# Sticky  Weaning a litter to Raw



## Liz

WEANING PUPPIES TO RAW
In both my shelties and collies the puppies are very interested in mom's food around 2 - 2 1/2 weeks old. They will crawl into her bowl, lap at left over blood and try to flat out steal meat. No they have no teeth yet!

By week three my mom's are holding meat for their pups and encouraging them to start tearing at it. They have tiny nubbins for teeth. I start offering meat at this time. The shelties don't start doing much than playing with it till closer to four weeks because of their tiny teeth.

Puppy's first meals. All skin, fat and bone is included. 
Home made ground chicken backs with about 2% of the weight in liver
Homemade ground lamb lung with chicken backs - 50-50%
Homemade ground duck necks with organ - 2 - 3% organ 


Any of these I have used as first meals. Pups weaned directly to raw have not in our case had any problems with a complete carnivore diet being offered. I usually place a couple of tablespoons on a flat plate and put a couple of pups to it. They will most often gobble it up with just a tiny prod or nudge of their head to the food. Once they realize it is like mom's meat they go to town. After feeding this way a time or two I place two tablespoons per pup in a larger flat plate and feed before mom nurses three to four times through out the day. This helps mom's milk start to dry out naturally without stressing mom out and gives the pups a perfect diet to compensate. My babies will still nurse til about 7 weeks though at 7 or 8 weeks it is more a token goodnight nursing or first thing in the morning nursing. 

Once the pups have big enough teeth I begin offering whole foods. Shelties tend to be about 6 - 7 weeks before they can really dig into chicken drummettes, wings, necks or cornish game hen. By 8 weeks they will be getting many parts of the chicken except for breasts, cornish game hen, duck necks, one turkey neck for all, lamb lung, turkey heart, pork heart slices, pigs feet, chicken feet, goat chunks, and anything else I can find that they can really chew. 

The collies are usually eating solids by 5 weeks and progress to a similar diet plus large pieces like pork necks, chicken legs and thighs, turkey necks and a whole rabbit for the bunch of them. I usually offer 1.5 - 2% of their projected adult weight. It is easier for me. If I notice loose stools I just cut back the amount a bit and they do great. 

At 5 weeks I add raw, ground pumpkin seed to their meals to deworm. I give this at week 5 and again at week 7. I have had no puppies go to new homes with worms. If the litter is a Summer litter they also get Grapefruit Seed Extract in their drinking water. I use 5 - 8 drops per gallon. This is an excellent preventative for worms and diseases like giardia and coccidia. We also use Grapefruit Seed Extract to clean their indoor an outdoor runs/pens. One water bottle and about 15 - 20 drops of GSE is a great disinfectant. 

We do not give vaccinations of any kind. If we have fleas we use Diatamaceous Earth or Borax (Mule Team Borax) The DE can be used on the dogs and puppies, in their bedding, the car, furniture, bedding and carpets. I use borax on all surfaces just not internally of course. 

Your puppies will be active and lean. They will more resemble little adults than roly poly pups. This is healthier - their joints and muscle will not be so stressed. They will have fewer minor injuries and will be far more graceful than most pups you see conventionally raised. They grow more slowly without spurts and starts and seem to maintain a more balanced personality - I believe because they do not suffer from carb highs and lows and excessive sugar in their diet. JMHO. I will never go back to kibble feeding my pups. I hope you can get something helpful from all this. As usual if you do run into issues I am more than glad to get a PM and help you find the answer for your individual pup's needs. 

All Rights Reserved. No part of this file or document may be reproduced, edited or appropriated in any way without the written permission of the author. This information is not intended as veterinary advice. The intent is to provide you information to help you make an informed decision in the care and treatment of your pets.


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## lily

Liz said:


> Here is part two to feeding your pregnant female. How to start feeding nursing puppies.
> 
> In both my shelties and collies the puppies are very interested in mom's food around 2 - 2 1/2 weeks old. They will crawl into her bowl, lap at left over blood and try to flat out steal meat. No they have no teeth yet!
> 
> By three week my mom's are holding meat for their pups and encouraging them to start tearing at it. They have tiny nubbins for teeth.I start offering meat at this time. The shelties don't start doing much than playing with it till closer to four weeks because of their tiny teeth.
> 
> Puppy's first meals. All skin, fat and bone is included.
> Home made ground chicken backs with about 2% of the weight in liver
> Homemade ground lamb lung with chicken backs - 50-50%
> Homemade ground duck necks with organ - 2 - 3% organ
> 
> Any of these I have used as first meals. Pups weaned directly to raw have not in our case had any problems with a complete carnivore diet being offered. I usually place a couple of tablespoons on a flat plate and put a couple of pups to it. They will most often gobble it up with just a tiny prod or nudge of their head to the food. Once they realize it is like mom's meat they go to town. After feeding this way a time or two I place two tablespoons per pup in a larger flat plate and feed before more nurses three to four times through out the day. This helps mom's milk start to dry out naturally without stressing mom out and gives the pups a perfect diet to compensate. My babies will still nurse til about 7 weeks though at 7 or 8 weeks it is more a token goodnight nursing or first thing in the morning nursing.
> 
> Once the pups have big enough teeth I begin offering whole foods. Shelties tend to be about 6 - 7 weeks before they can really dig into chicken drummettes, wings, necks or cornish game hen. By 8 weeks they will be getting many parts of the chicken except for breasts, cornish game hen, duck necks, one turkey neck for all, lamb lung, turkey heart, pork heart slices, pigs feet, chicken feet, goat chunks, and anything else I can find that they can really chew.
> 
> The collies are usually eating solids by 5 weeks and progress to a similar diet plus large pieces like pork necks, chicken legs and thighs, turkey necks and whole rabbit for the bunch of them. I usually offer 1.5 - 2% of their projected adult weight. It is easier for me. If I noticed loose stools I just cut back the amount a bit and they do great.
> 
> At 5 weeks I add raw, ground pumpkin seed to their meals to deworm. I give this at week 5 and again at week 7. I have had no puppies go to new homes with worms. If the litter is a Summer litter they also get Grapefruit Seed Extract in their drinking water. I use 5 - 8 drops per gallon. This is an excellent preventative for worms and diseases like giardia and coccidia. We also use Grapefruit Seed Extract to clean their indoor an outdoor runs/pens. One water water bottle and about 15 - 20 drops of GSE is a great disinfectant.
> 
> We do not give vaccinations of any kind. If we have fleas we use Diatamceous Earth or Borax (Mule Team Borax) The DE can be used on the dogs and puppies, in their bedding, the car, furniture, bedding and carpets. I use borax on all surfaces just not internally of course.
> 
> Your puppies will be active and lean. They will more resemble little than roly poly pups. This is healthier - their joints and muscle will not be so stressed. They will have fewer minor injuries and will be far more graceful than most pups you see conventionally raised. They grow more slowly without spurts and starts and seem to maintain a more balanced personality - I believe because they do not suffer from carb highs and lows and excessive sugar in their diet. JMHO. I will never go back to kibble feeding my pups. I hope you can get something helpful from all this. As usual if you do run into issues I am more than glad to get a PM and help you find the answer for your individual pup's needs.


its nice to know that there are genuine dog breeders out there,people who really do care about the welfare of the mother and pups,thankyou for an excellent read and for taking the time to share,karen


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## lily

Liz said:


> Here is part two to feeding your pregnant female. How to start feeding nursing puppies.
> 
> In both my shelties and collies the puppies are very interested in mom's food around 2 - 2 1/2 weeks old. They will crawl into her bowl, lap at left over blood and try to flat out steal meat. No they have no teeth yet!
> 
> By three week my mom's are holding meat for their pups and encouraging them to start tearing at it. They have tiny nubbins for teeth.I start offering meat at this time. The shelties don't start doing much than playing with it till closer to four weeks because of their tiny teeth.
> 
> Puppy's first meals. All skin, fat and bone is included.
> Home made ground chicken backs with about 2% of the weight in liver
> Homemade ground lamb lung with chicken backs - 50-50%
> Homemade ground duck necks with organ - 2 - 3% organ
> 
> Any of these I have used as first meals. Pups weaned directly to raw have not in our case had any problems with a complete carnivore diet being offered. I usually place a couple of tablespoons on a flat plate and put a couple of pups to it. They will most often gobble it up with just a tiny prod or nudge of their head to the food. Once they realize it is like mom's meat they go to town. After feeding this way a time or two I place two tablespoons per pup in a larger flat plate and feed before more nurses three to four times through out the day. This helps mom's milk start to dry out naturally without stressing mom out and gives the pups a perfect diet to compensate. My babies will still nurse til about 7 weeks though at 7 or 8 weeks it is more a token goodnight nursing or first thing in the morning nursing.
> 
> Once the pups have big enough teeth I begin offering whole foods. Shelties tend to be about 6 - 7 weeks before they can really dig into chicken drummettes, wings, necks or cornish game hen. By 8 weeks they will be getting many parts of the chicken except for breasts, cornish game hen, duck necks, one turkey neck for all, lamb lung, turkey heart, pork heart slices, pigs feet, chicken feet, goat chunks, and anything else I can find that they can really chew.
> 
> The collies are usually eating solids by 5 weeks and progress to a similar diet plus large pieces like pork necks, chicken legs and thighs, turkey necks and whole rabbit for the bunch of them. I usually offer 1.5 - 2% of their projected adult weight. It is easier for me. If I noticed loose stools I just cut back the amount a bit and they do great.
> 
> At 5 weeks I add raw, ground pumpkin seed to their meals to deworm. I give this at week 5 and again at week 7. I have had no puppies go to new homes with worms. If the litter is a Summer litter they also get Grapefruit Seed Extract in their drinking water. I use 5 - 8 drops per gallon. This is an excellent preventative for worms and diseases like giardia and coccidia. We also use Grapefruit Seed Extract to clean their indoor an outdoor runs/pens. One water water bottle and about 15 - 20 drops of GSE is a great disinfectant.
> 
> We do not give vaccinations of any kind. If we have fleas we use Diatamceous Earth or Borax (Mule Team Borax) The DE can be used on the dogs and puppies, in their bedding, the car, furniture, bedding and carpets. I use borax on all surfaces just not internally of course.
> 
> Your puppies will be active and lean. They will more resemble little than roly poly pups. This is healthier - their joints and muscle will not be so stressed. They will have fewer minor injuries and will be far more graceful than most pups you see conventionally raised. They grow more slowly without spurts and starts and seem to maintain a more balanced personality - I believe because they do not suffer from carb highs and lows and excessive sugar in their diet. JMHO. I will never go back to kibble feeding my pups. I hope you can get something helpful from all this. As usual if you do run into issues I am more than glad to get a PM and help you find the answer for your individual pup's needs.


its nice to know that there are genuine dog breeders out there,people who really do care about the welfare of the mother and pups,thankyou for an excellent read and for taking the time to share,karen


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## Kat

Why can't all breeders be like you?


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## Karin.L

I'll second that. 
If you look at 15 breeders websites, about 1 if you're lucky will have any information about how the pups were raised, what they ate, vaccinations etc. There are so many irresponsible people in the world, its a tad depressing. The best way to reduce cruelty to animals, children etc would be if we had to have licenses for everything. Sad what the world has come to. 
Aaanyways, back on topic- Kudos to raising puppies in a natural, healthy way


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## verhoykennels

awesome info!!!!!!!!!


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## twoisplenty

We were very shocked when our 1.5 week old puppies with their eyes still partially closed would all vibrate around when we placed moms raw food bowl in their whelping box. All you can hear are little noses going a mile a minute  By 2 weeks, they were trying to help themselves to her food with no teeth, lol. We are coming up on 3 weeks now and I am excited to start offering them some ground chicken this week to start. Pictures will follow 

Breakfast









Chickenface









Dessert


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## magicre

liz, can you do an article on what to feed once the dog comes home at twelve or so weeks?


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## Liz

Yes ma'am I will get right on that. I will get that up by this weekend. I am having a tooth pulled today and will milk it for all the sympathy it is worth!


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## magicre

Liz said:


> Yes ma'am I will get right on that. I will get that up by this weekend. I am having a tooth pulled today and will milk it for all the sympathy it is worth!


OWIE......please let me know if you need some help.....you know where to find me.


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## magicre

also, check you PM....i just sent you one.


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## DaneMama

Liz-do you mind if I get these articles up on my PMR website? You'll of course get 1000% credit for them. I think they're absolutely brilliant.


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## Liz

Help yourself to this one Dane Mama. I really hope people on this site can benefit from it. Thank you for making it a sticky.


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## magicre

Liz said:


> Help yourself Dane Mama, anything I put on here is for everyone to benefit from if possible. I am glad if you can share it.


liz, clear your pm....i need to send you another one.


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## LeonilCraig

Wow! You're admirable and great. Hoping everybody could be just like you.


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## Serenaplusjackson

Wow i had never thought of using pumpkin seeds to deworm!!! this is very useful info, thanks


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## tamoor.tt

Great information.


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