Weaning puppies onto raw food: a guide for breeders

This guide is for breeders and anyone raising a litter. It goes through weaning puppies onto raw food week by week, with amounts for the litter and for mum along the way.

When to start weaning puppies onto raw food

Puppies are usually ready for their first taste of solid food at about three to four weeks old. If mum’s food is within reach, they’ll often start sampling it at around three weeks. The whole process usually runs until six to eight weeks, with mum’s milk making up less of their day as the bowl takes over. From about four to five weeks, mum starts limiting how often they can feed from her, which nudges them towards the bowl.

There’s no rush in the first week. The aim is to get them used to the idea of food from a dish while they’re still mostly on milk.

Texture: start sloppy, then thicken it

Young puppies lap rather than chew, so the first meals need to be soft enough to lick up.

• Weeks 3 to 4: finely minced raw food mixed with warm water to a porridge. A single protein such as our Chicken Mince keeps things simple.
• Weeks 5 to 6: less water, so it’s more like wet mince. This is a good time to bring in a blend such as Puppy Mix, which has offal and green tripe in it as well as meat.
• Weeks 7 to 8: thawed mince as it comes, with no water added.

Use warm water rather than heating the food, and thaw it in the fridge first, the same way our guide to thawing and storing raw food explains.

How often to feed

Offer small tastes a few times a day in week three, then build up to four proper meals a day by around week four or five. Keep it at four a day until eight weeks. That lines up with our raw food for puppies guide and the feed calculator, which both start puppies on four meals a day.

Leave mum with the litter between meals. Puppies will keep feeding from her as long as she lets them, and she’ll gradually let them less.

How much each puppy eats, week by week

At eight weeks a puppy fully on raw eats about 8 to 10% of its current weight a day. Before that, part of their food still comes from mum, so the amount from the bowl is smaller. Here’s the rough plan we suggest, working up to the amounts in our puppy guide:

Weigh the raw food before you add any water.

Treat the percentages as a starting point. Every litter is different, and how much milk mum has changes how much the puppies want from the bowl. Weigh the puppies every few days, keep an eye on their shape, and adjust. A puppy that’s steadily gaining and looks well covered without being round is on track.

From eight weeks, the amounts in our puppy feeding guide take over: about 8 to 10% of current weight at 8 to 10 weeks, easing to about 8% by four months. Our calculator uses 8% for that stage and works out a daily amount once you choose Puppy and enter their weight.

A worked example: a litter of seven

Say you have seven medium to large breed puppies. These weights are only for the example, so swap in your own:

That’s about 45 kg over weeks four to eight, or four to five 10 kg boxes for the puppies alone. Most of it goes in the last three weeks, so you don’t need the whole lot in the freezer on day one. Order the first box or two before you start, and the rest so it lands for weeks six to eight. Delivery is $5 an order whatever the weight, so two or three boxes in one order costs the same to deliver as one.

Feeding mum while she’s nursing

A nursing mum eats a lot more than usual. Her needs peak at about three to five weeks after the birth, when she can need two to four times the food of a normal adult dog, and they ease back to normal by around eight weeks as the puppies wean.

In practice:

• Feed her several small meals through the day rather than one or two big ones. Small, frequent meals suit raw food, because thawed food shouldn’t sit out for long.
• Keep plenty of fresh water where she can always reach it.
• Keeping her on the food she already eats means you’re not changing two things at once. Breeders Mix was made for breeders and kennels, with beef, horse, goat and offal in one box.
• Let her body condition guide you. If she’s dropping weight, add more. Our guide to checking body condition shows what to look for.

As a guide, a 30 kg mum who normally eats about 750 g a day could get through 1.5 to 3 kg a day at her peak. Over the three peak weeks that’s somewhere around 30 to 60 kg, or another three to six boxes. Once the puppies are mostly on the bowl, bring her food back down towards her normal amount. Cutting back as the litter weans also helps her milk taper off.

Hygiene with a litter

A litter at a bowl gets messy fast, and raw meat needs the same care as it does in your own kitchen.

• Feed on a floor or mat you can wipe down, away from where you prepare food for people.
• Use shallow, wide dishes so every puppy can reach. Two or three dishes stop the bigger pups crowding out the smaller ones.
• Pick up whatever’s left once they’ve wandered off, rather than leaving it in the pen.
• Wash dishes after every meal, and wash your hands with soap and warm water after handling the food.
• Keep thawed food covered on the bottom shelf of the fridge and use it within two to three days.
• Keep young children away from the feeding area, and wash their hands if they touch the food.
• Wipe faces and paws after meals in the porridge stage. Puppies walk through their food as much as they eat it.

Litter logistics

• Thaw a day ahead. At four meals a day you’ll be going through food quickly by week six. Moving tomorrow’s food into the fridge each evening keeps you a day in front.
• Weigh the puppies. Kitchen scales work for young puppies. A quick weigh every few days shows you who’s keeping up.
• Watch the slow eaters. If one puppy is falling behind, give it a dish of its own for a few meals.
• Freezer space. Our 10 kg mixes and minces come in blocks of about 500 g, so you can thaw a little at a time. Our guide to portioning raw dog food covers carton sizes and freezer space.
• Going home. Give new owners a few days of the food their puppy is used to, and tell them what it is. Our switching guide helps if they plan to change it later.

Common questions

Which of your products suit weaning?

Chicken Mince for the first tastes, then Puppy Mix (beef, chicken, offal and green tripe) as they move on. Breeders Mix suits mum and the puppies later on. All three come in 10 kg boxes of blocks.

Should I add milk to the porridge?

Warm water is all you need to loosen it. Puppy milk replacer is another option; if you use it, follow the directions on the tin.

When can puppies have whole bones?

Our puppy guide suggests talking to your vet about when and which bones to introduce.

Can mum eat the same food as the puppies?

Yes, and it keeps the freezer simple. Breeders Mix suits both: our calculator suggests it for puppies as well as adult dogs.

How many boxes should I order for a litter?

For a litter of seven medium to large puppies, plan on four to five boxes from four to eight weeks, plus mum’s food. The worked example above shows the sums. For a smaller breed or a smaller litter, scale it down by the puppies’ weight.