hi im after advice on peoples oppinions as to what they recommend to ween the three babys onto when its time to. they are pugs previously 11 years ago had a litter of working cokcers and fed them what the vets recommended but unsure when it comes to this litter and what others recommend,any advice is appreciated thanks in advance xx

You are obviously going to get very differing opinions depending upon how you would feed, or do feed your adults.

I feed raw, so I am starting to ween my little ones on Natural Instinct weening paste (finely ground chicken and bone) - Nutriment also do the same. I have to say, there is a feeding frenzie when I put the dish down - talk about survival of the fittest LOL.

Boo isn't wrong when it comes to differing opinion!!    I can only tell you how we weaned our Basset litters, bearing in mind with this breed, you have to feed to promote the big bone they should have, genetically.    By around the end of week 3 going into week 4, we started with warmed goats milk, holding each individual puppy on our knee and encouraging them to lap.   At the same time, we gave each puppy a tiny amount of lean raw mince (or hamburger if you prefer), just enough to cover a thumbnail, once a day.   They absolutely loved this, and it was tempting to feed more but at this early stage, most of their nourishment should still be coming from mum.   I did the warmed goats milk 4 times a day and once they could lap, added a good quality puppy food.  Here is where you have to make your own decision about what but I'd use one that lists meat as the main ingredient - we used Eukanuba because at that time it didn't have the 'bad publicity it seems to have now' and for sure, the outflow was minimal compared to other food, significant with big puppies like Basset puppies.   The food was mixed with either goats milk or water, into a porridge, reducing the amount of liquid as they grew and could manage their food less porridge-like.   This was fed 4 times a day, with mum out of the box, but going in to clean up, and eventually allow comfort nursing, standing up - until their teeth hurt at which point she wanted out.

Weaning onto solids was over by around 6 weeks but unless we knew the puppy buyers, none went home until 10 weeks.   Mum was off them shortly after weaning onto solids was done (some earlier although Bassets do make good mums usually) but for me, there was no rush to get them away, other than with the bigger litters where a more individual attention, from puppy owners, was more than I could give them.   It would depend on how well they were doing, and I needed to make sure each puppy was properly established in their diet.

We didn't need to use bitch replacer milk, thankfully.   Also, because of the need to help the big bone, we added things like cottage cheese, scrambled egg and raw mince to various of the meals we fed during a day.   And we'd also continue with the goats milk, warmed, as a mid-morning, mid-afternoon and last thing 'meal'.

hi thanks for all the advice,ive never fed any of the dogs on raw meat,complete food with tinned meat at times,i will tak on board everyones advice tough with the early stages of feeding,pups are staying with us until they are 10 weeks old and the only girl is staying with us for good,they already licking hands after we have eaten food,mum has done brilliant with the babys but isn't feeding them as often as she has been,they all gaining weight though so not too concerned about all of this,thanks again for the advice xx

I am facing the same question soon (fingers crossed) with a litter due in a month--my dogs are raw fed and get a gluten free kibble as mixer biscuit, but I guess not all families will want to go down this route...so is it a case of compromising to give the puppy the best start I can knowing that the new owners will carry on the same diet, or do I stick to my principles and risk the puppy being reweaned onto a complete kibble???

sassyshna4, you might find this website helpful http://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/

Nutriment seems to be the best of the best!

>pups are staying with us until they are 10 weeks old

Most of the toy breed clubs recommend 12 weeks.  Is this different with your breed?  I know several of us on CD breed toys, and, even though we have different breeds, it would seem that most of us have the 12 week rule.