hi i have a litter of St Bernards, what is the earliest i can feed them solids, they always seem hungry mum has plenty of milk but she is just getting a bit hot and tired of feeding them so often, most days its every hour.
they not 2 weeks yet, could i give them dry puppy food soaked in whelpi when they two weeks or should i wait till they 3 weeks.
also i would liked to feed tripe as well cause mum has this and raw chicken mince what age can pups eat these. thanks.

Hi Guest,

There is no reason why you can't partially supplement their diet at two weeks onwards if you feel that they are needing more than they are getting from mum.  Well soaked puppy food. pureed in a liquidiser and added whelpi or Carnation Milk to thin mixture down a little is a good start - only offer them this before they've fed off mum otherwise they are less likely to try it ;)  If you later want to move onto meat personally I wouldn't offer any type of minced meat as the texture and size is not suitable at such an early stage - give them some scraped beef  - just a little at first to see how their tummies cope.  If you want further info why not join the forum?  There are several experienced breeders who raw feed on here who will be better able to advise you on how and when to introduce other ingredients to their diet.  Regards Teri :)

I fed my lot raw tripe and chicken the minced type from about 4 weeks onwards.  They are all now 13 weeks and doing fine so hopefully it hasnt had any adverse affects.  I am slightly different to Terri in that I usually feed raw mine mixed with a raw egg from 2 1/2 weeks onwards.  I have also weaned on cheap rice pudding as I have found they love this as well.

Same her my lot get the micned meat from 4 weeks prior to that it is socked puppy food mixed to a gruel then a pste with puppy milk formula.

I have started them as young as 10 days as soon as their eyes were open when a bitch didn't seem to be lactating that well and wiehty gain seemed to be slowing down instead of increasing.

I generally give mine their first tase at 18 days so that by the 3 weeks worming they are getting a little something four times a day, and I can worm them after a feed which causes less problems.

In addition to the advise you have been given here you might want to seek advise from your bitche's breeder as weaning and rearing large breed puppies is really quite a specialist subject.