My yorkie pups are now 6 weeks old but their mum does not want them to eat or poo, she must want to keep them babies. I have been trying to wean them for ages but she has so much milk they are never very hungry. The only thing they are really enthusiastic about is scrambled egg, but they do not eat much of that. I have a cupboard full of foods that they will not eat, baby rice, baby porridge, weetabix. pc puppy dry. The main foods I have been trying to get them to eat are science plan dry puppy food and pc puppy pouches, I wet the science plan with boiling water to soften it, but they would not touch that, so I tried puppy pouches, not interested, so now wet dry food and then put a bit of pc puppy pouch mixed in it, they eat a tiny bit but not enough to feed them properly. I got desperate yesterday and shut the mum out of their pen, she sulked all day and they also sulked, refused to come out of their box to even see what was on offer for 1 meal yesterday, I feel really cruel stopping her from going in to them but don't know what else to do. Mum also was in a real panick the first time one of them pooed on the newspaper, and since weaning them or I should say trying to, I have only seen 4 poos in nearly 3 weeks until yesterday when she was shut out and got 4 in one day, bet theres not many so pleased to see poo. But I know she was still stimulating them to go as I have seen her doing it. I let her in for a couple of hours in the night with them, that was all it was as I stayed up half the night and then my husband shut the pen when he got up at 5.40 this morning, they had breakfast at 7.00 clock and did eat a bit more than usual, but that was scrambled egg. Mum full of milk starting to leak out of her now, would be grateful for any help on this.

I would not hurry their weaning at all.  Are they gaining weight?  Are they content?

Many toy bred pups are quite backward wirth their development.  They are not ready for things as soon as some of their larger brethren.  If the bitch is still treating them like babies then they obviously require it. 

Most toy pup breeders will not let them go to new homes before 12 weeks anyway so you have loads of time for them to become more independant.  You have a bitch there worth her weight in gold.  If they are eating a little then that is fine, when her milk starts to dry up or become insuficient they will take miore.. 

Do  not offer them too many differenet things as the new owners will be pulling their hari out wwith fussy pups.

My Molly is still clearing her puppies poos up at nearly 6 weeks.  I was adviced by someone who has been breeding a very long time to feed them as soon as they wake up before mum gets to them and her milk will reduce naturally.  Molly has been brilliant but she is now starting to want to come back with us rather than be with them.  My westie who was the only small dog I ever bred was a awful mum we had to pick her up and force her to feed them from day 1 so you are quite lucky.

Thanks very much for your replies, I will let her carry on and see what happens, but still keep feeding them a little. She doesn't mind what pups it is to feed as I took her to see her sister yesterday at my son's, who also has a litter of pups and they were out in the room for a play, she was going to let them have a feed, but we stopped her, their mum is quite happy to not feed them now, and they are fully weaned, only 4 days older.

Hi Cath H
I too have a litter of yorkies, 6 weeks yesterday and i have one who would not eat a thing all he wanted was mum to feed off which was fine, but mum was not having any of it as they must have been biting her teats , she too has lots of milk.as like you i tried everything, i even bought kitten food and did not like that, but i had a tin of butchers tripe and tried that, he loves it, maybe worth a try ., he also tries some proplan puppy but like to play with the biscutes, as an earlier post has said as they are a toy breed they can and sometimes will be slower as i have found out with this one, and mine certainly won't go until atleast 11-12 weeks, so you have plenty of time

violet-anne

Hi Cath H
I have a litter of Yorkies just over 8 weeks. One of them was much slower to wean (the smallest 1). I weaned them on Burns mini bites. Made it quite sloppy with tepid water and used the hand blender. Once they took to this I added a bit of Nature Diet puppy food which they loved. Mum is on Burns mini bites & I have seen them eating hers (dry). Like yours Lacey is still keen to look after them ~ even though they go out into the garden & have been very good with doing their business out there ~ she still runs after them and "fusses" round them. Always licking and cleaning them. 2 of them have homes but won't be going til 11 weeks. The new owners phone for regular updates & as one is fairly close has been to visit a few times. Luckily I am keeping the only bitch or it would have been sooo hard. My daughter goes to Uni in September & she thinks I'll make more fuss when the pups leave home than when she does. :)

Thanks for the advice everyone, you are all so kind giving advice, I am really pleased I found this forum, it has been such a big help to me. Know just how you feel Helent112, just dreading the time when they are ready to leave, I too am keeping the only bitch, probably just as well I only have 1 bitch, otherwise I would probably keep all of them. My daughter in law exactly the same she has only 1 bitch, and going to keep her, but her children have really fell in love with a little dog, they have even offered to draw savings out of the bank and pay for him, they will probably never forgive her if she parts with him, so I am not sure what she is going to do.

Hi CathH
I bet she keeps him.:P  Thing is because they are so small you can easily keep more & more. I went up to see the owner of the stud dog on Saturday. My 12 yr old son came with me & she let all her Yorkies (except the bitches in season) out in the garden. My sons face was a picture 12 of them  ranging from 9 months to 12 1/2 years He said "Mum thats how you will end up". She has been showing & breeding for 40 years. Its been 15 years since my last litter & she was there for me every step of the way. :)
Take Care
Helen