# Weaning our puppies



## wee man (Apr 8, 2012)

Why do so many people feed sloppy milky/pudding feeds to puppies that at 8 weeks of age should be properly weaned onto 4 good quality "solid" meals a day ?
Surley it is our job/ the breeder, to produce a puppy that is fully weaned not partially. Mothers milk has finished now, the need for milky feeds is no longer of any benefit to the puppy. Good quality solid feeds with "I believe" natural raw meat is far more beneficial and better for these fast growing canine youngsters.


----------



## bluegirl (May 7, 2012)

I feed "sloppy milky pudding" as you put it to my pups and for what its worth and I am the exception to the rule I continue to feed them milky cereal for the duration of their life.

I feed a raw diet and have done for almost 10 yrs now, I have 4 healthy dogs, 3 of which were weaned straight onto this diet. The mother continued to allow them to latch on up to and past 8 wks and I saw no problem with that.

I follow a diet by Juliette de bairacli levy.

I feed weaned pups 4 times a day. Goats milk at the beginning then later on cows milk as one meal, milkly porridge made from barley, wheat, maize, oat and rye flakes, coconut and herbs as another meal then 2 x meat meals (with bones).

Their adult diet starts at 8 mths and they are still given milky porridge as described above each morning and each evening they have a meat / bones meal. They are fed as such 5 times per week, the 6th day is a meat free day and the 7th is always a fast day.

I see it as my job as a breeder to ensure my pups are raised on to a diet that I believe is going to give them optimum health benefits and I consider the diet I follow, along with the milk, is as good as it gets, in my eyes. So surely regardless of whether you think its wrong or not my aims are the same as yours. I believe 100% in what I do, as probably you do.

I understand that anything other than mothers milk is not considered natural to a dog's diet and I am also aware of problems with feeding cereals but I have had no problems, the aim of the diet is to ensure they are able to live as long as possible and to die of old age rather than cancer, kidney disease etc. I cannot as yet prove that this will happen but I can say I've had a few cockers and my eldest has so far had no ailments and she's still bouncing round like a spring lamb, only her coat is turning grey (and thats down to genetics).


----------



## wee man (Apr 8, 2012)

You must be one of the lucky ones, feeding so much "milky" food !
We are talikng canine here and no natural/wild canine has access to milk after their mother has naturally dried up, it is not needed and there are no benefits only perhapes a fat overweight dog. The healthiest and most natural food is of course "raw meat and bones".


----------



## bluegirl (May 7, 2012)

You asked why and I've told you now you want to lecture me?

I'm well aware they are canines. My dogs are not fat so whatever you presume will happen by using milk in the diet is not what will happen. I have lean cockers.

I do feed only a raw diet as I said and have done for 10yrs come next month.

I don't consider myself lucky either, don't think luck has anything to do with it its about having a balanced diet with a combination of a good exercise routine.


----------



## Malmum (Aug 1, 2010)

I weaned a litter of eight Mal pups on to a raw diet at three weeks of age, never gave cereal and never give it to my dogs either. When weaning at first I mixed chicken mince with a little goats milk to make it sloppy for the first week but have never given grain to any of the dogs. 

By the time my pups left home at eight/nine weeks they were eating exactly the same diet as mum and dad and because so much info on diet went with them to this day they are all still raw fed! :thumbup:

If changing to raw from commercial I advise taking longer but when weaning and going to another home I sped things up a little in order they were all used to various meats and I was happy that it all agreed with them. Didn't want new raw feeders to have any problems and they didn't!


----------



## swarthy (Apr 24, 2010)

Mine are fed rice pudding as one of their meals during the early weaning stage and then continue to have rice pudding either as an 'extra' meal or added to a kibble meal until they are 12 weeks old and advise puppy buyers to do the same - they also get chicken, beef, fish, goats milk and anything else you can throw at them - IME they all have stronger constitutions than those pups I've had raised solely on kibble. 

A milky meal last thing at night is wonderful for helping them to settle and sleep through the night and they love it. 

Sadly, much as I would love to, it's not feasible for me to feed raw - but my gang continue to get supplementary foods including raw egg and goats milk (not every day) throughout their lives.


----------

