hi, my friend has a litter of 4 toy breed pups, she started weaning them at 3 weeks onto the same brand of puppy food that the mum is on. The first day a few pups had a lick at the food. The few days following they really were not interested so she has given some raw lean beef mince (frozen first) 3 pups love it and are eating from the dish but one pup is really not interested she wont lick it off her finger and if she puts a small bit by her noise still no interest. She has tried poping tiny bits in her mouth but she just spits it out.

The other 3 pups are doing really well and are now eating the mince mixed with the soaked puppy food that she wants them weaned on.

(The puppy complete food is soaked in warm water to make a porridge then mince added)

Could it be this puppy is not ready to be weaned or should my friend try to get her interested with another food maybe tripe or simular then add the soaked puppy food when the pup gets the hang of it?

thanks for any advice in advance :)

Does the puppy seem ok in itself, lively etc?  i usually wean mine on raw mince (frozen 1st) and tripe, dont usually have a problem starting them off with this, then gradually add dry soaked,  not sure with toy breeds wether you wean them at this age or not? maybe as you say the puppy is not quite ready  yet

Hi annastasia, yes she is the liveliest pup from the litter. My friend has just tried the tripe the pup didn't need any encouragement she went straight for the dish :)

I think it must be the really strong smell, she mixed the tripe with the soaked puppy food it worked wonders.

At approx how many weeks old would you expect the pups to just be on dry food without the mince and tripe. Just to give a rough estimate to work towards (I know all pups are different but just good to know what others aim for)?

The pups are 4 weeks old tomorrow.

I would give them a week on the trip/mince then add some soaked puppy food, it usually does the trick for me, glad little puppy is now eating well,

Try puppy porridge from pedigree online, my chi's always wean on this first then onto tinned meat.

My toy girl will be five weeks on Thursday and will have one mouthful only about three times per day.
She is still happy on mum and so I have not really pushed it.
She weighs two pounds already and mum is only one and a half kilos- so assuming all is ok.

Hi, I went to see my friends pups yesterday they have grown so much!

They are all eating really well, they are having raw tripe and the soaked puppy food. They are on 4 meals a day and are all tucking in, mum is not feeding them so much now. When the pups wake up they have their meals and a play then have a little feed from mum sometimes but not every time and then have a sleep. She is going to start making the food a little crunchier each day.

The pups have a shollow bowl of water. The pups wont drink on there own so she is putting it onto a spoon which the pups will have a little lick at, is that enough at 4.5 weeks?

(She is holding the bowl under the pups and spoon feeding it to help them get used to lapping then they occasionally will lap from the bowl)

Thanks