Hello all... I have a rat terrier and she had a litter of 9 born on the 2nd of October. Unfortunately 2 of them died. Now 26 days later they are teething and the mother pushes them away because she feels their teeth. This is also her first litter! She really is a good mom but the pups teething really bothers her. I am wondering if I can start feeding them canned food. I have tried feeding them Goats Milk through a bottle with no success. Is it okay to feed them canned food?
Thank you for your time to answer this question.
2006-10-28 13:08:00 · 12 answers · asked by princess_mia_vaz 1 in Pets ➔ Dogs
first of all, take them to the vet to have them checked out for their health. then...ask the vet what to do.
2006-10-28 13:11:15 · answer #1 · answered by Lilypie99 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Hello, this time last year I was raising two terrier mix puppies. I got them when they were 5 days old, their mother was extremely malnourished and 6 of 9 puppies died since they were born and left out in the cold...
They were on the bottle a while, but once I started introducing food I started them on a mixture of goat's milk, infant chicken food, and overcooked rice. Make sure that the baby food you use is meat and water, no preservatives or added salt etc. If they're doing well with this you slowly add puppy food to the mix until they are eating all puppy food...
I hope this helps... it got us through late night feedings even a case of puppy pneumonia...
Good Luck!
2006-10-28 14:29:18 · answer #2 · answered by Paula L 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes you can, but you need to make the switch gradual (10 - 14 days usually). You start with only about 10% of the new food, increasing the new food slowly every day. Some dogs tolerate change better than others but you won`t know until you start how fast you can move. A good food is one that has meat as the first ingredient and NO corn or wheat which are the major cause of food allergies.
2016-03-19 01:17:14 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can buy puppy milk...and puppy canned food. If the pups can lap with their tongue at food without chocking, let them have a runny mix of the puppymilk/food mixture. If they can't lap food, get them a puppy bottle, enlarge the hole a bit, so the mush can flow, and feed them with the bottle. Do NOT hold them as you would a baby (on their backs) but have them as they would feed from their mom, belly-side down.
In a few more weeks they can graduate to thicker foods, with less milk. In a couple of months they can have half wet food and half dry, stay on puppy food for a year.
2006-10-28 13:51:09 · answer #4 · answered by schnikey 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Weaning usually starts at three to four weeks of age. When weaning you will want to make sure you are weaning them onto some kind of puppy food. I'm not sure if there are many canned puppy foods out there, instead you can use dry puppy food which has been soaked until mushy.
If you try to supplement them with milk, you should use a puppy replacement milk, it is designed for them. Other mammal's milk does not have the right combination of proteins, minerals, fats and the like.
2006-10-28 13:17:18 · answer #5 · answered by Wendy C. 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If your pups are 26 days old,,which in wks. is almost 4 wks. old the answer is yes.I usually begin my pups eating at 3 1/2 wks. old,but you must soak any dry kibbles in warn water til softened,then ad a small amount of a good brand of canned puppy food.If you just feed the canned food by itself it may cause some of them to have loose stools and then diarrhea is a problem to correct with young pups.Pups also should be wormed at 2wks.,4wks,6 wks,and so forth until around 12 wks. of age,but just be sure on the dosage,call your vet and ask.The Panacur dewormer is very safe,but must be given three days in a row.
2006-10-28 13:17:29 · answer #6 · answered by Help 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
We start the puppies here on meatballs (raw hamburger) and rice pablum when they're about 3 weeks old, but don't let them move onto any more substantial food until they're about 5 weeks old. Their digestive systems just can't handle it.
It's not uncommon for mama dogs to want quit nursing when the pups' teeth come in, but the pups still need her milk because it's not only a source of nourishment, it's also providing them with a souce of immunizing antibodies that they cannot generate on their own.
When the pups are about 6 weeks old, they are usually old enough to give them their first vaccinations.
2006-10-28 14:38:58 · answer #7 · answered by Fetch 11 Humane Society 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
yes you can feed them wet, moist can food, make it a little wet to start so they won't choke. If the mother is pushing them away, they will be hungry and chow down so offer a little to start - what a sight when they are covered with dog food on their face. Know that if you give dry food moisten , it will swell in their stomach and they can spit it back up - small portions of moist food, just feed more frequently and shallow bowls of water - any food change will cause diarrhea
2006-10-28 13:21:06 · answer #8 · answered by sml 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
this is what we did with one litter of puppies when the mom had milk fever and couldnt nurse anymore they were about 3 weeks old, we put puppy chow in a bowl and put warm water in there to where the puppy chow is soggy,, or you can put down oat meal but the puppy chow is better for them cause it is regular dog food,,, i hope this helps and congrat!!!! on your new puppies..
2006-10-28 13:22:54 · answer #9 · answered by hunter 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
i Would Not Only Give Them Can Food I Would Mix It With Hard Food Too.That Is What I Did When I Got Mine That Young.
2006-10-29 04:43:00 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
probably, but also try putting hard dog food in a bowl w/ milk and then warm it up until the hard food is soft. thats what we did when our pups were three weeks old.
2006-10-28 13:13:31 · answer #11 · answered by billi jo bob 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋