I have a litter of 4 week old pups, toy breed. My problem is that they are fighting over the mothers nipples to such a point that they are becoming very aggressive and actually fighting each other!!!! They are hurting the mother and she is very reluctant to feed now..and who can blame her.. I have started weaning and they were doing really well, but the last 2 days they have eaten hardly any solids. Im making puppy food into a very soft porridge and adding lactol to it. They are crying and obviously hungry but just wont eat. What am I doing wrong,Im starting to get upset and worried every time I try to feed them. Can I supplement by bottle feeding? They are doing wees and poos and sleeping fine. Any advice would be great. I have to get some more lactol tomorrow, so would evaporated milk be ok and how much do I use?

Many Thanks

Have you kept their nails clipped? If they're hurtng the mum she'll be reluctant to feed them, so they'll get hungrier and more desperate.

Hi Jeangenie,
Yes nails have been clipped. Its their little needle teeth thats causing the problems whilst fighting..as one tries to get latched on the others bite mums nipples and thats when the trouble starts. They are hungry though and Im dreading when mum goes back in to feed them.

do they have a supply of drinking water, it may not be hunger, they may be thirsty, especially as they are begining to eat solids.. if not water.. half and half Carnation milk, till you get the lactol..

I would not try and bottle feed now, they are too old, and would not take to it..

Have you tried allowing half the litter to feed, and then swap over .. it might help if not so many pups vying for pole position.. and might be a little easier on mum

Oh poor mom! Try letting one pup at a time at milk bar just till they are not so hungry,that way they wont bite at mom so much. When you offer them solid food can they see mom? Some times it helps to have mom out of sight at meal times as puppies will always prefer the milk bar over "proper" food.

they have fresh cooled water, not interested. Tried adding lactol with same response, even dipped my fingers in and they didnt want to know. Mum wants to go in to them now, but she knows its going to be like a tidal wave coming at her and its only 3 pups!!! Will try evap milk until I can get to P@H tomorrow and will try letting one feed at a time until worst of hunger gone. When feeding solids the pups cant see mum so thats not why they wont eat. The food Im weaning them onto is Royal Cannin. Just a thought but could her milk be drying up, I cant seem to get very much out tonight!!!

i had same prob with my last litter ,mum wouldnt feed them at all from 4 1/2 weeks old ,i just put the food down and i would add a very small amount of puppy meat to the mix for them to smell it and they eat every bit :) ...they didnt want milk but would drink water by the next day of them eating lots of food , it dont take long before they know what to do with the water instead of walking and playing in it they drank it lol

It might be entirely different to your situation, but my last bitch became reluctant to feed the puppies at about 4 or 5 weeks old, because their teeth hurt her. Mind you, at that stage she was starting to naturally wean them by standing to feed them, not lying down, and they weren't quite big enough to reach her teats easily. The pups were having 5 meals a day at that stage, three of them very sloppy feeds with two marginally drier, and with water always available. After a week or so when they'd grown a bit more she'd let them feed again because they didn't pull on her so much. It could be that your bitch is starting to wean them as well.

Try adding  some "wet" food to the Royal Cannin,sometimes a bit of tinned puppy food gets the taste buds going or some minced chicken works as well,Fourthglade do a puppy food as well and my puppies loved that. Her milk may well be drying up but at 4 weeks it should not be too much of a problem.

I would be feeding them raw scrapped beef at this age.  I bet they'd prefer that to Mum's milk. :)

Well done West coast...exactly...the best thing to tempt puppies is raw red meat.Weaning is really about getting pups off milk onto solids.

The advice given by others will work for most other breeds but Cavaliers are the most difficult and slow to wean on the planet :-) And I mean slow.

Not uncommon for them not to touch solids until well over 6 weeks whereas I would have boxer pups eating well at 3weeks- I was astonished to see GSD pups trying to get to their mothers food at 2 and a half weeks. All breeds are different.

Take a flat bowl of very fine minced lean meat and hand feed each individually whilst the others sniff round the bowl, it will be slow and dont expect them to 'dive in' until at least 6-7 weeks.

And they fight..like little spitfires..all perfectly normal.
I always think the nastiest little beast turns into the sweetest little dog ...getting it all out of their system I suppose.

Many Thanks for all your replies, I really appreciate them. I have some minced beef defrosting and will try them with that later. I also had some cooked chicken which I shredded and gave them that...they went mad for it!!!! They have fresh water down and are paddling as usual, but they have been licking it off their paws so thats a start. At present all 3 asleep with full tums and mum stretched out beside me asleep. She is definitly trying to wean them herself as she wont lie down for them and curls up in a tight ball when she is in with them. Is it cruel of me to keep her in with them at night now or do they still need her. In the B.O.T.B. it says its cruel to make her stay, but they are still very young. She wants to be with the other 2 dogs in the kitchen at night.

Toolz.....Spitfires is the right word:)
Adore them all though.

my bitch (although a large breed) had access to pups but only on her terms, I never made her stay in with them..... but I have never bred a toy breed so don't know if it is the same

If they have full tummies and are only going to her for a gentle drink during the night, then she might be happier to be with them.  My girls normally sleep with their pups at night until about 6 weeks.  At the moment she's just protecting her undercarriage from combat! :)

Can you get some sort of set up where she can choose whether to be right in with the pups at night? My girl had a little utility room with the whelping box set up in it, so she could choose how much time to be in the box and how much to just be nearby.