When Can I begin feeding puppy food to my puppies?

Our question this week was:

Dr. Jon - I have 7 puppies, they will be a month old on Monday. When can I start feeding them wet puppy chow?

Wanda Rivera


Answer

Hi – thanks for your email Wanda. You asked, "When can you begin feeding your 1-month-old puppies some puppy food?"

The answer is you can initiate feeding puppy food at any time. Begin with a slurry of puppy food blenderized. Many pet owners begin with putting this "gruel" in a shallow baking pan, and allowing the puppies to smell it and lick at it. Some will walk through it and lick it off their paws. Eventually, they begin figuring out that it is food. Over the next few weeks you can make the gruel thicker until it is just moistened food.

An article that might be helpful to you is Weaning Puppies. This article takes you through the steps of feeding puppies and gradually moving them over to puppy food.