Hello all

My 7 pups are now 19 days old all are doing very well i weigh them all twice daily and have all been putting on weight every day.
at what point do i start to wean them onto solid/sloppy food ( i'll be using burns puppy food mixed right down with water). and how do i do this i.e once a day twice etc.
any advice would be great thanks

start with one or two meals a day and then gradually build up to 4/5 a day. thee or 4 weeks is a good time to start weaning

You'll probably find that breeder to breeder is slightly different, but my routine is as follows. I always start at approx 3 weeks, but I start with a little scrambled egg made with goats milk, the Dam gets this for breakfast and once the pups begin to be interested in her food I give them their own, I find this a good gage as you can waste a lot of prepared foods if they are not quite ready. I've always found them more likely to eat the scrambled egg rather than the complete puppy food to start with too.

My pups get the scrambled egg in the morning just to start with and then perhaps some watered rice and chicken or rice and minced meat in the late afternoon, they seem to be happy to lap these up at 3 weeks.  I find they take to these much quicker than their complete food, after a few days of clearing their bowls quickly, I then soak their complete food, which they are happy to eat going into 4 weeks of age. It is good for pups to have a variety of tastes.

( i'll be using burns puppy food mixed right down with water). and how do i do this i.e once a day twice etc.


I'm sure you know already how to prepare the complete puppy food, but just incase as some people are not so sure.

Boil your kettle and allow it to become luke warm, (hot water on the complete food will destroy all the vitamins etc) once luke warm pour on the dry complete puppy food and allow to soak for upto an hour, then mash. As the pups get bigger you don't need to mash and eventually they may eat it dry, (6-8 weeks, some will prefer it, some won't and will still like it soaked) with plenty of water available

I start mine on Pedigree puppy porridge at about 3 weeks old, the pups love it.  They are on that for about a  week and by the end of that week I am starting to mix some  mushy puppy complete through it so they get the taste of 'proper' food.

You can have mine Christine, mine refused to eat it at all and I only used about 5 scoops!! I've had very little luck getting them to eat milky meals, they occasionally have a small amount of watered down rice pudding, and they are quite fond of goats milk and sometimes just plain Lactol. But they love their meaty meals, I give them either chicken, fish or beef mince, mixed with some puppy kibble and a little pouch food.

If I had a litter of pups I would take it from you but my last litter was almost 6 years ago!   Never going to make my fortune selling pups!

Like Carrington, I'm guided by the pups themselves.  I find that most pups start licking at Mum's food around 21 days, but they do vary obviously.  I let them tell me when they are ready to start weaning.  But I never take Mum away from pups - I allow her to leave them for time out when she is ready.

Another angle on weaning, I start mine off on a little finely minced raw beef, just a small ball in the tips of my fingers and they gobble it down. I have always found they are not keen on milky meals as they get plenty of milk from Mum still at three weeks, gradually build to a walnut sized piece then introduce a bowl and a little softened kibble (I use Royal Canin) mixed in with the meat. By five weeks they are having 3/4 meals a day increasing to 5 meals by six weeks as Mum dries them off her naturally. I will offer a milky meal once a day then. If a large litter I will offer a bowl of dry R/C overnight and they seem to love it. However mine are a large breed and seem to like something crunchy to get their teeth into by five weeks. I cannot comment on other breeds as I have no dealing with them.
They go on to eat with no problems and most of my pups have been great eaters. They get veggies in with their feeds by five weeks, just a little of what we are having, the more variety at this age the less fussy they will be as adults, I add fish, chicken, rice, eggs, beef, lamb, and anything left in the scraps line!! if the big dogs don't get their first!!!
Hope this may help?
Aileen

Merlot - I use Royal Canin mini for my toy breeds, and, like your large breed, they too like to crunch.