Can anyone help?

I have a litter of pups which are 4 weeks old today. Last night one of the pups was very quiet and as I was watching him he started to retch so he was lifted out of the box away from the others, after about  a minute he was sick once. It is a little difficult to describe what the sick looked like but I guess the easiest way is to say it looked a bit like cottage cheese (?). He stayed up with me, away from the other pups for most of the night but after a little rest he was back to his normal playful self and today he has eaten well. My worry is that tonight another one of the pups has been sick.

I am weaning the pups on best mince, rice pudding eggs etc which may explain the look of cottage cheese. However, when should I start to worry (even more than I am at the minute). Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing, am I doing something wrong and should I continue to wean as normal?

Any advice would be gratefully received. Many Thanks.

maybe you are feeding too many milky feeds. Are you feeding a good puppy food as well as the mince etc I feed nutro puppy soaked in warm water then add a drop of lactol and blend pour into the puppy bowl and add fresh mince (cooked ) ontop to give something to chew they love it I also give scrambled egg with lactol and cooked chicken cut into tiny pieces , fish softened with a fork you could blend a little milk with it.
It sound like a milk posset he is bringing up stop the rice pud for a day or two and see how you go.

by the way my babies are 4 wks too!

Hello,

Maybe you are right about the milky feeds, I will take your advice & stop them for a few days. At the minute I have not introduced any 'real' puppy food. I have it all here waiting I was just putting it off for a few more days as some of the pups still seemed to be a bit slow on the eating front (well most of the boys actually). Maybe if I subsitute the rice pud for some dried food that might do the trick?

Thanks for your help, I was stressing as its not nice to see the pups in discomfort!

personallyI would not do a complete stop to the milky feeds, it could up set the tummy  even more. I'd would do it slowly like one solid food and one milk meal change over slowly to the food your going to use as puppy food for them. Your puppy might be not getting at much as the rest of the litter and bringing up food because he's hungry. I Keep a eye on how much he is eating measure all the puppies foods. and weighing him make sure he's progress in nicely.

Thank you for your advice, the pups that have been ill were the strongest & heaviest in the litter, I weigh them everyother day to keep an eye on their weight. I was beginning to think if the sickness was related to the fact that they are gready and eating too much too quickly therefore making themselves ill, is that possible? There are 11 pups in the litter and feeding was always very controlled to make sure that everyone was getting their share until a few days ago when we started feeding them all together.

Now it does sound like one been greedy than the rest.  One has  been a little piggy lol

Make sure not got  any with poo problems as well thought then you have a problem in the litter then I get a vet. Got be so careful.

How you cleaning the puppy bowls after feeding I used boiled water from the kettle got think about loads of things. Germs in your big worry also.

Aee you making the rice pud or using tinned?  IF making it substitue goats milk for cows milk.  To be honest, whilst it sounds a well thought out puppy diet, and you are obvoiusly trying hard, I am much happier weaning my pups onto a quality puppy food, mixed into porridge with goats milk, and using tiny quantities of mince or chicken to tempt if they don't take to the porridge right away.

Could it be that mums milk is going off?

The update with the pups is that they all seem to be doing well today, no signs of any being sick. I have reduced the amount of milky products and have gone back to a blander diet to try and settle their tummys. I have also gone back to splitting the litter when feeding so I double check that everyone is getting the correct amount of food.

Before the pups arrived I spent a lot of time (and money) rushing round the shop making sure that I had everything - just incase!! One of the things I purchased was a few large tins of Lactol incase I had to top any of the puppies up. Thankfully this never happened and instead I was left with these unopened tins, rather than trying to return them to the shop I decided to use then when weaning the pups by putting it in porridge etc. Although in answer to Gwen's question the rice pudding I used was from tins and not home made.

I think I might delay in introducing the biscuit meal for a few days longer just to make sure that they are all ok?

>in answer to Gwen's question the rice pudding I used was from tins and not home made

Tinned rice pudding has very high levels of sucrose, which can have a laxative effect ...

Hi, I know what you mean , feeling  that covered all, but the best laid plans something can do pear shaped up when your not ready.

I didn't know that about the rice pudding.......home made stuff from now on then. Thanks.

try introducing goats milk its very kind to young pups tummies