Puppy Formula?

Question

How long does a puppy have to be on puppy formula (milk) before you take them off and introduce them to regular dog food??

Answer 1

Many people with a new litter of puppies are unsure of how to start the weaning process. In fact, some do not even really understand what weaning means or implies. Weaning refers to the process of the puppies beginning to eat food other than mothers' milk or milk formula. There is no magic trick in weaning puppies; most do this naturally.

A female dog is capable of supplying milk to her offspring for several months. In the wild, pups will be born in the spring and may (in some situations) still be nursing from their mother as the fall season arrives. They will definitely be taking food from other sources, but the mother will still be producing milk. The signal for the mammary glands to continue to produce milk is nursing or manipulation of the glands. Following whelping, if someone massages the mammary glands, they will continue to produce milk, even if the pups are taken away.

In today’s world, weaning is not done to aid the mother. Rather, it is done because puppies generally make their way to their new home at about seven weeks of age, and since their mother is not going with them, the pups need to have their gastrointestinal tracts accustomed to eating commercially prepared foods. In most kennels, puppies get the first taste of food other than Mom’s milk at about 3½ weeks of age. This may seem early to you, but after working with numerous breeders and seeing many litters raised in our own homes, we can guarantee that the puppies of any breed can take food on their own at this age. To make a puppy mush, we stay with the same brand of food the mother is fed, selecting the company’s dry puppy food. It might be Iams, Purina, Science Diet, Nature’s Recipe, etc.

Chesapeake puppies eating out of a dish of gruel
Photo by Ronald W. Glaman
Prepare the puppy mush by placing 2 cups of high quality dry puppy food in a blender with 12.5 oz liquid puppy milk replacer and fill the rest of the blender with hot water. This should be blenderized until the consistency of human infant cereal. (This feeds 6-8 puppies of a medium-sized breed.) The puppies should receive 3-4 meals a day of this to start. Once the puppies have checked it out, walked in it, and have eaten some, the dam can be allowed to finish it and clean the puppies off. Each week, increase the amount of food, decrease the amount of the milk replacer and water that is added, and the time of blenderizing, so by 7 weeks, the puppies are eating dry food.

Puppies eating dry foodOnce they are on dry food, it may be left in with the puppies (when the dam is out of the box) or the meal times can continue. As the puppies eat more solid food, the ***** may be let away from the puppies for an even longer period of time. By the time they are 6½-7 weeks, they should be fully weaned from the dam's milk, eating dry food, and drinking water.

If the weaning is not rushed, the ***** will naturally start decreasing milk production as the puppies increase their intake of solid food. As the puppies begin eating the puppy mush at 4 weeks of age, start changing the *****'s diet back to adult food to also help her decrease milk production. Start by replacing 1/4 of her puppy food with adult food. Keep increasing the adult food and decreasing the puppy food until by the 8th week postpartum, she is eating only adult food. During the last week of weaning, the dam's food consumption should be less than 50% above the maintenance levels and declining toward maintenance levels.

Answer 2

If you are talking about an orphan, then the puppy needs to be at least 3 weeks old before introduing solids. Before that age, their intestinal systems are not mature enough to digest, and you can cause problems. Begin by slowly mixing in just a bit of puppy food with the formula to get him used to it. Over the next few weeks gradually add puppy food and decrease formula so by the time the puppy is 6-8 weeks old he no longer is on the puppy milk. Always make diet changes slowly with dogs to avoid intestinal upset.

Answer 3

Purina is not the healthiest dry dog food. It has lots of fillers. If you want the best, you need to look into something that's more meat based. Canidae is a good one. What did you feed him before your husband bought the Purina? If he's doing fine with the transition, then consider yourself lucky. Most dogs would at least have some diarrhea or similar problems with a food change like that. On a side note, there are no foods that are "good for hybrid puppies". Your dog is a mixed-breed dog that will most likely do fine on any kind of meat based dog food just like every other mutt in the world. You just need to make sure its a puppy formula and/or small breed formula so that he gets the extra nutrients that he needs as a growing pup. The Canidae dry food has a "all life stages" food that would be a good one to look into. There are tons of other brands out there though. Just do your homework (which you probably should have done BEFORE you got the dog).

Answer 4

A puppy should be on formula only if is was not weaned properly from its mother- typically 7 to 8 weeks of age. If the puppy was weaned start it in puppy food immediately mixing it with warm water to help until it learns to chew it properly.

Answer 5

Puppies should be with their mothers until they are at least eight weeks old. Toy breeds often stay with their mothers until they are ten weeks old depending on the mother and the particular litter. This would also hold true for a puppy that has to hand raised.

Answer 6

i got my puppy at 5 weeks, he was from a rescued litter, and he needed special attention, but not formula, he was able to eat puppy chow by then, he's now 7 months, and doing great.

Answer 7

three weeks you introduce puppy gruel which is a mixture of replacement milk and puppy food ground to look like cream of wheat. puppies should stay on milk until 6 to 7 weeks and by 8 weeks should be fully wheened.