Q: chihuahua puppies 5 days old

Answered by Swoozie on 3/9/2006, 5:00 pm

A: chihuahua puppies 5 days old

You have a few weeks to go yet. :-) At about 3 weeks old, you can start to introduce them to puppy gruel. By then, mama dog will have had enough of them sinking their little needle teeth into her teats and start the process of weaning them herself.

What you need to do is buy a high quality brand of puppy food and soak it in warm water, then once it's softened, run it through a blender or food processor and keep adding water or puppy milk formula till the food is the consistancy of runny oatmeal. You want to make sure the food is warm, not hot. Then you put it on paper plates or cookie sheets, or any shallow plate, then let the puppies have a party :-) When you first introduce them to the food, they're more then likely have no clue what it is or what to do with it. They'll walk in it, fall in it and make a huge mess all of which Daisy will be happy to help clean off the puppies and floor. :-) To get the puppies started, you can smear some of the food in their mouths to inroduce them to it and to get them started eating. You want to offer the "gruel" to them several times a day and always make sure it's warm. You can make up a batch of it and keep it in the refrigerator, then when you go to use it, heat it in the microwave and add warm water if needed to make it more loose. Make sure it's only warm, not hot! You want to make sure to provide the puppies with drinking water when they eat and several times a day. Make sure you put the water in a shallow bowl so if the puppies fall in it, they can get out of it. Supervise them whenever you offer them water.
http://www.petcaretips.net/weaning_puppies.html

Look for brands in a puppy formula such as Innova, California Natural, Flint River Ranch, Wellness, Solid Gold, Wysong, Canidae, Merrick (has a Venison and Bison formula) any of the 100%% Natural dog foods. They're made with 100%% human grade ingredients, they're low in grains, the vitamins and minerals are chelated for faster absorbtion in to body, they have the essential fatty acids for health skin and coat. They contain no by products, dyes, cancer causing preservatives such as ethoxyquin, BHA or BHT (which are banned for use in human food), no artifical flavor enhancers. These foods cost more but because they're lower in filler which goes right through a dog, you feed less because they have more ingredients that fill your dog. You can find these foods at places like Petsmart, Petco, feed stores and some local pet stores carry natural foods. Flint River Ranch can only be purchased directly from the company via the internet http://www.flintriver.com/ and they ship free, directly to your home.

Educate yourself on what's in those bags of food you pull off the grocery store and discount center shelves. Guaranteed, once you've aquired the knowledge, you'll switch to a high quality food. You wouldn't want to eat it, so neither should your dog.
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Perhach/PetFood/Contents.htm
http://www.allourpets.com/htmls/petfood.shtml


Online ordering:
Wysong
http://www.epetpals.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?search=action&keywords=wysong_growth_puppy_food

Wellness
http://www.epetpals.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?preadd=action&key=076344089605

Solid Gold
http://www.epetpals.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?search=action&keywords=solid_gold_puppy_food

Eagle Pack
http://www.epetpals.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?search=action&keywords=eagle small/medium

Nutro Natural Choice
http://www.epetpals.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?preadd=action&key=079105202015





> when do puppies start eating solid food? What solid food
> should be given?
>