A Guide to Weaning Puppies
by Irene Rushfirth"Gone are the days of rice pudding"
So far in the proceedings we have probably put an awful lot of work into firstly planning the parentage of our litter and secondly the TLC and the nutrition of the bitch necessary for our imminent birth, then we have the “labour” of love when we spend the next 72 hours complete with sleeping bag and strong black coffee in the kennel ensuring all is well with our new arrivals.
Hopefully everything has gone well and we are now a couple of weeks into the rearing of your litter, we all now have sight and sound facilities and life is becoming very exciting, mum will of course now be getting back into her normal routine and the nursing is not so intense.
SHIBAS in my experience are a very easy breed to wean, once you have found the food of your choice start by using approximately 1 spoonful of feed per pup, cover with sterile water (boiled) and leave to soak until you have a weetabix type consistency. Start by placing a small amount of food into the palm of your hand and with gentle handling offer up to each puppy individually, gradually increasing the amount, remember though in a very short time the puppies will have grasped this eating solids business but do not take mum away completely until they are also lapping water.
At 3 weeks of age the weaning process has begun and the puppies should be wormed for the first time - followed at 2 weekly intervals aged 5 weeks and 7 weeks, by this time each puppy has
become an individual character and you are fully conversant with the identification and weight of each puppy so mistakes do not occur - as in overdosing with wormers or even missing one out altogether, I would always advise keeping a chart on your litter and recording such information on each puppy, it is always helpful to pass on this information to your new owners when the time comes.
A puppy only gets one chance to grow up right and good management and routine has a tremendous advantage on your healthy puppies becoming healthy adults.
I now refer back to my opening statement “gone are the days of rice pudding” with the balanced nutrition now on offer from our reputable pet food manufacturers I would always advise weaning puppies straight onto a quality complete food, again weight control is of paramount importance, always be aware of what each puppy is eating, monitor the condition of each puppy, how alert it is, another sure sign as to the well being of your puppies is in the stools they pass, the stools can tell you a great number of things i.e if your over feeding or perhaps mixing too much water to soften their feed, if you have a worm problem and of course if a puppy is not well.
In order to maintain a correctly balanced diet I make it a rule that the puppies are fed individually right from the start of weaning, yes I realize that this exercise is time consuming and with a large litter it would be easier to just put a couple of large bowls down - but believe me your time will be well spent in the long term. We have all seen the amusing pictures of a litter of puppies all digging into a huge bowl of feed - they walk in it they roll in it they play in it but how do we monitor their actual intake, how do we know who’s getting what? this exercise can hardly be classed as feeding a balanced diet, so the emphasis on individual bowls with an accurate amount of feed to the weight ratio of the individual puppy is a must. Individual feeding also means individual attention for each puppy - a great lesson in the puppies physical and social development and the initial interaction with humans, remember, the majority of theses puppies will be going onto new homes at 8 weeks of age - alone! if the puppies have been reared as individual characters combined with a routine and plenty of quality playtime they will adapt easily to their new surroundings in a confident manner and without losing condition at this critical stage in their life.
Last but by no means least - mum, once you are confident all the puppies are established eaters and drinkers and on 4 meals per day - probably at about 4 weeks of age, my next move would be to put mum back into her regular environment making a clean break from the whelping area and motherhood, I would worm her, ensure a good diet - quality not quantity and plenty of exercise to dry up any surplus milk and get that tummy tightened up.
Pictorial :
Picture 1 Notice the bad posture when eating off ground level.
Picture 2 Even by just using an item that all of us have around the garden - a "plant pot" can act as an ideal alternative to good posture and correct digestion.
Picture 3 Ultimate maternal bliss!
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