Too tiny? - Page 1

It is 4 in a litter ,3 girls and 1 boy,the size almost the same.They look healthy , bright and energetic ,I feed them 5 times a day one by one, 3 times solf dry dog food and 2 times milk, they still keep with their mom,I feed them Natural Choice large breed puppy,they can finish within 3 min.Is it too little to feed?What is aveage oz.to feed?
Thanks! 

Your puppies are fairly small considering there are only 4 in the litter, but I do not think it is too much to worry about, as long as they are healthy and growing, they will probably catch up soon.  I just raised a litter of four and they weighed more than 5 pounds at 21 days, but then another litter of 6 surviving pups had a very slow start due to the mother not being able to feed them, I had to give them to the first female as a foster mum, so for a while she had 10 and I think some of them were smaller than yours at the same age..... I have been concerned about them but at 6 weeks they are now catching up and most of them are now almost as big as usual for this age.

Just a couple of things - I would not feed them one by one, small puppies seem to have a better appetite if fed all together - more competition I think they stimulate each other to feed, apart from the time it must take individually!  I feed them 4 times a day until about 6 weeks then reduce to three bigger meals.  At the age of your pups I usually put a little more food down if they finish it very quickly, I try to see that there is always a little left for the mum to finish off, then I can be sure they had enough.  Don't give them cows milk and keep them with the mother as long as she will allow.  Good luck with the pups, I am sure they will be fine.

Thank you!

Have you wormed them yet? If they are carrying a lot of worms, that can keep them from growing.

Yes, thats right I meant to mention that,  I give them pyrantel at 21 days then a stronger dewormer praxil at 6 weeks with the first vaccination.  Good luck...

and deworm the mother at the same time...

I wormed them with Drontal plus at 24 days, I planed to worm them every week.I think may be the food is not enough or not fit for them, what do you gays feed the puppy?

Where I live there is not much choice of quality foods, so I am not familiar with the one you are using.  I always use Royal Canin puppy starter at first, I get a bag of 20kg and use this until it finishes (which depends on the litter size) then switch to RC maxi junior or Performance puppy.   There is also RC baby dog for weaning but it is very expensive and I think the puppy starter is excellent, as it is high in calories and easy to digest.  I confess that I also cook a little minced beef or chicken and mix this with the food too and my puppies do very well.  As they start to grow and eat more I gradually stop using the meat all the time so that they do not become too accustomed to it.  

I don't think it is necessary to worm them every week, I have always done it at 21 days and 6 weeks, no problems.

Nick Vom Victoria
    

Thank you OSO!