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My young puppy won't drink water or milk from a bowl. Bottle feed?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female

I just got a puppy about 5 days ago and the lady said she was about 3 or 4 weeks. She eats soft can food but doesn't want to drink water or replacement milk out of a bowl. Should I try giving to her in a bottle? The directions on the replacement milk say not to give to them in a bottle but I'm scared she gonna hydrate all she does it sleep.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on March 13th, 2018

Three or four weeks is way too young for a puppy to be separated from its mother! A puppy should not leave it's mother until it's at least eight weeks of age. Canned puppy food has a high moisture content, so Princess will be getting water from eating that food, but I recommend adding water to the canned food to get more water into her system. You can also try mixing the replacement milk in with her canned food. She likely wasn't fully weaned from her mother, and that may be contributing to her not drinking water from a bowl. I will put a link below on how to teach a puppy to drink water from a bowl. I hope this helps!

https://pets.thenest.com/could-teach-puppies-drink-water-bowl-5748.html

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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