have any idea how much to give.?? The directions say 1/4 ts per 20 lbs!! Am I loosing my mind? What breed of puppy would be 20 lbs!! Plus any other suggestions of things to do for him? So far he is doing well. He only weighs 1 lb 2oz. Any advice is gladly taken. I want him to be a healthy pup!!

Cindyloohoo -The pup needs to be with its mother regardless if they are weaned or not. Mom teaches her pups many social skills and plays a much larger role than just providing milk. Your "greeder" is not looking out for her pups and is obviously breeding for $$$$ only, which means your pup's health is at risk because of said breeding.

Since you now have the pup already, get to a vet and get that pup thoroughly checked out and discuss nutrition with the vet as well.

I had the puppyvite as well, but you want to have some Karo Syrup on hand because it works quicker. It is best to NOT leave this pup alone for the next couple months, this poor baby is much too young to be away from Mom and at this point anything could happen, not that it will, but it can...please take good care of this pup, keep us posted.

Some pics would also be nice!!

Thanks for the advice. I do have Karo on hand and I saw the homemade recipe someone posted with half and half,, rice cereal ect. I did buy all that stuff too. I don't plan on leaving him at all because I am very aware of the seriousness of this matter. I will contact my vet today, I only took him from the seller because they didn't really seem aware of the urgency of the hypoglycemia. I figured I could take better care of him. She is a friend who actually had an acccidental litter before she fixed her two. I know she had the pups best interest in mind and she was just following her vets recommendations and protocall. I just knew better from being part of this site for so long. Thanks again for the advice. :-)

It seems that in the past few weeks I have seen several people say that "the vet said" it was OK to let the puppies go any where between 6 to 8 weeks. This is the problem with vets that look no further than the text book they read 10 to 30 years ago. I hope you can find a vet that is experienced in working with extra small dogs. Many or most vets do not have the experience of a breeder that spends so much time studying about and working at breeding dogs. I'm glad this little one will not be left alone. I'm sure you will watch him very closely.