How to Wean Puppies onto Solid Food - Top Tips!

[@tianajohnson1133]

I have weaned puppies starting at 5 weeks old or as soon as they have most of their teeth. They have done fine. I have given them to their homes around 7 1/2 weeks. I have a lot of human contact with the puppies so that they are used to being held and played with and I also have started potty training as soon as I start weaning. I take them out with their momma so they see her go potty and it’s been a successful process.

[@OurPetsHealth]

Great to hear, thanks

[@claudiamarquez5421]

Great info ! Tried this with my 3 week old golden retrievers.. mama dog is no longer wanting to nurse . They are doing great 👍

[@OurPetsHealth]

I hope they continue to thrive and their mum is OK

[@MrHotstepper89]

It’s not rewarding at all, it’s very very stressful 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@charmainenichelle7933]

🎯

[@msgottaneedtoknow]

Right!!! 😂

[@MoodyCinema82]

Lol

[@debg3236]

😂😂😂😂 omg I have to agree

[@Canas_tuba]

And when you sell them they want to pay less than the price they don’t the struggle we go thru

[@stacielynn7929]

I am gonna keep them together 16 weeks to socialize and let momma teach respect and can’t wait to see how she teaches them along with their daddy at their side! Yeah, I didn’t keep them separated long enough, her last heat, even went longer than I thought, like weeks😅🧐🌈Father has other ideas for us sometimes….I now have my bobsled team to accommodate rising gas prices…..

[@ZyroShadowPony]

I definitely need this after my family just adopted a 4 week old puppy

[@ko7302]

Geez what a irresponsible breeder. In most states in the US that is illegal. 8 week minimum here. I'm glad you guys are taking care of them go ❤

[@jordanhalliday8467]

They probably most likely came from a puppy farm if that’s the case which isn’t great but don’t feel scared. I’m actually in the same boat. We think our puppy came from one as well which makes puppies slightly harder to settle in but at least they’ll get a better home now

[@ZyroShadowPony]

@@ko7302 yeah it was irresponsible. I found out more info after posting this. The puppy wasnt 4 weeks but in fact 6 weeks which was better but concerning, the reason they allowed us to take them early is because they saw my baby brother loving the pupoy and wanting to take him home now. After some convincing i was able to get everyone to agree to return the pupoy for a few more weeks until they were 8 and the original owner was kind enough to give their first shots as well. Now he is around11-12 weeks old and loves our home. He still has these puppy tantrums and due to a family member having covid its been tough to properly train him. Once the 14 days pass i plan on continue crate training him

[@jads9152]

@@ZyroShadowPony how is the puppy now?

[@ZyroShadowPony]

@@jads9152 he is doing fine. Im still trying to train him and crate training has been difficult due to everyone having a busy schedule. Still the most issues we have is him walking infront of us and since he is small we accidentally bump into him. There is also the fact he is still biting but not as much as before yet rarely bites really hard. The good thing is he is getting use to diapers but still has small accidents on occasion

[@03tika]

I found an abandoned puppy few days old & have been bottle feeding him . He has opened his eyes & got teeth now - still bottle feeding him . Should I get him vaccinated, he’s soon going to be 4 weeks

[@sabrinajolie2465]

💛🙏 bless you

[@imnotmike]

Boy, I'm sorry nobody answered this. In case anybody else has the same question - at the time you asked, the common answer would have been to vaccinate him at 8 weeks, but recently they've changed that and now say to vaccinate puppies at 6 weeks. Or you could wait to 8 weeks to be safe, since you don't know the exact age of the pup. Puppies typically open their eyes at about 2 weeks, so if you had him since he opened his eyes you could consider that 2 weeks, and get him vaccinated 4-6 weeks after that. With a stray abandoned pup, I'd be worried about worms. You can treat worms as early as 2 weeks. With my pups that I breed I wait for 6 weeks for a deworming, and do it at the same time as their vaccines. But I own both parents and am relatively sure there are no worms. But with a stray, worms are far more likely. The reason I'd start young is that you have no idea what that pup could have, and many of those parasites can be passed to humans, so you want to get him dewormed ASAP so that you aren't exposed to potential parasites that could harm your health.

[@keelyr5767]

Thank you for the awesome advice! My pups are 15 days old and was worried about the weaning process for when they are three weeks!

[@OurPetsHealth]

Good luck! having pups is a busy time

[@JD-yl9nl]

Hi there. How did it go with the weaning process?

[@aslenealano6535]

This really helps will be trying to my shihtzu puppies

[@springadore]

Interesting you said most dogs will be rehomed by 6 to 8 weeks because here in Ireland it is the law that pups have to be kept with the mother for 12 weeks.

[@briancooper6368]

Law is 8 weeks in Ireland. 12 weeks recommended as best practice

[@מאיגפני]

It depends bc by 7 weeks they already learned everything they need to know from their litter and mother so it's ok to send them to other families by then, 12 weeks is more dangerous since they get too connected and it'll be harder

[@BASSER81]

We have Maltese pups and I’m thinking 10 weeks. We are 4 weeks in. But she hasn’t been wanting to feed them the last week. We are encouraging her to feed them but are we wrongly intervening? I don’t want them to be hungry but maybe they aren’t. It’s hard to get the balance of helping but not forcing human perception onto a dog’s intuition.

[@majestamalcolm4342]

I am fostering a momma and her 10 babes. They don't sleep for very long periods of time and wake several times a night. I have been doing food for them. Is this the right thing to do? It's super chaotic here. I haven't slept in 5 days....

[@OurPetsHealth]

Yes, I'm afraid feeding puppies and sleeping are two activities that don't happen at the same time!

[@andreapatane4204]

It isn’t easy to learn how to wean puppies these days. I 💕 Yellow Lab and Golden Retriever puppies very much. 👍🏻 if you agree.

[@juliawynm6335]

💗we just had golden puppies they are soooo sweet love them :)) yes!!!

[@alanmelendez120]

Do you need to mix the puppy food with milk or is just water ok. And could u please recommend some puppy food brands that will give a husky the right nutrients

[@OurPetsHealth]

It’s not essential but does make it more nutritious and similar to Mum’s milk

[@LorraineHatrix]

Dr. I was wanting to know, how many solid ( sloppy )feeds to give my 3 week old mastiff puppies in a day. They had their first sloppy meal today.

[@OurPetsHealth]

I hope they are taking to it ok, although they are still pretty young. They probably need to eat about every 4 hours so I would suggest offering it to them for an hour or so 3-4 times a day. They are going to make a lot of mess and not take on very much to begin with but they'll get there!

[@מאיגפני]

Hi I have newborn puppies they're now about a month old, I just switched from goat's milk for puppies to wet food and they poop some kind of jelly thing with their poo is this normal?

[@KatherineBusby-m3s]

When do I take his milk away I had to bottle feed him he's 5 weeks old he's a min pin he's healthy and happy I been sock8ng it in water then putting a Lil milk pet formula in it but he's doing good took his bottle letting him drink it out a bowl he's a chunkier Lil man name is Asher. When should I take his milk and how do I get him to like the water he know how to drink out the blow just don't like or get the water like he drinks his milk out the bowl

[@steelpsycho1820]

To create a gruel can I use that canned puppy food where do I use kibble

[@steelpsycho1820]

Our puppies mother just started weaning them at 3 weeks

[@cowcuttie7119]

THANK U SO MUCH my dog just gave birth and there 5 weeks so I was like ummm when do they start eating.!?

[@ligiaillera4946]

Do they have to have teeth to start eating the puppy food?

[@flippinflamingos5376]

How do you keep mom from barking the entire time you have the puppies away from her while eating?

[@leeyu8821]

Impossible really

[@CHELEB.7743]

This is so freaking helpful

[@princejohnson3506]

I have a Pomeranian that's 5_6 weeks old what food should I buy for him?

[@u2fkeys665]

Dog food

[@winniedimbarukua9241]

Thnk u very much, but Wen can I take my puppy for immunization after birt?

[@yolandairizarry5602]

Thank you, I really need this. Especially on cows milk.

[@OurPetsHealth]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jenijean81]

Thanks so much. Great info.

[@OurPetsHealth]

Glad it was helpful! You should check out my free guide "Pet Health Essentials" jablerock to learn to optimize your puppy's health. You can download it here - ourpetshealth.com/petcareguide

[@Rymie1]

Great info from likeable fellow!

[@simplyellen4994]

Can they still be breastfed while eating solid food? 🙂

[@cameranlamb]

So do I need to leave all the little pups a dish of water for hydration at all times?

[@OurPetsHealth]

once they are about 3 weeks then yes, in a shallow dish

[@rociosoto292]

Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

[@KingNae2x]

During the weaning process how often should I feed her milk replacement?

[@OurPetsHealth]

If you are bottle feeding then offer food first and then try gradually reducing the amount at each feed rather then reducing frequency. If they are still feeding from Mum then no bottle feeding is needed

[@KingNae2x]

Our Pets Health No she’s away from mom, so should I just try grueling with a milk replacement and then reduce the amount day by day?

[@HenryMartinson]

What is puppy milk? Like milk pumped from the mother??

[@OurPetsHealth]

you can buy a puppy milk replacer powder that can be used to bottle feed puppies and also mixed with food as discussed here

[@juliawynm6335]

thank you for sharing this :))💗strean fam

[@sabrinajolie2465]

When I look for puppy milk...most results show Me puppy milk replacer in powder form. Is that the type your reffering to in your video? Or the liquid puppy milk. Will the powder work?

[@OurPetsHealth]

yes, you mix the powder as instructed on the packaging to make up the liquid to be fed

[@sabrinajolie2465]

@@OurPetsHealth thank you!

[@marcussandlin6284]

Our puppies are from a stray mother. The puppies are almost 4 weeks old. The mother doesn't want to spend much time with the babies lately, but every time we try to feed the puppies puppy mush, they cry and do not want to eat. Should we just keep trying or is there something else we can do?

[@ohnuh]

You can get the puppy powder milk replacement, give them that initially and then incorporate kibble in small amounts until eventually they eat mostly kibble

[@KINGTHEYORKIE]

My yorkie is close to 4 weeks but she has no teeth

[@OurPetsHealth]

they won't be far away, but that's not a barrier to starting to explore soft food

[@KINGTHEYORKIE]

@@OurPetsHealth thank you so much how much food should I put down?

[@fludrbywest3886]

I have 9 puppies whelping - the didn’t get there eyes open till 3.5 weeks , now they are 4 weeks , and I have used cupcake tin with 9 cups with grul . Mom cleans the tin and( not really tin) it’s really messy but not so bad

[@lochamb1234]

6 weeks is a ridiculous time frame to sell pups ...thankfully here most pups are rehoused to their new forever home at 12 weeks

[@darwinmabazza6314]

Yes to make it's simple he dose not have a winer couse he feed its to hest puppy coust he feed hest winer to the puppy.

[@lorraineharris5985]

I have ten pups there 4 weeks and it’s hard work lol

[@OurPetsHealth]

that's a lot of puppies!

[@lorraineharris5985]

@@OurPetsHealth she is a small breed . Puppies are a lot of work as this was first time ever .

[@lovepet4565]

Its so much fun But very messy And scary for poor mama dam Eating as much as she can but still Skinny

[@cristinapamart2818]

My puppie once ive done this is constipated 😢🇬🇧

[@tina05291974]

show how, don't just tell how

[@Thefunkoassassin]

Rehomed at 6 weeks???? Errrrr no

[@OurPetsHealth]

It's not a practice I would recommend but it's not all that uncommon

[@Thefunkoassassin]

@@OurPetsHealth if you’re taking a puppy home at 6 weeks then you’re as irresponsible as the breeder who’s selling it at 6 weeks.

[@seancunningham2124]

Eight weeks old is the absolute minimum age a puppy can taken by new owners. That is the law in the UK.

[@karitevis7103]

Don't ya just love accents?

[@winniedimbarukua9241]

Thnk u very much, but Wen can I take my puppy for immunization after birt?

[@OurPetsHealth]

they can be given from 6 weeks of age in high risk situations, otherwise they are normally started at 8 weeks. Your vet will be able to best advise you which is right for your pup