when will the pups stop feeding from tilly iam worried that they'll be hanging on the floor soon lol. ive tryed to give them other drinks which they drink soom of eat there dinner then go find poor old tilly.
we are keeping one of them so i was just wondering there 9 weeks old now.
samxx

Sam they needed to be weaned off by now depending on what breed of course,the poor mum will be worn out and their teeth will be criippling her.I start weaning with semi solid food and also the pedigree chum puppy meat squashed up and a little skimmed warm milk poured over gets them going pretty quickly I start waening them as soon as the eyes are open.If you need more advice re: feeding email me by clicking on my name.

I also wean my lot off at around 3-4 weeks depending on the litter.I start mine on Ready Brek with lots of warm milk or Weetabix.I feed that for a week then soak Beta puppy in hot water until it swells ,wait for it to cool then add milk,slowly reducing milk and soaking for less time as they progress and get older.By the time they are ready to go they shuld be on pulp consistency.I agree with Mattie they should be weaned by now

i have been feeding them 4 times a day since they were 4 weeks old and giveing milk and water but they still seemed to like mum.on pedigree chum puppy food and puppy mixer which they eat very well.
what else should i be doing please

put a teeshirt on the dam and try and give her a place to get out of the way, i also have mine weaned and off the dam by 4weeks at the latest, poor soul must be in agony, they'll have teeth now ,some spray bitter lemon on the boobs but i just keep mine off her, its hard at first . as soon as they see their dam they'll want to feed but at this age they really should be well off her, good luck with it,
by the way have you been worming the pups and the dam if not they'll be reinfecting each other, this would account for them always being hungry?

hi dizzy
thanks for the advice i will try that i have been making her get up on the chair when they go her.
yes i have been worming the puppies and tilly

A bitch with a normaly confident persoanality, in my experoence will decide for herself when she will no longer allow the pups to feed from her. Mine usually will continue to give the odd quick comfort suck up to this age. Though I have found that any really meaningful suckling has stopped by 6 weeks or so. as long as the bitch can get away from the pups when SHE wants, and they are getting plenty of ffod, so aren't hungry, then let her feed them a little for as long as she wishes, ot they leave home. with ones I have kept, they have even occasionally had a quick suck up to 12 weeks, though usually Mum will tell them off long before this! I have never found it affected the boobs shrinking back, this is more due to excersise. all my girls have very neat undercarriages.

thanks brainless youve made feel so much better i was feeling really bad thinking she was in agony. it is just qiuck sucks and she can always get away from them. she sits for them to get to her. and really didnt realise that they stop so young tillys walking around in a t-shirt looks lovely bless her >

It varies with the bitch, some are very keen to wean their offspring, and start to not allow the pups to suckle at about a month or 5 weeks, some other bitches are quite happy to let pups feed occasionally for as long as they like, usually not much over 12 weeks. I have never kept my bitches away from their pups, they just gradually resume their normal routines! Mine are all housedogs so except for the first two weeks of a litters life, they all keep company together. It is amazing how quickly pups pick up what liberties or otherwise they can take with the others!

i had one bitch that would go to the litter if they cryed up to the day that they left and she had a litter of 8 and she would stand for them all to finish and then go to sleep with them and i did try a few thing to stop her but she would try to open doors and if she could not get to her babys she would cry, so i just gave in (and i started to feed them just after there eyes had opened)

but my other bitch becided that after her litter was 4 weeks they would get the odd suck and that was that, they are now 7 weeks and when the puppies are playing they dont evan notice her.
Bobby

Sam when will your puppies go to new homes?

Hi, I would definately attempt to wean these pups completely if she were my bitch, asap,-no offence meant brainless. Even if she is willing to feed them, if they are being fed as much as they can eat 4 or 5 times a day, they dont really need it any more IMO. What I do, if the milk supply is still lavish but the bitch is getting run down, or her tummy is getting scratched and sore which it usually is by 6 or 7 weeks, is to feed them a meal, give a drink of cows/whelpi milk and then if you really want to, let the pups suckle her when they are 99% full anyway, and then take her away from them after a minute or two. This way, they will not still be partly full of her milk, when you next feed them a meal, and should take less from her after they have been fed a meal. I would let them suckle like this for twice a day for a couple of days and then once a day for a couple of days and then keep her separate from them completely for about 3 days. If you dont wean them soon, she may not recover a "tight" undercarraige, but may stay "swinging". If after a couple of weeks she hasn't tightened up, its a very good idea to take the bitch swimming, as this can work really well where ordinary exersise may make no difference. Once you decide ( if you do, to do it this way,) for about a week reduce her protein intake dramatically, so her body is unlikely to make so much milk. Keep giving her Calcium though for a couple of weeks after the pups are completely weaned. After 3 to 4 days of not feeding them at all, the milk supply will usually wane suddenly and then she will probably not allow them to suckle, but will still want to play and be with them. If after a couple of days she is uncomfortably full, let them drink some of it and then take her away before they have emptied her, and then wait another couple of days to see how she fills up again. I always let older puppies feed from bitches before she is fed, rather than after, as she may try to re-gurgitate food for them if she has a full tum, which although quite normal and natural is not really a good idea - they dont need it and it robs her of her food. Puppies IMO should be completely weaned at least a week before they go to their new homes, so they dont miss the suckling too badly in their new home.

I start feeding solids around 3 weeks of age but allow the bitches free access to the pups as long as they wish - a little maternal discipline when she weans them is no bad thing. If a bitch wishes to finish at 5 weeks then okay but if she wishes to carry on with a brief session until they are 12 weeks (and they are still here) I will let her. As I consider the pups to be weaned though at around 6 weeks I will cut her food down to just above normal

Christine

That is basically my routine, except I may start pups on some semi solid food as soon as they show an interest in the dams food (I feed in whelping boxat first), this can be as soon as eyes open or not until around 2 1/2 to 3 weeks, depends on the litter and amount of Milk the dam has.

hi mattie one has went on saturday we are keeping one and the other has gone in the paper this week we did have a buyer all the way though tillys pregancy then at the last minute he changed his mind witch was a bit of a nightmare.
can i ask why

you could ask why ,but would they tell you the truth, how is she in her teeshirt, , my bitches have both been far too soft with there pups, theyve stood there trying to get out of there grip and the pups just pestered and pestered ,i hoped they would warn them off but didnt, i could tell they where both stressed with the pups still suckling but didnt want to get nasty about it, neither of them where too young with their first litter but im dying to see wether another 18mths will make a difference in attitude as to how much she'll tolerate this time,

Hi dizzy, this is what I find, my girls are such good mums that they will allow the pups to pull and scratch them to pieces, you can tell by their eyes that they dont really want to feed them any more but most bear it, I sometimes wish they would warn them off to wean them, but seldom do, so I step in and wean them for her. We all do things slightly differently and who is to say who is right, I am sure we all do our best. IMO if the bitch has produced me a litter and fed them well for many weeks that to look after her recovery sometimes we need to take charge of the situation for their sakes - the pups dont need her milk after 8 weeks, but they do need her company and play times, if she is willing to give it. I only have to keep the bitch away for a few days, and then she will refuse to feed them but still enjoys their company - though some cant wait to get back to their mates as early as 5 weeks.