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got a litter of pups about to turn 4 weeks...female isn't wanting to feed them anymore cause they're tearing up her tits with their claws and teeth. she'll only feed them if i make her lay down and hold still. the pups are eating softened puppy chow no problem, just don't know if it's ok to take them off the bitch yet. is 4 weeks too young to wean? they all seem healthy and strong. what do you guys think?

If they are eating the food and she is not feeding them take them off. I would pick up some milk replacer from a feed store and give it to them. You can mix it up with some warm water and help use it to keep the food soft. I also use a little when I start feeding them hard dry food, just put a little of the dry powder on top of the food helps them to start eating it better I think.

guess my big concern is that there will be some kind of health problem from switching too soon...they started eating out of mom's food bowl last week. what do you think of powdered milk with the puppy chow?

If they are eating food and drinking water, milk they will be just fine. Andy

Here's what I have used:
Goat milk (canned). Best you can get and you add 1 can of water to it.
Mix it well with something like Pedigree Complete Puppy Formula.
Start with a 50/50 mix. When they are eating well, slowly introduce dry puppy food that has been softened in the milk and slowly wean them off the milk using water instead.
You cn introduce any vitamins or supplements during this time also if you are concerned.
I generally introduce the softened dry food mixed with foalac only because I have plenty of it on hand.
Hope the info you are getting helps.

thanks guys...she's still letting them feed once or twice a day, but I've been giving them food with powdered milk and warm water on it untill they're full as well. just curious Hagerman, why goat's milk? is it easier to digest and what's foalac? is that for horses? thanks for the input guys.

Once puppies start eating, females naturally start wanting to nurse them less. They also stop cleaning up after them because it is more like dog crap, than puppy crap. They also get sick of there tits getting scratched to the point of bleeding. (I cut my puppies every 4 days, and my females never get raw)

I have a litter of pups whom are 4 weeks old (born 5/5), and this is there second day off Mom. They have been eating for about 1 1/2 weeks, and have only been nursing about 2x a day for the past 5 days. I leave a full pan of dry puppy food in the doghouse and feed them a large cup of warm water soaked food twice daily. Thats it. They are butterballs. Giving them all the milk and replacer, ect is unnessisary if you are feeding a good food. All it does is upset there stomach, and make them over eat, and over shit.

I took the Momma dog out of the kennel on Sunday morning, took her hunting, she made the tree, looked like a million bucks. Draggin' titties and all. Came home and put her in a different kennel, and she hasn't even looked the direction of her puppies. She's happy!


My current litter, 4 weeks old. Just on straight puppy food.


My last litter at 4 weeks old, after being on straight puppy food for almost 5 days.

Thanks Cassandra, sounds like good advice and those pups of yours are fat as ticks...looking good. How'd you get the bitch to dry up...cut off the food and water for a day??? Feeding the Kirkland chicken and rice puppy chow...what do y'all think of that feed? What about supplementing with ground meat, rice, cottage cheese, etc...?

I don't supplement at all. To be honest this is the first litter I have fed actual puppy food. I usually just feed them good quality dog food from the start. Can't say I see a difference good or bad. Supplementing to me is just a waste of money, and can cause a lot of digestive issues. They over eat, which gives them diarrhea. Also after about 5-6 weeks old there stomachs actually start not digesting milk the same, and that can cause digestive upset.... Kirkland is a good food from what I've heard, we don't have a Costco. I feed Diamond Naturals Extreame Athlete to the big dogs, and am feeding this litter Diamond Naturals Large Breed Puppy (Lamb & Rice). My last litter ate the Diamond Naturals Chicken & Rice adult food right along with the rest of the dogs from the start. I am going to be taking my big dogs off the Extreame Athlete and putting them back on the Chicken & Rice, so by time this bag of puppy food is gone, they will be eating that too.

I don't do anything with my females. I just put them down to a little less than there pre-pregnancy normal ration of food. And hunt them. Never had an issue. You can just hear them for a long ways off when they are running, when those udders get to swinging and slapping together. Pretty funny. After a long run, and no pups nursing on them to stimulate them to produce milk, they dry up within about 3 - 5 days. They have saggy skin flaps for about 2-4 weeks.