Puppy Weaning

Weaning puppies is a transition. 

They gradually transition away from their mothers milk onto solid foods. It is not good for the puppies to be pulled from the mother suddenly, not only will this cause GI issues but it could also potentially prevent the puppies from getting the care they need. Of course, if the mother is displaying aggressive behavior to the puppies, then their safety comes first. 

Never give a puppy cow’s milk!

Note - If the mother growls at the puppies prior to 4 weeks of age, you may need to increase her calcium supplements.

When to Start

Weaning starts when a puppy begins showing interest in foods. Because there’s a transition from milk to other foods, it can upset the puppy’s stomach and cause diarrhea, so a slow transition is necessary. Do not allow this to be a stressful experience as this can lower the puppy’s immune system. 

Pomskies start showing interest in foods around 3.5-4 weeks of age. Mother’s milk is no longer adequate and they are not staying full long enough for the amount of calories they are expending in play and exploration. This is when they will begin to eat gruel and start changing their digestive process to dog food. 

Make sure the mother cannot get into the area with the puppy food. Take a large shallow pan (a muffin tin works really well) and make a very thin mixture with water or puppy formula (rehydrated goat milk also works). The puppies will not know what to do with chunks at first and chunks can cause aspiration, so take a fork and ensure that it’s a smooth consistency for the first few times the puppy is fed the gruel. You want it a more watery consistency than applesauce. 

Be prepared for the mess. Your Pomsky puppies will get very messy. This is when you let the mom back into the pen. She will clean up the puppies. If they are still messy, you can take a damp rag and remove the debris. 

The goal is to slowly increase the gruel twice a day. This helps to remove their dependence on mom’s milk supply, and also is a gradual process that helps the mom’s milk dry up.

What to Feed Weaning Puppies

Pomsky breeders seem to have two different suggestions for this period:

• About half of the Pomsky breeder population uses puppy food soaked with water and/or puppy milk replacer. 

• The other half of the Pomsky breeder population uses the canned puppy starter mousse, like Royal Canin. 

• There’s a mixed population that adds puppy powdered probiotics into the gruel to help kickstart puppy’s GI system.

After the first few days of watching the puppies to ensure they are not choking, you can thicken the consistency. At this time, you can also have a small amount of dry puppy food available. Puppies will play and nibble on it. They will have enough teeth at this time to be able to chew. 

It’s during this time that you will want to go back to weighing your puppies every other day. You do not want puppies not gaining weight, or even losing weight during this period. At times, you may need to allow most of the litter to continue with regular feeding, but keep back a slow progressing puppy to continue to nurse on mom for an additional week. 

Caring for Mom While Weaning Puppies

Care for the dam is important during this period as well. Her birthing discharge should be complete. During the weaning process, part of it is helping the dam revert back to her pre-pregnancy body. 

If there are still low hanging mammary glands, you can provide a lower calorie food for a few days before removing the puppies. The purpose is that this lower calorie intake will help her to lower her milk production. If the mother has an overabundance of milk, food may have to be withheld for 24 hours beforehand to achieve the same effect.

The goal is to make sure the mother is trying to dry up before you remove the puppies. By leaving her breasts full of milk, it is not only painful for the mother dog, but it makes her prone to mastitis. Mastitis can kill an otherwise healthy mother in only a few days. Watch her breasts carefully during this transition. Key signs are hard, red, inflamed breasts. By checking her 2-3 times a day, you can catch this early and prevent issues. 

(As always, the APKC recommends that you work closely with your vet with any home treatments)

Some treatments can be done at home, but be sure to contact your vet for recommendations. You may be able to use warm compresses using towels or cabbage leaves. Your vet may also recommend that you express milk from the infected gland. This may be difficult at first but the dam will be relieved from the reduction of pressure and will encourage blood circulation. 

Cabbage leaf compresses: This is a common method (used on people too!) to decrease inflammation and pain by drawing out excess fluid. Chill cabbage leaves in the fridge. Place around and over the inflamed or swollen area and secure on the mother with a bandage and then a tshirt. When the cabbage leaf becomes wet, or 2-4 hours has passed, take off to allow to air out. Then repeat for another 2-4 hours. Having puppies nurse from the infected glance also helps in this process.

If at any point, you see it getting worse, contact your vet asap.