diet for weaning pups?

[pastel]

Haven't asked my vet yet but thought I'd ask the experts as there are so many different ideas on this ... suggestions for diet for weaning pups? wheetabix with? or minced fresh meat? or anything else! pups are 2 weeks old so I understand to start from 3 weeks?
Nicky

[weima]

I wean mine on Arden Grange puppy/weaning food from about 3 weeks of age. I give it to them warm and like a porridge consistency.
It depends on what you feed normally as weetabix is a very old thing that the old timers did when breeding many moons ago. They also gave tinned rice pudding.

I have been known to wean pups at 10 days old when the bitch had no milk which was OK as they were desperate for some food! I was feeding them every 2 hours for 10 days then I cut it down to every 3 once they were on solids.

[marjolein]

I feed my frozen meat so that's what I give to the pups as well. And nothing else than that. I start with it when they're 3 weeks old.
When I still fed kibble, I just gave them the puppy kibble soaked in warm water.

[Rachel]

I start my puppies onto minced meat, frozen first and fed raw. The freezing kills any nasty bugs. Then I get a large plate and put alittle all around the edge, they can not resist it. I found that if I used to put complete foods down first they would retch. I was advised to give meat by a breeder, and never looked back. At a week later I add in arden grange food, I soak it first and then when it is soaked through squish it up and feed. I never put milk into the food as I still let them have as much of mum as they want too. Then we get to the stage where mum is weaned, I add then some milk to the diet, and as mum's figure goes back the pups are onto 4 to 5 meals per day. Then its poo factory time!!


Rachel

[pastel]

what type of milk? puppy milk? the frozen mince sounds good, I will have chat with our local butcher, my husband has been reading a very old weimaraner dutch book that quotes that puppies which had been fed meat were stonger at 2 and 3 yrs old compared to the ones fed dried food, interesting, although you have such good quality dried food nowadays which are a balanced diet ... but meat is the most natural diet a pup would have ?

[greyghost]

Mar does that raw mince you have have other stuff in it too, like veg and bone??? If the pups just have raw mince do they also need some bone minced in it too or is it just the older dogs?

[marjolein]

No,every dog needs a balanced food. So don't just feed minced meat, but feed frozen fresh meat which is labeled as dog food. They need veggies, fruit, bones and organs as well.

[greyghost]

That's what I thought. I was just wanting it clear for anybody looking at this subject. Meat alone can cause problems because it is too much phosphorus.

[Lois]

I wean my pups onto a good quality puppy food (currently using Royal Canin Babydog) softened and mixed into minced meat. They also get raw chicken wings, meaty bones, raw chicken mince, eggs, yogurt, sardines, flax seed oil, a cooked meatloaf and a commercial puppy milk.

Lois