Earliest Age To Introduce Solid Food To A Litter Of Puppies

[Baileys mum]

Hi everyone,

as some of you may know my Australian terrier bitch Brandy whelped a litter of 8 puppies 2 weeks ago.

Brandy has been doing an excellent job & so far all puppies seem to be thriving & all of them have just about tripled their birth weight.

So anyway I gave Brandy her breakfast this morning as usual in the whelping box as Brandy likes to eat all her meals near her pups, I walk out of the room for a couple of minutes & when I come back to my surprise 3 of the pups have their head in the Brandy's bowl licking & trying to eat some of the food.

So I put some of the food on my finger & offered it to a couple of them & they licked it off my finger & seemed keen to have some more.

Anyway I was wondering what would be the earliest age to start offering some solid food to the pups?

I have some Biolac, & I was thinking of adding a little bit of raw mince & some natural yoghurt & blending it all up to make a smoothie & see if any of them are interested in it.

However I was thinking that it might be too early to introduce solid food to 2 week old puppies, & that maybe I should wait till next week.

So I was just wondering what all you think about this, I'm still amazed how these 2 week old babies where trying to steal their mums food,they are just growing up so quickly.

Thanks everyone

Nicole

Edited May 13, 2010 by Baileys mum

[fifi]

They are telling you they are ready to try solids !!!!

We use the 'pink slushie' very lean, fine grade beef mince with hot milk poured over, mix with your fingers to form a pink warm porridge. You'll soon see who's more than ready !!!

The little breeds seem to grow up so fast !

fifi

[Baileys mum]

Thanks fifi,

Ok I think I might make up some "pink slushie" for them later on today, & see who's interested.

This should be interesting, & I'm sure very messy.

[fifi]

Thanks fifi,

Ok I think I might make up some "pink slushie" for them later on today, & see who's interested.

This should be interesting, & I'm sure very messy.

OH YESSSS.....it will be messy !

but with the teenys you can at least do the pan on the ground, wolfies at that age are noddy blobs, so you end up doing one at a time in your lap or arm, which of course means wearing pink slushie !

let us know how they go

fifi

[Baileys mum]

Thanks fifi, I will let you know how I go.

[MissMonaro]

We have just started our litter of pups on pink slushie mushie stuff and OMG they hooked into it. So I'm off to the shops tonight to get some more mince for them...didnt think they'd take to it so quickly.

They turn 3 weeks old today.

[Bisart Dobes]

Ours are normally btwn 2 & 3 weeks when they get their first solids - this includes the 'pink slushy mix' and slightly pulverised chicken necks. The mix they wolf down and the necks they love gumming and sucking on - with these they learn to eat bones, you can see the mucles in their little bodies working as they learn how to hold the necks so that they can gum them and they start to growl possesively (very cute) over their prize and ofcourse there is always one who manages to get a stash on the necks they can 'guard' from the others while they eat one. Then mum gets to come back from her break and clean up the mess . They actually eat a fair bit more than you would think, they manage to get alot of the chicken meat off the bone and they just progress naturally from there.

[persephone]

I start any pups at 3 weeks---- with BONES .

I give large bones..like roo tail or beef/sheep pelvis/shanks with quite a lot of meat on .. I score/slash at the meat.. then put a few bones in with the babies. They sniff, and suck, and lick and then chew... and have a ball!!

I hate using slops-IMO, it is hard for littlies to co ordinate their heads/legs/tongues at this stage... whereas sucking meat off a large bone is easy.. and rewarding, and quickly leads naturally to chewing They can also lie down when doing it ...without getting messy .

I hate messy sticky faces /paws .....

After a few days of this- I also introduce dry puppy kibble .. ours don't seem to have trouble with it. (koolies and koolie x's ) Once they are eating the kibble well, they start lapping at water as well... and are well on the road to independence

[dancinbcs]

I start them as soon as the teeth are through which is usually around 3 weeks. They don't need solids before they have teeth.

[fifi]

I start them as soon as the teeth are through which is usually around 3 weeks. They don't need solids before they have teeth.

I agree with you

But sometimes you just get wee one's who are so eager, that they will dive in mum's bowl.

Or you have a really 'into it' mum will regurgitate for them.

I figure if they are that keen so early, they are ready for a little taste or gum on a meaty bone.

Hey Bailey's mum, how did they go with pink slushie ?

fifi

[ellz]

I start them as soon as they start to show interest in their mother's food or as soon as she starts to regurgitate for them, whichever comes first.

And if neither happens, then around 3 weeks I will take some finely minced meat and hold it to their noses and see what happens. 9 times out of 10, I discover that I am holding a piranha and not a puppy!

So then it's pink slushy time, gradually decreasing the amount of liquid and increasing the amount of "texture" as they learn to use their teeth and not lap at the food. And then as soon as they're on more chunky stuff, they get their wing tips and chicken necks which they take great delight in fighting over and sucking the meat off.

And that whole process normally only takes a couple of days and then they're pretty much on "big puppy" food.

[ophnbark]

We usually start ours at about three weeks as well, sometimes between two and three weeks of they appear to want it. Had a pup in one litter who was having trouble with his mother's milk but went on to soldids at two weeks and thrived nicely. I think it all depends on the pups.

[Bilbo Baggins]

I have never tried solids before 4 weeks.

When they start some are straight into it others are not.

I use soaked puppy biscuits mixed with Pedigree puppy.

[Trisven13]

With the rescue litters I've always based it on how the pups are going.

I've found that most litters are around 3-3.5 weeks BUT I had one litter where the Mum was very much out of condition and her pups were into her food from 2 weeks. I quite simply don't think she had enough milk for all of the pups given her horrific condition, despite how much she was being fed. They very happily moved onto solids. Another litter of greyhounds weren't interested much at all until nearly 5 weeks

[Bilbo Baggins]

With the rescue litters I've always based it on how the pups are going.

I've found that most litters are around 3-3.5 weeks BUT I had one litter where the Mum was very much out of condition and her pups were into her food from 2 weeks. I quite simply don't think she had enough milk for all of the pups given her horrific condition, despite how much she was being fed. They very happily moved onto solids. Another litter of greyhounds weren't interested much at all until nearly 5 weeks

Now that is probably very significant Tris, the pre birth condition of the mother. Nature allows for them to fatten up then produce milk and feed the pups.

A debilitated mother would have starved the pups inutero and would have low supply because they would be so ravenous post birth.

[Trisven13]

With the rescue litters I've always based it on how the pups are going.

I've found that most litters are around 3-3.5 weeks BUT I had one litter where the Mum was very much out of condition and her pups were into her food from 2 weeks. I quite simply don't think she had enough milk for all of the pups given her horrific condition, despite how much she was being fed. They very happily moved onto solids. Another litter of greyhounds weren't interested much at all until nearly 5 weeks

Now that is probably very significant Tris, the pre birth condition of the mother. Nature allows for them to fatten up then produce milk and feed the pups.

A debilitated mother would have starved the pups inutero and would have low supply because they would be so ravenous post birth.

That has always been my view. The bitch whose pups started on solids at 2 weeks was emaciated and full of worms - she actually had to have a c-section as her condition was too poor for her to be able to whelp naturally. She definitely didn't have the condition - and seemed to HATE being a mother.

With the greyhound litter we had culled half the litter at birth because the mother had severe birthing complications and wasn't expected to survive so I think Mum had supplies for double the pups she ended up with.

As 8 pups is a really large litter for an Aussie I'm wondering if BM's bitch's milk is not enough now they're getting older. I know that she was in excellent condition pre-whelp and is being fed high quality food and she will create more milk the more they feed but I can't help thinking if they're trying to eat her food it is because they instinctually need it. Does that make any sense?

[Baileys mum]

I start them as soon as the teeth are through which is usually around 3 weeks. They don't need solids before they have teeth.

I agree with you

But sometimes you just get wee one's who are so eager, that they will dive in mum's bowl.

Or you have a really 'into it' mum will regurgitate for them.

I figure if they are that keen so early, they are ready for a little taste or gum on a meaty bone.

Hey Bailey's mum, how did they go with pink slushie ?

fifi

Hi fifi,

well I tried them with the pink slushie this morning, & I have to say it was a very funny & messy event.

Four of them dived straight in & took to it straight away,(eating some of it as well as getting a hell of it all over their face & bodies ) a few were not interested at all , & a couple where interested, but didn't actually know what to do with it & ended up just getting it all over them (with these ones, I put a bit on my finger & they licked it off, but they still haven't grasped the concept of eating it out of the bowl yet.

So all in all I thought it was a pretty good first attempt at solid food introduction, & Brandy just loved going back into the box & cleaning them all up. :D

So I think I might give this a go atleast once a day until they are all used to it, & then I will need add some soaked puppy food & start offering it to them several times a day.

with the ones that were'nt interested this morning I might try & give them a little of it individually tomorrow.

[Baileys mum]

With the rescue litters I've always based it on how the pups are going.

I've found that most litters are around 3-3.5 weeks BUT I had one litter where the Mum was very much out of condition and her pups were into her food from 2 weeks. I quite simply don't think she had enough milk for all of the pups given her horrific condition, despite how much she was being fed. They very happily moved onto solids. Another litter of greyhounds weren't interested much at all until nearly 5 weeks

Now that is probably very significant Tris, the pre birth condition of the mother. Nature allows for them to fatten up then produce milk and feed the pups.

A debilitated mother would have starved the pups inutero and would have low supply because they would be so ravenous post birth.

That has always been my view. The bitch whose pups started on solids at 2 weeks was emaciated and full of worms - she actually had to have a c-section as her condition was too poor for her to be able to whelp naturally. She definitely didn't have the condition - and seemed to HATE being a mother.

With the greyhound litter we had culled half the litter at birth because the mother had severe birthing complications and wasn't expected to survive so I think Mum had supplies for double the pups she ended up with.

As 8 pups is a really large litter for an Aussie I'm wondering if BM's bitch's milk is not enough now they're getting older. I know that she was in excellent condition pre-whelp and is being fed high quality food and she will create more milk the more they feed but I can't help thinking if they're trying to eat her food it is because they instinctually need it. Does that make any sense?

You probably have a good point there Trisven13,

Brandy's milk suppy still looks to be reasonably good, & I have been feeding her great quality food around the clock, & Brandy herself still looks IMO in fairly good condition, however feeding 8 puppies for a dog of her size is a huge job, & yeah maybe all the pups are just falling short of being completely satisfied.

All the pups are still gaining weight, so I haven't really worried about it before this, but I suppose it would help Brandy a little if the pups do get supplemented with a little bit of solid food every day. :D

[fifi]

Great news Bailey's mum (the eating, not the mess !)

Adn I agree with Trish there too, eight is a lot for a wee dog, and probably the reason you had some interested in Brandy's bowl so early.

they may just need that solids top up at this point.

fifi