A friend of mine has just had their first ever litter of puppies and weaned them onto meat at 9 days old as you can imagine bad tummys , constipation and sickness.
After losing 2 they are now 2 and a half weeks old and nearly off mum and on 6 meat meals a day.
He said that he read that puppies should be weaned at this age in a well known book.
We did advise him that 3 weeks old is really ideal, apart from certain circumstances but he insisted the book is right.
We have tried to help but he refuses to listen , the puppies are poorly and have had 6 trips to the vets in as many days.
When i asked him if he told the vet about the feeding he said it was not the vets business.
Poor puppies i really feel for them.
Just wondered if anyone else has been in this situation.

Peanuts

Mod: Breed edited

Hi

Never heard of this and sounds a load of rubbish to me. No wonder they are ill. And not to tell the vet the full facts stupid. How can he treat them correctly without knowing this. The vet must of asked if they were eating ok surely. What was his response??

Sorry dont know what to suggest, your friend obvioulsy isnt going to listen. Poor pups

Wendy

Dont know what was said between him and the vet all i know is the pups are now on antibiotics.

Peanuts

Not being a breeder of that breed I can't say for sure, but I would not have thought them any different to any other breed of dog, why would they be, the pups should still just be feeding from their mother, far too early for weaning. 3-4 weeks is the norm, and even then they will still want mum's milk too.

Poor babies!!! :-(

Actually just had a look at a few  sites, and they recommend later weaning to other breeds of dogs, between 5-6 weeks, can't do links but if you want me to PM the site I just found you are welcome.

So your friend is doing the pups terrible damage as they are obviously slower weaners, not faster!!!

Mine were 3 weeks old yesterday and the vet has advised me to start introducinbg puppy porridge at just one meal and then gradualy onto meat over the next week or so, and to be honest when my dad bred he always weaned between 3-4 weeks depending on the breed.  Is it because they can get rid of them quicker do you think?

I don't even start till 4 1/2 weeks that is with a teaspoon and they it starts with a dish at 5 weeks. My breed is never in a hurry :-)

oh my god... my babies are oly 9 days old and and their eyes are not even open,it is rediculous mine will be weaned in about 3-4 wks they just babies,these people dont deserve animals i got threw in at the deep end but mine will be well looked after it really upsets me

If the weight gain slows and/or it is a large litter I have started giving SUPPLEMENTARY FOOD in the shape of mashed puppy food with puppy milk as early as two weeks.  Otherwise I wouldn't start until 18 days so they have got used to some before worming at 3 weeks which I prefer to do after a solid feed.

Of course they would have regular feeds from Mum until she starts to reduce them herself at around five weeks, but would still get fed by her until 7 or 8 weeks and often they left for their new homes.

I feed as Brainless, and for the same reasons :) but they are left to be weaned off the bitch at her pace ;)

I'd love to know what the 'well known book' is :rolleyes: if it's giving this info it's obviously wrong :(  IMHO the proof of good feeding and weaning is healthy, thriving contented pups - and he doesn't seem to have achieved this :( :(

Sadly, I doubt he'll listen to you :( :( some people won't admit when they're wrong :( and in this case the pups are suffering for it, poor little mites  :(

my god he must be very very stupid and harming the puppies they shouldnt have there eyes open at 9 days old i start weaning mine at 3 weeks and i have one of the worlds large breed of dog and one of the worlds smallest breed of dog and i wean them all at the same age although i just weaned my litter at 2 weeks through my vet and i talking about it for over an hour as the mum wasnt that happy feeding and i stop them drinking of mum at 6/7 weeks by then there also on water  but mums never stopped going into the pups and feeding them as much as she like normaly mine have got fed up at this stage of the biting and the sharpe nails

This is where the differences between breeds really appear I think. Whelping time.   

Mines generally only open their eyes 16-18 days.  I did try to start weaning once at 3 1/2 weeks but gave up :-D

Incredible nature really.   I have 6 week olds just now and they are still in their whelping pen and in my bedroom. Although they are going to the living room tomorrow.  It is the great thing about small litters they are probably easier at this age. I can't imagine poo picking for great numbers. :-D

I have had a few litters of four (probably more than half my litters have been this number) which is a small number for our breed which averages about 7. 

I find this number so civilised and easy compared to the bigger litters of 7 and one of 9 that I have had.  So much easier to have indoors with less pooing. 

I do find though that there is no way I can keep them in a puppy pen indoors full time by 4 to 4 1/2 weeks.  They want to get further away from their sleeping quarters to toilet and get very upset at being so contained and tis is when they start to spend time in the outdoor Kennel and Run, and are usually happy enough to come in for naps and short periods and to sleep at night, but are yelling their heads off by first light.

Mine is just a medium size breed (bitches around 20kg as adults).

it all depends on the size of the litter and how mum coping.

wispa first litter she had 10 start to wean them at 2 1/2 weeks
wispa second litter she had 6 started to wean them at 3 1/2 weeks
wispa one and onlt pup was wean at 4 weeks
gollie had 5 wean at 3 1/2

all way start of with raw mince beef in a roll up ball.

why give them more milk base food they are get the best milk from mum.plus my girls have fed they puppies right up to the day the go to they  new homes plus four fed aday.i never sepatete the mum from the puppie she can come and go as she pleases.  she know best in doing her job
but loves going out for walks to get away from them like us human need space now and then but she would be back in with them after a walk to fed them

Nearly off mum?? At 2½ weeks? That's ridiculously early, and terribly bad for the pups. :( With my medium-sized breed (25kg adults) I wouldn't even start weaning till three weeks for anything other than a large litter (10+ puppies), when I'd start a coule of days earlier. And I'd give them just a teaspoon of scraped beef each a day for several days before progressing to a teaspoon twice a day. By 5 weeks they'd be on 5 meals a day, but would still be feeding off mum as well. Mum should be allowed to free access to and from her litter at all times.

These poor pups are being treated very badly, and the mother must be suffering greatly; eclampsia will be the next thing for her. The future owners of the pups are in for an expensive time, because these won't make healthy adults, being raised so appallingly.

I think you should advise your friend to put aside plenty of money to cover the compensation bills he's likely to get from the new owners because of their dogs' poor health resulting from their bad upbringing.

I start at 3wks taking the "runny porridge" off  a teaspoon taking one pup  at time (just like spoonfeeding a baby) and gradually building up to them lapping out of a saucer and then making the mix thicker,  at 6 weeks old they should be feeding normally.  Mum still give a feed though, i've seen mum giving one feed a day up until they leave here for their new homes.

I had a large litter so when they were 17 days old I started each one on a teaspoon full of scraped beef once a day increasing daily as and when needed until they were 3-4 weeks and then started them with full individual meals 3 times a day.They were also still fed by mum until 5-6 weeks