Hello to anyone reading. My gorgeous girl had 13 pups almost 4 weeks ago. We began weaning at 2.5 weeks on advice after some problems. Their mum is still feeding them 3 or 4 times a day and once at night.

I’m not sure what’s led to this but for well over a week now their stools have been very soft and too often watery. Initially put it down to being wormed. It went on for long enough for me to start to suspect the weaning foods I’m using (and maybe the fact they were beginning to wean a little early).

I grind kibble in a nutri bullet and then was soaking it in lactol. They all but two seemed interested in this and were happy to eat it - although not with any fervour. I also tried a little royal canin starter mousse this week which they loved but think this is too rich as their stools became like mousse.

Keep coming across the leerburg recipe and thought I’ll give it a go in their kibble mush instead of lactol.. couldn’t believe the enthusiasm from all, including the two who had turned their noses up to all weaning attempts. They’ve been passed out since so no poo yet (but usually by now at least some of them would’ve been periodically waking to toilet).

Holding my breath and feeling excited to be free of this diarrhoea curse but also want to be prepared for more problems. All the reviews of this recipe online (from different sources) are amazing, but there’s got to be a downside!?

I haven't heard of it before so googled, goats milk, egg and yoghurt fine - I wouldn't be giving baby puppies, or any dog, sugar or corn syrup though? I'd just use goats milk on it's own to soak their kibble.

Corn syrup will act as a laxative.

Why not just soak their kibble in water now and then they can get their milk from mum post feeds?

Sometimes pups struggle with rich foods.
Often it's trial and error but I know my last litter the RC mousse gave them runny poos as did always soaking the kibble with milk, I only ever used goats milk not lactol. The odd meal with goats milk was fine though.

If you aren't sure what I'm saying about corn syrup, have a Google on Karo syrup, the US vets recommend it for constipated puppies. Karo is a brand name for corn syrup.

just thinking . As corn syrup aka karo is sweet I would expect that's why they were so keen. Even dogs like sweet things . Is it a good idea to introduce routinely a food that includes sugar in one form or another if its not as a laxative and pups are healthy ?

Having googled the recipe it's not something I would feed after 4 weeks. My pups at that age are fed 4 or 5 times a day with raw meat, and are topped up by mum when she finishes what they've left. I certainly wouldn't be giving anything with sweeteners, natural or artificial.

When you get diarrhoea (apart from dehydration not being something you'd want, young puppies especially) you can give a little natural yogurt (preferably goats yog. if you can source it) which normally clears up uncomplicated tummy upsets.

What you were doing at 2.5 weeks, was supplementing and should be seen as that until the end of week 3 going into week 4 when weaning would normally be started.

This response (looseness/diarrhoea) is an indication that their immature digestive systems are not ready to cope with external feed, solid or made into a porridge consistency.   I'd have supplemented with warmed goats milk.

Our puppies, with weaning, had a porridge mix (after learning how to lap goats milk) plus lean mince, enough to cover a thumb nail, and only once a day, however much they love it!  Again their immature dig.system.

I have no first hand experience of Leerburg formula.

We did try goats milk on it’s own, after speaking about it on here - I gave the bigger pups some and they all got the watery poo.

I didn’t use corn syrup (I read about it preventing constipation in the recipe). The yolk and yoghurt is to match the proteins and fat of bitches milk - and also does something that reduces the risk of cataracts (which goats milk alone increases).

We had no choice but to wean early. For the pups and the bitches sake. It wasn’t just supplementation, it was a genuine effort to begin the process to get them off their mum.
We spoke with experienced breeders, both who know the bitch and what it’s like to have a primigravida whelp a very large litter, and some online.

How long did they just get the thumbnail amount?

This morning all poo’s have firmed up about halfway to being normal! Absolutely delighted! Pups all still energetic when wakeful and slept sound through the night. So naturally they took a break from the night feed which was nice for their mum too. She seems like a pup again herself this morning.
The two who didn’t want to wean are now the most excited. So far so good. Read so many reviews about this recipe saving the day and hopefully it’s not too good to be true. Never thought I’d be so excited by the viscosity of a shit. Husband is disgusted at the amount I’m talking about it