Mom has died...Puppies 4 weeks old yesterday. - Page 2

there is no need to bottle-feed 4 week old puppies.  They should be started already on puppy food "mush" with water or goats' milk - and if they aren't then they can start easily at that age.  Just stick their noses in it and they will get the hang of it immediately.  One word of caution about feeding milk (goats milk or any other) - starting at about 5 weeks the puppies do not tolerate lactose well anymore, and can develop diarrhea on the milk - diarrhea can kill a puppy in only a few hours (dehydration) - so use milk with caution.  Puppy kibble soaked in warm water until soft, and squished (or not) works best IMO.  I use goats milk only on infant puppies if they need to be supplemented (they are still nursing on mom and not old enough to eat soaked food yet) and I use it when just starting to feed them soaked kibble, to make it more yummy.  But I quickly switch from goats' milk to warm water to soak their food.  Much safer.

molly

That is very good advice Molly,

I was referring to the puppy k9 gold product.

I have in the past had pups at 4 weeks old without their mother and they did fine with the soaked kibble alone.

Birdy...

The formula Birdy uses is the same one the breeder we bought our pup from.  Not  Leerburg either....she raised GSD's on it for 30 years or so before she came to the US.  Used it for our pup for another couple of weeks after we brought her home.  It's great.....our vet said it was one of the best he'd heard of.  Just my 2 penny's

Again, you can feed things like corn syrup, canned milk or goats milk, which is not lactose or alergen filtered and they will survive.  Or you can feed human grade milk proteins (US) of the highest quailty, in proportions which are biologically efficient to digest and utilize for young canines and have them thrive.  The macro nutrient profile in K9 Puppy Gold reflects canine milk during the first 6 weeks of life.  The combination of a milk based protein source along with a meat based protein (meat or meat based kibble) is biologically correct and the reason young canines in the wild, stay on the mother much longer.

Molly is 100% correct, a lot of damage is done using milk sources that are not lactose filtered, causing de-hydration thru diarrhea, we hear this a lot.

john

dont worry 4 wks is plenty old enough to start weaning get a gud quality compleat mixer mix to a paste . the most important thing is that the pups are well socialised.