my girl had her pups last friday, 1 had to be put to sleep he had a cleft pallet but the rest are all doing fine all putting weight on well, when is the best time to start weaning them and what is the best thing to give them??
Also my girl is eating a good amount of food but just isnt putting the weight on since the pups were born any advice??

Hi kisty, sorry you lost one of your puppys. My pups are 3 weeks on on monday and i have not started weaning yet, but i normaly start at 3 to 4 weeks , start by giveing baby food such as baby rice and puppy milk , and then offer eukanuba that i leave to soak in boiling water so its soft, this works for me. ALways take weaning slowly ,and have water down at all times warm regards debbie.

Can you give any advice about my girl? is it normal for her not to put on weight whilst she still nurses the pups? She lost alot of weight whilst pregnant and when the pups were born. What can i do to fatten her up abit? shes starting to look like a little whippet.

Hi again, my spelling not grate so bare with me you say she is eating ok . is she alright in her self did you get her vet checked when she had finished welping? and are you giving her plenty of food to eat as it can take a lot out of a bitch when they are feeding a large litter of pups. Keep an eye on her, and feed her when she is hungry, if you are very woried phone your vet warm regards debbie ps is she drinking excessivley as i lost one of my girls last year to suggar diabetes, which can happen due to being pregant.

The vet checked her and said she was fine, he advised me to put her on puppy food so she has hills complete, she started off having 4 meals a day now i leave the bowl outside her pen and make sure its always got food in it. am i feeding her the right food or should i put some meat in it? according to the vet thats the best thing to give her but it doesnt seem to be helping.

You sound very woiried hills is very good food, but you wont do any harm giving her a bit of meat.regards debbie.

Thanx ever so much for your help, she is fine in herself very happy and energetic i just need to get the weight on her for a staffy shes very skinny. i will start to put some meat in with her biscuits and see how she goes.
Once again thanx very much you have been a great help.

Kirsty

Your bitch sounds very normal, they do not normally put on weight untill the puppies are weaned, they put so much into feeding the puppies. We usually start weaning at 2-3 weeks so as not to take to much out of the mum, if they are licking, lapping, they should be able to start weaning.

I use pedigree puppy poridge, but I am sure many people will not agree with that but we have not had a bad litter yet, so it is on preference, we then move on to well soaked puppy complete.

Hope you get on well with the puppies

Kirsty, your girl will be needing about 4 times her normal diet to just keep the puppies fed. Give her lots of good quality protein, (chicken red meat etc) and make sure she has plenty of liquid - try her with some goats milk. Dont expect her to gain weight whilst she is feeding the babies as they take so much from her.

I start any time after two weeks old(though with some hungry litters have started as early as 12 days).

I soak my bitches food and feed her in the whelping box/puppy pen.  when the pupos start trying to eat Mums food is when I start them off.  they were having a really good try at it yesterday so ahve tried them toady at 15 days old and given them puppy milk and soaked mashed puppy food tio make a gruel twice topday.

The same bitches last litter were only 4 pups and they were totaly disinterested in supplemetnary food until 4 weeks even though I did offer them a little a couple times a day from 3 weeks they just played with it and hardly ate any.

This time with 7 they seem quite hungry efven though they have gained adequately and look well fed from Mum alone.  theya re already walking around and starting to play, and as a breed are quite forward.

the pups are gaining weight very well they have all gained over a pound and are all looking very healthy.
I put some meat in mums food today and she couldnt eat enough of it.
Also when do i need to worm mum and the pups?
This is my first litter and i have read lots of books including the book of the bitch but some people seem to do different things and i want to do the best for mum and the pups so any advice on things would be much apprieciated.

Hi kirty, you can worm your puppies from two weeks old. I have just gave mine there first worming and they will be 3 weeks tomorrow, my last litter i wormed at two weeks old but they were alot bigger than theses ones, as this litter was 5 days early so ive held off with worming untill now,  i hope this helps, regards debbie.

Whats the best wormer to use? my pups are quite big for a week old they weigh just under 2lb

Hi again, i cant spell it, but i get it from my vets . The ones they sell in pet shop can give the puppies diearear hope you can read this ok sorry speelling not good but i do try debbie.

thanks alot il speak to my vet.

My staffy has had a litter of eight there now 25 days old i started weaning them at 2 weeks as they seem to be always feeding from mum, there now eating porridge, puppy food, and yesterday i boiled sum chicken drumsticks, stripped them, the pups went absoluty nuts for it, ate the lot. i think if there willing to eat solids then let them have it. Mum still goes in and feeds them, but i have noticed mum is now putting sum wieght back on.

hi kirsty

has mum put weight on now?  my girl looked thin after having pups but she soon put weight on - try not to worry....

i feed mum in with the pups and as soon as the pups start trying to eat her food i start to wean them that is about 3 week, i feed mine on raw and burns so i start with raw chicken. 
as for mum i would keeping doing as you are and adding the meat with help a little but i think the best thing is ot get the pups weaned as soon as you can as some bitches will not put weight on until after they have been fully weaned, its nothing you can do its what is meant to happen

Thanks alot you have all been great, shes starting to look a bit bigger.
The pups are now 4 weeks old how many times a day should they be fed?