How to wean 5-week-old Yorkie puppies and what's the best food?

A 6 week old Yorkie does not need milk replacer if it is already eating solid food. I suggest Royal Canin starter mousse. Most Petco stores should carry this food. Call ahead to be sure. ( https://www.royalcanin.com/us/dogs/products/retail-products/starter-mother-and-babydog-canned-dog-food ) If you need milk replacer then use one made for puppies like Esbilac or NutriVet. ( https://www.amazon.com/Nutri-Vet-Milk-Replacement-Puppies-12-Ounce/dp/B002FL4LPM )

Great question! To help them wean and to get used to dry food, I would soak a high quality puppy formulated dry food in water water until soft. Then mix that with puppy formula such as KMR to make a mush the consistency of oatmeal. Over the next two weeks, gradually increase the amount of dry puppy food and decrease the amount of water and KMR you use until they are eating the dry puppy food only.

Mix a good quality puppy food with warm water or, better yet, a puppy milk replacer such as Esbilac or Pet-Lac. It should be very liquidy initially. As they mature, you can decrease the amount of liquid until they are eating solid food at around 10 weeks of age.

At four weeks of age, you should be able to start trying to mix in some solid food, or potentially a gruel with wet and dry food together. Dogs will start getting their first puppy teeth right around the age or 3.5 to 4 weeks so they shouldn't have too many problems with the mechanical digestion of the food. If you feel like the puppies aren't eating enough regardless and are failing to thrive, I would get them in your vet for a visit. Hope this helps.

Weaning can begin now. Choose a quality puppy food. Make a slurry or gruel by mixing in a puppy milk replacer such as Esbilac or PetLac. Gradually decrease the amount of liquid over the next few weeks until they are eating dry kibble by 8-10 weeks of age.

Good questions! You can start weaning Soska's puppies onto a puppy formulated food. It's important that their food is for puppies as they need higher amounts of calories, calcium, and protein to meet their growth needs. Feed them according to the package instructions on their bag of food. To help them wean and to get used to dry food, I would soak a high quality puppy formulated dry food in warm water until soft. Then mix that with puppy formula such as KMR to make a mush the consistency of oatmeal. Over the next three weeks, gradually increase the amount of dry puppy food and decrease the amount of water and KMR you use until they are eating the dry puppy food only. You can leave water out for them, but they will still be nursing and getting both water and puppy formula from the puppy mush, so they likely won't drink it at first. As they start having more dry puppy food and less water and KMR added to the mush, encourage them to drink water. Fill a shallow pie pan with water,

Puppies get weaned between 4 and 6 weeks, so it is probably just time! I recommend mixing water with canned puppy food (or dry puppy food) to make it really wet and mushy. The puppies will often play in it and then lick it off their paws. Here is a helpful article: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2108&aid=887

It's fine to start introducing puppy food at this age, but it will take 2-3 weeks before they will start to wean off of milk. It's best to feed wet food at this age. If you have the dry dog biscuits, then you can add water to them to make them soft. It's best to only give a little at a time, or they can get diarrhea. I would start by only offering a teaspoon to each pup twice a day. It can be gradually increased from there. Here is a link that gives additional information about weaning puppies: https://www.wikihow.com/Wean-Puppies I hope that helps and all is well with the pups.

Great question! You are correct that it would be better for Irati to be with her mother until she is at least eight weeks old, but if she can't be returned to her mother, it's fine to start on her on puppy food. I recommend using a high quality puppy food such as Royal Canin, Hill's Science diet, Purina ProPlan, or Iams. I will give you a method to get her used to puppy food. To help er wean and to get used to dry food, I would soak a high quality puppy formulated dry food in warm water until soft. Then mix that with puppy formula such as KMR to make a mush the consistency of oatmeal. Over the next two weeks, gradually increase the amount of dry puppy food and decrease the amount of water and KMR you use until Irati is eating the dry puppy food only. Good luck, I hope this helps!

I would probably back down on the actual meat products as they may be rich for Luna's little tummy. Royal Canin makes a canned pate' called Baby Dog and its meant for weaning puppies. It's got all the nutrients she needs. I would use that mixed with some formula soaked puppy kibble. Around 5 weeks old, start to decrease the amount of formula. Luna should be weaned off formula by 7 weeks. She is sooo cute! Thank you for using Pet Coach!