How to Feed Puppies While Weaning

Getting to raise a litter of puppies is a lot of joy and fun. Traditionally, a mother dog will wean puppies herself. Some moms are better at letting puppies nurse than other moms. Regardless of when the mother dog decides to wean puppies, you can help during the process. Use these handy steps to feed puppies while weaning to ensure good nutrition.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Puppy Formula
• Canned Puppy Food
• Dry Puppy Food
• Flat Dish
• Clean Water

1. When you notice the mother dog is weaning her puppies, leave a small dish of room temperature puppy formula out on a flat saucer. Make certain to follow the directions for properly mixing the formula. You can set out the dish when the mother dog is away from the whelping box taking care of her needs.

2. Add a small amount of canned puppy food to the formula on the flat saucer as the puppies’ ages. You should introduce just barely enough canned puppy food to be noticeable.

3. Continue adding a little more canned puppy food to the flat saucer for about a week. At this time add a flat saucer of clean water.

4. Once the puppies get used to the canned puppy food, you can slow introduce dry food. Mix the dry puppy food in with the canned puppy food. A few pieces the first day and so forth. This gives the puppies time to adjust to more solid food.

5. After about a month of canned puppy food and dry puppy food mixed together, you can slowly move the puppies to dry puppy food and water. Have mom to spend more and more time away from the puppies to discourage them from nursing strictly for comfort and rejecting their puppy food.