Dear Sir/Madam,

i am looking for some advised, i have some 5 week old puppies who are eating twice a day, however the puppies are still feeding off the bitch.
Is this normal and if not can you give me any advise on how to stop this from happening.

Thanks Lisa

Yes, it's normal for puppies to still be feeding off the bitch, especially if they are only having 2 other meals a day. At five weeks of age my puppies are having 5 small meals each day, and the bitch will still 'top them up' till they leave home at about 8 weeks.
Hope this helps.

thanks for reply, will the bitches milk dry up once the pups have left or not, however we may be keeping a puppy so what will we have to do in this situation as we wont want the bitch feeding the puppy.

Thanks lisa

Hi Lisa,
As the pups get older and bigger, and the meals you give them get bigger too, Mum will feed them less and less and her milk will dry up naturally. I have always kept at least one puppy from my litters, and by about 9 weeks Mum is not having them feeding from her! She tells them, they obey! (And I always make sure there are areas of the house that she can get to that they can't).

What puppy food are they on?
:)

Hi,

The Puppy food they are on at the minute is Chudleys Puppy food (dried food although we are softening with water)

When mum feeds them as well, it is making the puppies dropping runny, what to you suggest.

Thanks Lisa

Hi Lisa, what breed are they? How often are you feeding the puppies, and how much? It won't be their mother's milk making them runny, it's far more likely to be the solid food, especially if they are eating too much of it. Lots of small meals is far better for them than a couple of large ones. They only have very small stomachs, which are not capable of containing all the food they need for growth, in just one or two feeds. Overloading their stomachs, if that is what is happening, will certainly give them the runs.

PS - also, how often have Mum and pups all been wormed?

Hi,

The pups a labradors and they and mum have been wormed on the 3rd week and are due for another dose on wednesday the 5th week, they are having 2 meals a day and its been given out of twin bowls like the ones you get for cats.

Thanks Lisa

At 5 weeks I was giving my pups (not labradors, but a similar sized breed) a milky meal for breakfast (weetabix with fullcream milk, or commercial puppy milk), a complete puppy food (soaked) at lunchtime, another milk meal at about 4pm and another meaty/puppy food at about 8pm, with the bitch topping them up whenever she wanted. At this stage they were getting about a small handful of the solid food each at each meal, and about a cupful of the milky weetabix each.

The worming regime is great!

How many pups have you?

hi,

we have nine pups, all seem to be fine and getting bigger, just the runny dropping that was the worry, thanks for your help.

lisa

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