my 3 pups are now 4 1/2 weeks old and appear to be thriving.  my only concern is that wilma, their mum seems totally unconcerned with them.  for the first three weeks she was the perfect mother and never left their sides but since i started weaning them she cant be bothered with them.  im sure they are getting enough nourishment as they are all growing and playing happily but it seems to be coming from me rather than her.  i'm giving them burns minibites soaked in lactol and the occasional bit of scrambled egg.  they are on 3 meals a day and also as they are not getting much milk from their mum they are lapping lactol from a saucer.  i am probably worrying unneccesarily but as this is the first litter i have had it is a bit of a concern to me.  is it normal for mums to show little interest at this stage and are the pups ok on a diet that consists of probably only one or two meals from mum in a day.  i would prefer them to be getting more milk naturally but panic when it seems that wilma is not feeding them,  she seems to let them suckle for 2 to 3 minutes then runs off and finds something more entertaining to do. thanks for any advice.

Hi, this all sounds pretty normal to me. :) The bitch will lose interest more and more the older the pups get and in particular when they are on solids. However I would feed them 5-6 times a day now, not just 3!