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puppy a little advice please

sarahso

Well-known member
Ulrich the little many tears dog in the breed rescue has become a member of our family, i will post piccies as soon as i can. - we are still debating a new name.

He is totally gorgeous & adorable & the big two have taken to him really well, Freya is mothering him, Thor giving him kisses on his nose Poppy is ignoring him at the minute!

He was taken from his mum early & has been put on Royal K9 food three times a day.

i am quite concerned that he is not getting any milk, as he is still so young and being from a rescue he has not been weened off his mummy.

he has quite runny pooh, better than it was but still not firm & im wondering if to introduce milk slowly into his diet. i have given the others goat milk in the past.

he is feeding at 7am - 1pm & 7pm is this enough and regular enough for one so young?

we are obviously continuing as advised, but wonder if it is a good idea to add milk into his diet?

thanks in advance
 
How old is he? If older than 4-5 weeks then no, he should not be given any milk and doesn't need it. If he is younger than that then he should have been placed with a nursing mother or should still be on a hand-rearing schedule -- am hoping the rescue did not place a puppy that young in a home? :eek: I am sure that is not the case as he would need expert care if under 5 weeks really, and would be a real challenge for a regular home without experience of handrearing.

Your vet should be the one advising on a feeding schedule -- if he is underage (6 weeks or less) then a vet visit tomorrow would be really critical. (y)
 
Oh just read they are over 8 weeks!! That's plenty old for homing and when they were weaned makes no difference. He needs NO milk -- feeding milk will actually CAUSE problems and runny poops. At that age, I'd just stick to a normal 3x a day feeding schedule and treat him as you would any puppy. He won't need any special feeding care and will get more than adequate nutrition from a good quality food. Many puppies from puppy farms or BYBs are weaned too early -- the main issue is socialisation (they don't absolutely need milk after about 4 weeks) and having him with three adult dogs is the best care he can get. :) He is plenty young to have his removal from his mother made up for by being around adult dogs now. I think by weaning, the rescue probably meant he could have benefitted from more time being socialised by his mother, not that he was taken away from being fed by the mother too early?

I would recommend having your own vet see him IMMEDIATELY though especially as he has the runs which can signal a serious problem in the making. For many reasons, I would not rely on a rescue having had him checked or checked as thoroughly as your own vet would do.
 
Hi Sarah

You do not say how old he is, but if he is very small and young I would advise feeding him four times a day. By dividing the food into 4 smaller meals it will not overload his tummy (which is a bit delicate at present if his poo is runny) so will give his food a bit more chance to be digested properly.

It might be that you are overfeeding him at the moment - his tummy will be very small and too much at once could lead to these problems. I know it's a real balancing act to get just the right amount of food for a puppy, and can be a bit of trial and error!:eek:

I have read as a Rule of thumb to give 1/2 oz food for each lb of bodyweight for a puppy each day - therefore if your pup weighs 6lb, then you should be giving approx 3 oz of food divided into four meals.

I would not advocate giving milk (at least not cows milk as dogs find this very hard to assimilate) as this can add to his runny poo problem. Have you had him checked by your vet? He may have a low grade gut infection and a course of antibiotics could do the trick.

Hope this helps a bit.:)
 
Thanks guys!

he is 8 weeks, an ex breeder told me to give goats milk as this may settle his tummy, but will take all advice you have given on board - thank you.

Many tears are really good and he has had a full vet check,. :) he has been being given the paste for upset tummys also for 3 days. they are a lot firmer than they were so he is obviously on the mend that way i hope. though i am taking him to my own vet tomorrow for my own peace of mind

he is a lovely little chap & apart from Poppy being a bit stand offish with him has cuddled up to the big two!
he was being fed 3 times a day with a little milk bone in between meals and that is what we are sticking to as it is his routine, we only collected him yesterday, so after the long drive home & all the change i suppose we are bound to get a little upset tummy again

thanks for all your help. will post photos soon as i can stop him bombing around!
 
Look forward to seeing pics of him. I'm sure he will settle in with the others and they'll all be best of friends in a few weeks.:)
 
Thanks guys!

he is 8 weeks, an ex breeder told me to give goats milk as this may settle his tummy, but will take all advice you have given on board - thank you.

Many tears are really good and he has had a full vet check,. :) he has been being given the paste for upset tummys also for 3 days. they are a lot firmer than they were so he is obviously on the mend that way i hope. though i am taking him to my own vet tomorrow for my own peace of mind

he is a lovely little chap & apart from Poppy being a bit stand offish with him has cuddled up to the big two!
he was being fed 3 times a day with a little milk bone in between meals and that is what we are sticking to as it is his routine, we only collected him yesterday, so after the long drive home & all the change i suppose we are bound to get a little upset tummy again

thanks for all your help. will post photos soon as i can stop him bombing around!

I feed a bit of goats milk to young pups-- it is very close in composition to bitches milk.
At 8 weeks of age, I'd feed four smaller meals. Usually 3-6 month dogs get 3 meals per day here.
Puppies can have very sensitive guts. They can also have overgrowths of coccidia which will cause diarrhea. Good luck with your lil guy.
 
Congrats on the new puppy!!! When we first got Zoe her poop was pretty runny at first. The Vet recommended canned pumpkin, not pie filling just plain pumpkin. She said that it works both ways, can firm up stool or help with constipation(she suggested it for kids too!). I put about a tablespoon in each meal and it worked wonders. Within a day or two she was back to solid poops.
Good luck!
-Osanna and Zoe :mexwav:
 
At 8 weeks of age, I'd feed four smaller meals. Usually 3-6 month dogs get 3 meals per day here.

This is the advice I had from Maddie and Pippin's breeder. We got Maddie at 3 months old and she was on 3 meals a day. Pippin we got at 8 weeks old, and we were advised to keep him on 4 meals a day to start with, which worked well.

Good luck with your little one, it sounds like he's settling in well.
 
Just on canned pumpkin -- this is an American item that isn't available over in Europe so people here will not be able to buy it (no one eats pumpkin pie over here!). However any kind of hard winter squash, be it cooking pumpkins or hard marrows, cooked and mashed, provides similar roughage. It is basically the fibre, not anything intrinsic to a pumpkin, that helps regularity according to the vets I've seen comment on this.

On number of meals -- many breeders also recommend three meals, so take your pick. :) This is what I fed (3) and it worked fine for Jaspar, who was not interested in eating a fourth and just left the food. If the pup has an upset stomach not due to anything else than 4 meals might help digestability -- this is also recommended for adult dogs that vomit a lot.

Just generally, I've always recommended the feeding guidelines in breeder Laura Lang's online handbook as having an online link is handy, and not least as she also addresses how to avoid ending up with problem eaters in a sensible way. She recommends three meals a day for young puppies, moving to two then either one or two. I prefer one a day for my adults. So see what works. Many puppies will not want one of the meals if they are happy with three.

From Laura Lang's feeding recommendations:

FEEDING DIRECTIONS
Whether you decide to feed a high quality kibble or a commercially prepared whole foods diet, the following directions will apply.

Puppies between 8 and 16 weeks of age do quite well on 3 meals a day. They start out with about a large handful of kibble for each meal or about 1/4 cup. At about 4 to 6 months of age you may begin feeding your puppy twice a day, about 1/2 cup or so each time. Somewhere between 10 and 18 months of age you may begin feeding just once a day--with some really good eaters you may need to feed just once a day by 6 or 7 months of age.

Each time you feed your puppy, put the food down for approximately 15 minutes. If the puppy hasn't finished it after 15 minutes, pick it up and put it away until the next feeding time. Do NOT try to feed in between. Refrigerate if you are feeding a commercially prepared whole foods diet. Do not worry if your puppy appears thin. Puppies are just like humans. Some are very thin while growing up and some are not. It is highly unlikely your puppy will starve itself unless it is already ill. A puppy that grows slowly is best--there is no first prize for gaining full size as early as possible! Puppies who grow slowly are more likely to be able to develop muscle and tissue at the correct rate to keep up the the bone development. Of course some puppies are gluttons! Be careful not to overfeed a glutton.
 
I think that Laura Langs advice on amounts to feed a 8wk old pup pretty excessive. A large handful of kibble per meal for an 8wk old pup!!!!!!:eek: You just need to look at the size of a handful of kibble and the size of the pup to know it just isn't right!!!!!!! Unless of course the pup happens to be the size of a double decker bus.
Anyone feeding this much will have explosive results IMHO! :D

I agree with taking food up if puppy doesn't eat it - and no snacking betweek meals!

I still think 4 small meals a day is much better for a 8 - 12wk old.
 
I think that Laura Langs advice on amounts to feed a 8wk old pup pretty excessive. A large handful of kibble per meal for an 8wk old pup!!!!!!:eek: You just need to look at the size of a handful of kibble and the size of the pup to know it just isn't right!!!!!!! Unless of course the pup happens to be the size of a double decker bus.
Anyone feeding this much will have explosive results IMHO! :D

I agree with taking food up if puppy doesn't eat it - and no snacking betweek meals!

I still think 4 small meals a day is much better for a 8 - 12wk old.

I agree 100%-- IF they can stuff themselves, they will surly give themselves diarrhea.
 
Thanks all for your advice.

For the moment we are keeping him on three, as this is what he has been used to, he is also given a milk bone biscuit in between feeds, this is all that his foster mum was doing & we have been advised that for now to continue like that for at least a few days. he has been wormed again this afternoon so we will see what comes out and if that eases him a little. back at the vets just to be on safe side on Saturday morning for a check up. he is a happy little chappy and seems very content, just has a bit of a runny bum which the vet thinks will calm down in the next couple of days.
 
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