My 3-week-old puppy won't eat. Is it time to start weaning her?

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!

I can certainly understand being concerned about your puppy not eating enough. It's really not the best for for your puppy, as it's not formulated to meet her nutritional needs. It's not something that is recommended to give to a puppy on a regular basis, usually only when the animal is sick. In addition, there may be ingredients in the baby food that is not safe for her to ingest. It could be that she isn't used to dry dog food, and you can try making a puppy mush for her to see if that helps. 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 she is eating the dry puppy food only. If she still doesn't want to eat much, then I would have her seen before the 15th.

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.

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.

At this point mom has generally begun to wean her puppies. Offer water, regular dry kibble, kibble soaked in warm water and canned food. This does need to be a large breed puppy formula for the food. There’s a brand that makes a food specific for weaning puppies called Royal Canin and I recommend to pick some up at the pet store or online. You may need to smear some of the food on the puppy’s mouth so that it gets the idea. Also allow him to see mom eating so that he has the desire to copy her. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

At 3 weeks of age, you can actually start introducing wet puppy food. I would wet it down with some puppy milk and put it on a paper plate. This way he can explore the wet food and try some. If your veterinarian evaluated him and say he is physically ok then I would not worry too much that something is wrong. I would just continue with trying to feed him the bottle but also offer and wean him onto the wet food. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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.