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Food and nutrition.

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Bella The cry baby     Barked: Fri Dec 28, '12 3:57pm PST  Hi. My name is Bella I am 5 weeks old and my mommy is worried that I'm not eating enough. She is feeding purina puppy chow. She puts water in it to make it soft because I don't have my teeth yet. Mommy don't know if she should put me on different food or use less water. When she feeds me I lick it and then want nothing to do with it. Can you please help my mommy. my posts | my page | msg me | gift me | become pals [notify]

Abbey Feisty- Girl     Barked: Fri Dec 28, '12 4:44pm PST  Did you get this pup from a breeder? She should still be with her mother and littermates until she's at least 8 weeks old. Given her age, that she is a toy breed mix, and that she is not eating I would be extremely concerned about hypoglycemia. Toy breed puppies need special care and I would get this pup to a vet ASAP. Although right now just getting her eating regularly is the most important thing, later I would consider switching to a better quality puppy food. THIS thread is very helpful. Edited to add- here are a couple articles about hypoglycemia in toy breed pups: LINK / LINK Edited by author Fri Dec 28, '12 5:07pm PST my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Ikan 976039     Barked: Mon Dec 31, '12 5:08pm PST  You may want to look into some soft food if the puppy is that young. Hard food may be to much for them to eat right now. I do agree that to try something a bit better then puppy chow when the puppy is ready. I know Nutro has a puppy food that has gravy in with it, this will help the puppy to eat more also and be easier to eat since the puppy is so young. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Mulder Spooky Mulder     Barked: Tue Jan 1, '13 8:59am PST  Even 8 weeks is too young for this dog. This dog should NOT have been removed from its litter until closer to 10 or 12 weeeks. Most toy breeds aren't even weened by 8 weeks, and CERTAINLY not by 5, which is literally half the age this dog should have been before being removed. Ideally you send the dog back and let its mother care for it the way it should have been. If not, get rid of ALL hard food, no kibble is apropriate for this puppy at this stage in its life. What you need to do is get some high calorie wet food and preferably some milk replacer (raw goats milk is best), and feed this dog as often as it will eat. This poor dog isn't even WEANED yet... its needs CONSTANT CARE. As mentioned, hypoglycemia is a HUGE risk with a dog this small and this young, and it NEEDS to be taking in enough food to prevent the sugar drop. You're going to have to watch this thing like hawk until about 10 weeks, at which point the chace of complications will go down. Get in touch with a vet if you haven't already and get any and all advise you can from them. This is not a particularly good situation. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Member Since 12/02/2012     Barked: Wed Jan 2, '13 8:33pm PST  When I got my puppy, she was about 5 weeks old too. I didn't give her any hard food as I don't think she could stomach it. What I did was give her some oatmeal. Now I know that may not be a good idea as it may not contain a lot of nutrients for dogs, but it was the only soft food I had available. She did consume it, though. my posts [notify]