Here's
how we do it...
At
about 3 weeks, we offer our pups a "Gruel" once a
day. This consists of goats milk, baby cereal (like for human
babies), egg yolk, organic yogurt, honey and vitamin C
(crystals). We let the pups lick at this and in just one or two
feedings, they are eating with great gusto.
At
4 weeks, we add baby food beef, lamb and chicken (yes, again, human
baby food), and also baby food veggies which are wonderful since
they're already pureed. I also add a supplement called "The
Missing Link". They are offered this twice daily,
assuming they are still nursing also.
By
5 weeks, we start adding canned salmon and ground whole chicken or
turkey in place of the baby food, plus a larger variety of real
fruits and veggies as well as cottage cheese and apple cider
vinegar. We replace the baby cereal with a 12 grain
mixture. At this point, mom is sometimes starting to want to
wean the pups, so the frequency of feeding is based on her
willingness to allow them to nurse.
At
6 weeks, we introduce a greater variety of meats, such as Beef, Elk
and Emu, as well as some chicken or turkey necks. At this age,
they usually will eat the meat off the bones, but will not be able to
eat whole chicken backs or turkey necks until about 7 weeks.
At
7 weeks, the pups are eating just as our adult dogs would. Mom
has usually weaned them by now so they are offered four meals per day.
A
Few Notes:
We
always allow mom to nurse pups as long as she is willing. We
feel that mother's milk is the ideal diet for a growing puppy and
never "force wean".
We
try to introduce new foods to the pups one at a time to ensure that
they don't encounter digestive problems. It also helps up to
pinpoint foods that the pups don't like (for instance, I had one
entire litter who wouldn't eat anything if there was bananas in
it...another litter loved bananas).
If
a pup will be fed kibble when it goes to its new home, we recommend
that the owner ship us a bag of what they'll be feeding so that we
can incorporate it into that pup's diet. This is to avoid any
additional stress when they arrive at their new home. We also
send each pup home with some of our food, so that the changeover is
not so dramatic.
We
find that our pups that are fed a raw diet grow more
proportionately, are more "together" at a younger age ie.
better motor skills, and are extremely food motivated adults, making
training that much easier.
