Question on weaning puppies
 

I have 2 puppies almost 5 weeks old (in 2 more days) I tried starting them on solid food at 4 weeks and they won’t eat at all. I tried wet can food, soaked kibble in Evaporated milk, whole milk or water and still won’t touch it. I put tiny pieces in their mouths and they spit it out. The vet said to keep mom away for a few hours but I don’t want to for too long so their blood sugar doesn’t get too low. Any tips or suggestions on get them to start eating?

I’ve only weaned fosters, and none of them were yorkies, but the basics should be about the same. The first step is often to teach the pups to lap liquid — either water or puppy formula. Then the next step would be to offer very liquidy or mushy food and gradually decrease the amount of liquid. If the mama dog will allow it, it’s also helpful to have the pups with her when she’s eating, as they will likely be very curious about the food dish when mama’s eating from it.

The most important thing, of course, is to follow the advice of your vet, although I do understand and agree with your concern that the pups not go too long without nourishment as they could easily become hypoglycemic.

If you continue to have problems, a vet check would be in order in case the pups have any issues with their mouths & teeth.

Warning - long post. I have only bred a few litters of yorkies, but back in the horse farm days, we raised many healthy foals. I base my opinion on having been a breast feeding mother of three plus my experience with the furs.

Nursing is about much more than food. I honestly believe that it is in the best interest of babies and mothers to not rush the weaning process and as long as everyone is healthy to let the mother decide when it is time to wean. That being said, we had one foal that still nursed occasionally at 3 years of age and one yorkie mom that was done with the pups between 5 & 6 weeks.

Generally the pups we raised were fully self-weaned around 9 - 10 weeks and moms milk supply gradually waned until it dried. At some point the pups became more interested in food than nursing and nursing became more about comfort than nutrition. This way there was no concern about mastitis or swollen painful teats in mom. At about 4 - 5 weeks I would start introducing ground food mush mixed with goat's milk, mom ate most of it but the pups would get a taste and the idea.

Self-weaning shouldn't be a problem because an ethical breeder would never ever let a pup leave before a minimum of 12 weeks - but that is a whole different topic.

Good luck with the pups.