when is the best time to start weaning puppies

[Fairie]

My cavalier king charles had 4 puppies, she's feeding them well herself and eating plenty. However she is staying out of the pen a lot longer during the day now (pups seem fine with this and are still asleep a lot when the house is quiet during the day.) They are soon to be 4 weeks old and i had this in mind for starting weaning... does this sound right

Also, she is still cleaning up after the puppies when in with them, i am assuming this will stop when they are on foods. is this true?

[lankeela]

Sounds fine, I would be offering them some finely minced beef on the back of a spoon, so they get the taste, then progressing to a saucer of soaked puppy food or porridge, which they will start to wade through and gradually start to lap.

Have plenty of newspapers in stock as not only will they have mucky feet from the food, as you say the mum will stop cleaning them up and you would be surprised how far a tiny puppy poo can spread! This is the best time for puppy watching, so hope you have plenty of free time.

[Fairie]

thanks.

I started them on pedigree puppy mixed with a bit of previously boiles water, mixed to a slop, they walked in it, dipped their heads in it, licked it off each other and then started to lap it up! by the second or third feed they were pro! lol

Gonna reduce the amount of water in a few days.

[lankeela]

Before they leave home, I try my pups on different types of food so if the new owners want to feed something different it is not such a big change for them. Mine have dried, tinned, tripe, mince, and any leftovers I have so they get used to all sorts.

[Fairie]

wow what a good idea, i thought that would upset them, but my dogs are on dried, so when they get a little stronger I'll give them a whirl on that. Thanks

[lankeela]

I mix the different types of meat/food in with their dried, so they only get a small amount of each food, but it helps them adjust to different diets.