My dog stopped feeding 3-week-old puppies. Are they too young to wean?

At 3.5weeks pups would be expected to suckle less frequently but in larger volumes. If she appears unwell or feverish or the pups are crying and hungry you should have her checked by your vet to rule out infections such as mastitis. I would recommend gradually weaning pups onto semi solid food immediately in order to reduce the demand on stella

That is a lot of puppies to feed and it may be that now that they are getting teeth, they are sometimes hurting her when suckling. Let her do what she has to do, and do not force her to feed them. She will feed them as best and as much as she can. You may want to give the puppies some canned puppy food as well as the dry food, as they will be able to eat more and bother her less. Make sure there always is water available for both the mother and the puppies.

Hello. That is a lot of milk replacer to be using! Fortunately, you can completely stop using it as the puppies do not need it anymore. I would probably do only 1 milk feed a day for 2 days then 1 milk feed every other day for 2 additional feedings & then stop. Continue feeding the puppies 3 times a day, and if they seem very hungry once you stop the milk, add one more puppy food meal. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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

If she stopped feeding them suddenly then mastitis would be a risk (she may refuse them because it is painful or the excess milk after she stopped could cause the problem after). If she is off form, has any fever or her milk glands are red, hot or painful to firm touch then she will need prescription treatment from a vet. If everything is otherwise good, just monitor for any changes. 48 hours of very light food if she is healthy and not underweight can discourage active milk production but do not starve her

This could be a serious problem , maybe she is suffering from a condition called milk fever (lack of calcium). you will definitely need to separate the puppies from her then you will need to feed them with a puppy milk replacer every 2-4 hours. Poppy might need to be treated as well for her condition, i recommend taking her to the vet ASAP.

How lovely of you to take in this dog and her puppies! If they cry all the time, then they may not be getting the milk they need to survive and I would start caring for them yourself. You will need to get a puppy milk replacer such as KMR from a pet store or supermarket right away. I will put a link below on how to raise orphan puppies. I would also have the mother spayed so she cannot produce any more puppies. Good luck, I hope this helps! http://www.2ndchance.info/orphanpuppy.htm