Pups are now 2.5wks old...(3wks on saturday).
My question is when do I safely start weaning, The 2 bigger pups seem to be hungry all the time now and even the littlest is looking like she could do with some extra.
I have got Wainwrights wet puppy food and was going to mash this down a bit more with puppy milk added to it, they will be weaned onto Wainwrights dry puppy, as this is what the mum is on and we have had no problems.
Im not usually so dim, but have read a few conflicting things about weaning and want to do the best I can.

As soon as they start showing an interest in Mum's food (I feed Mum soaked food in the whelping box).

I have started as early as their eyes opening if they have seemed to need it, but usually start them off with a taste at 18 days in order to have them started by the time I worm at 3 weeks.

brilliant..will start today and see happens:)

Forgive me if I am wrong but I thought your breed was the same as mine ... if so, they are not generally ready for weaning until around 4 weeks old, quite a bit later than a lot of breeds.

with our large litter I weaned or started to at 17 days old, some where licking at the vet bed etc so looked hungry! I done the first meals as rice pudding with the biscuit soaked in and mashed down, the bowls were cleared very quickly.... I done this 2 times a day to start and then 3 etc and then gradually reduced the rice pudding and started to add different things like raw mince scrambled eggs etc inbetween the biscuit meals and then gradually reduced the water so that it wasn't a mush. I did make sure that all pups could eat dry food before they left, although I still prefer to feed it soaked so not such a huge water consumption is needed and putting a strain on the dogs to get the correct intake.

I have weaned large litters at 2.5 weeks old, ours are a large breed.

Cavlover
yes same as yours..the 2 bigger ones are over a kilo each and just dont seem to be happy on just milk alone now...not sure what to do for the best now...

They are licking the vet bed aswell where mum has dropped some food!!

Well it is up to you but in my experience they are a slow to wean breed ...infact my last litter I had to spoon feed all three until 6 weeks of age lol, they just didn't want to know particularly before then ! All the breeders of our breed that I know do not start weaning until 4 weeks but if you are worried they aren't being satisfied by milk alone I can't see it doing any harm to try at 3 weeks... if they are showing signs of being ready then go for it !

I would try them, if they aren't ready, they won't attempt to eat it... mine didn't all dive in at once there were some that took a few days to get adjusted.

I don't actually decide!  I let them decide for themselves.

Mum is always fed in the whelping box.  You always risk losing condition if a bitch doesn't want to leave pups to feed.  As mum is given puppy food anyway there is no need to change the food in the whelping box.  I find that my bitches don't like dry food when cleaning pups (mouth too sore.)

Pups vary, but some start licking mum's food at around 3 weeks.  I've never been the one to decide - they start when they're ready.  :-)

You say that mum is eating dry.  Do you ever give her wet at all?

Mine eat from stands, so pups aren't able to get at the food... but like i said if you put it in there, if they are ready they will start to eat it, if they are not they won't!

hi jean..she is eating dry mixed with wet food..thats why the pups are licking the bedding...she has food and water in the box all the time and fresh put in regularly. The pups are toddling around and have found her food and have been licking at it...

> The pups are toddling around and have found her food and have been licking at it...

Then they are ready.

> The pups are toddling around and have found her food and have been licking at it...

:-)  :-)  :-)  Sounds good to me!

yep they are ready...tried a small amount of wet food made sloppy...youd think they hadnt been fed at all..all 3 devoured it!!!!

I'm so pleased for you.  I bet it made you smile.  I love it when they reach the stage of getting mucky with their food, lying in it, and licking it off each others bellies!!!!  :-)

Just for a little input here, I did what my father used to do for pups which was to scrape good quality steak with a sharp knife rather than using mince. Then roll it into tiny, puppy mouth sized balls and try them on it. It may be an old fashioned approach to weaning now but it worked wonders for our pups, especially as wet puppy food didn't agree with their tummies.