Hi,

It wont be long before I start to wean the pupsters and I am planning to use Farleys Rusks to start with. On chatting to a friend they said they use watered down Carnation Evaporated milk to mix in with the rusk. I hadnt heard of this and just wondered what everyone else did and if anyone had used the above?

While I would never consider using a human baby feed (dog is best), I like evaporated milk personally.  It is what we used in the olden days, before Welpi and Lactol etc. 

A good quality puppy dry food, wetted with warm water, and made into a sloppy feed, will be far more suited to their nutritional requirements.  It certainly won't hurt to add a little evap to the water.  It is something I always keep in to give to newly whelped bitches.  Encourages the drinking, so good for milk production in mum.

ive never used it but some might have ? i wean using raw mince and socked puppy food and sometimes add a small amount of puppy meat as it smells and pups go for the smell ( as do most dogs ) sometimes when you start to wean on this kind of food and then try to use puppy food ..pups can turn their nose up lol so it can make it harder for you to give them the best start with a good food with everything init they need x

We Wean our pups on Farleys Rusks & Lactol they do very well

Margaret

Using baby rusks is an old fashioned method of weaning - I can recall when I was very little that relatives' who bred working lurchers and also greyhounds did it and they seemed to produce healthy, well grown and very workable dogs

TBH I don't think it's the right way to go - IMO rusks are for human babies, not animals.  I'd give them some puppy porridge, either branded or made up to that consistency with the kibble you intend to feed (if that's the case) soaked in warm water and by all means add a little carnation milk.

I like pups to have variety during weaning - not too much in case of upset tums but a tiny bit of meat scraped into a mulch (not minced in the early days as this can stick in their throat).  When they move onto dry kibble (if at all) they also get chicken wings, minced lamb and yoghurt smoothies with bananas but I prefer them to move towards a raw or home prepared diet so the latter suggestions may not be to your personal preference.

regards, Teri

i wean my litters on PUPPY FOOD not baby food. They are dogs not humans!

I think a lot of breeders with tiny toy breeds still use the Farleys Rusk method, Chis especially come to mind, as they seem particuarly susceptible to weanig problems and lod blood sugar levels, and small and often of Farleys suits them well.  I use Pre Soaked Eukanuba Puppy food, blended with either Carnation/Water mix or goats milk.  IF they don't seem at all interested after a few days I use a canned puppy food, mashed and again mixed wiht warm goats milk or carantion.

Fully agree. Rusks aren't even good for babies. Look at this article from this year, saying Farley's rusks are worse for babies than junk food:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6216207.ece

The are extremely sweet, I used them for my first baby and always ended up eating them all myself simply because they were so sweet and addictive. There is nothing in them even remotely good for puppies. My pups are weaned on MEAT!

Yep us toy breeders are awful.  Done it for over 20 years and always had strong healthy pups that have lived well into the late teens.  So hasn't done our lot any harm.  Do it with the Spanish as well though do give Lactol and not our milk as Baz does.  Of course they do get puppy food, mince and all sorts as well.

I too wean them onto puppy food made into a smooth porridge type consistency with boiled water (cooled down before I give it them obviously !). Start as you mean to go on imo.

I have used farleys no salt or sugar rusks with Lactol for the initial first weaning for a day or two then introduce soaked puppy food . They have done very well , I found it easy to teach them to lap.

R~

Use a sloppy porridge made from Arden Grange Weaning/Puppy and Milk Replacer. Change the milk to goats milk by 7 weeks.

Thanks all for the replies! I plan to just use the rusks until they can lap properly so probably the first couple of days as Starryeyes says then move them onto proper puppy food - soaked of course!

Its interesting though how things do change - 13 years ago when I had my first dog, he came to me on Ambrosia creamed rice pudding, farleys rusk, SA37 and raw mince! I particularly liked it when he had had his rice pudding coz puppy kisses smelling of rice pudding was lovely!! How things change though eh?!

Personally I wouldnt use rusk's either.  I place a good quality puppy food into a coffee mill/grinder and ground it up, then add either Lactol or goats milk to make a porridge. Its works a treat a tip I got from my mentor in our breed and have never looked back. The coffee mill grinds the biscuit up so fine that it makes a lovely smooth porridge for young pups to lap. 

Both the rusks and the Creamed rice will encourage a dog to develop a sweet tooth, it is why they go down well, and of course in breeds where it is a job to get the pups to start weaning it will be a popular choice.

The sugar may actually be an advantage in toy breeds that suffer from low blood sugar issues, but for most dogs sugar is not something they need in their diet at all, so best not to start them on it.

It is one of the things added to some dog foods to make them palatable.  All th soft pieces and soft chunk style foods and treats are full of sugar (molasses etc) as this gives them that texture.

That kind of feeding comes from the era when most dogs lived on table scraps with the addition of meat if they were lucky and foods formulated for dogs were a newish thing, and old habits die hard.

I do feed my dogs all our scraps,b ut there are five of them and they make up a tiny proportion of their total diet and are more a treat than anything else, and I am sure some of them have sugars and other less healthy things in them.

I wouldn't start a fast developing baby puppy that way, it would be puppy food or species appropriate whole foods.

the rusks are salt and sugar free nowadays..as its not good for babies either

I am weaning a toy breed at the minute and they are getting soaked puppy food mashed up and tinned meat mixed in only a little as i like mine to go on to dry food (toy breeds have teeth issues which my vet goes on and on about)

I am finding it hard to get them to drink water though!!!  but there food has loads of water added to get them to lap it up

Good luck with the weaning its fun!!

I am using soaked puppy food with a bit of lactol in it then liquidised down at this moment. I put it on a finger and let them suck it in then show then the plate. They love it. It is just a creamy porridge and of course that is the food that they will be eating when they are bigger so no change of food to upset the stomachs.

I used them for my first baby and always ended up eating them all myself simply because they were so sweet and addictive. There is nothing in them even remotely good for puppies. My pups are weaned on MEAT

In total agreement with everything said here.  I actually ate more Farleys Rusks than my babies/toddlers ever did, I loved them. I know they have a reduced sugar one now, but still wouldn't give to pups and actually never even counted them as a food source for my babies either, they were just a snack food not a meal in itself.

My pups have always started off with scrambled egg, meats/chicken, fish and soaked dry puppy food never been into any type of cereal foods, but each to their own..............

What suits one breed/breeder is not always for another, of course.  Even with my 2 breeds, who are not that far apart in size (American Cocker & Pug) they have very different weaning habits.  I mix up a puppy porridge with pre soaked Eukanuba and goats milk, which the Yankees are always happy to start on at just over 3 weeks, but the pugs simply won't consider it until well over 4 weeks, so I don't even try them earlier now.  I have never used the Farley Rusk method myself, and whilst used creamed rice, scrambled eggs etc many years ago, when just starting out, on the recomendation of more experienced breeders, I no longer do so I think that complete food and possibly the additon of some chicken or tinned puppy meat is a better method.  However, the pups I reared years ago always did well and were healthy, it just seems old fashioned an unecessarily confusing now.  But I do know several Chihuahua breeders who are devoted to the Farleys rusk routine, these pups seem to need much more frequent meals, and even at 10 - 12 weeks need food available over night.

I also know breeders of much bigger dogs who start weaning much earlier than I do, at about 2 weeks, and go straight on to meat.  I think we have to remember that there is not a one size fits all weaning routine, but very uesful to us all for this sort of discussion to compare and contrast methods and theories.

Quite so Gwen. 

I have started pups on weaning foods as soon as the eyes opened when they seemed to need it.