Caring for 9 orphaned puppies

by John Tyler
(Apple VAlley, Ca)

We have been raising nine puppies that were orphaned six hours after birth. They will be four weeks old in two days. We have been faithful in their feeding schedule (including the early morning times). The pups now weigh an average of 2+ pounds each.(They are husky-lab mix). We are in the process of introducing them to solid foods by using puppy chow mixed with formula and water. The pups seem to do well with this recipe.

My question is as follows: When should we stop the formula and just go with moistened puppy chow? Our concern is that they maintain a proper nutrition/caloric balance. Any suggestions would be appreciated.





Hi John
First of all - congratulations on raising these babies! It sounds as though you're doing a great job.

Your pups are old enough now that they don't need the formula milk anymore, water will be fine. Normally the momma dog starts to wean them naturally around 3 - 4 weeks old, and that's when you would introduce solid food and water, so you're right on track.

It wouldn't hurt to continue using milk for one feed per day for now, but by 5 weeks old they can be totally on puppy kibble and water.

Do make sure that you choose a high quality, premium food though, that way your puppies will get optimum nutrition. You can find a system you can use to 'rate' any dog food according to the quality of its' ingredients on my Dog Food Comparisons page.

You may also find my New Born Puppies and Puppy Development pages useful.

Best of luck with these little guys.