staffy pups 5weeks old

hey guys can any1 please tell me how much food i shud be feeding a 5week old pup i have a litter of 9 still feeding from there mother and have just started feeding them chicken mince and eukanuba biscuits duno if im under feeding or over and how many times a day shud i feed them thanks

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Not a clue tbh, we have a cpl of breeders on the forum who should be able to help, all I can say is, most pups are already weaned off of mum by now ?

No idea on amounts to feed tho but wish u luck , keep us updated x

I assume this is an accidental littter and you don't have fellow breeder support ??

YOUR FIRST LITTER
WEANING AND RAISING PUPPIES
by Linda Hazen Lewin
So, your bitch has whelped a fine litter of puppies and they're just about ready to be weaned. What
happens now? What do you feed them? How do you keep them healthy? How to you raise them to
be outgoing, happy puppies who will fit into their eventual new homes? The following are some tips
for raising a super litter.
How to Wean Puppies from Their Dam
(and Wean the Dam from her Puppies)
Much of your involvement with weaning must be guided by your bitch's behavior. Some bitches just
naturally jump out of the whelping box when the puppies reach the age of 4 weeks or so (when they
have those needle-sharp milk teeth) and never look back. Other bitches would happily nurse their
puppies until they all died of old age! If your bitch is one of the former, you need only to be ready to
step in and replace Mom with some puppy food and your blender. If she is one of the latter, you will
have to make the effort yourself to keep her away from the puppies for longer and longer periods of
time so her milk will dry up. Nursing promotes the production of more milk; the longer she nurses,
the longer it will take to get her back to normal condition.
With a bitch who is reluctant to turn over the reins, let her in to visit the puppies three or four times a
day, OR let her stay with them through the night (not both). Keep her away from them the rest of the
time. Cut back on visiting hours and frequency over the course of 2 weeks, so that finally she is not
nursing them at all. Don't cut her off from the puppies suddenly as she will still be producing milk and
you don't want her to develop mastitis. In general, however, your bitch should not be nursing the
puppies after they turn 5 weeks old or so (although they will still climb all over her when they see
her!). During the weaning period, cut the bitch's food back to her non-pregnant amount, even if she
looks skinny. Huge amounts of food, which she now doesn't need, will encourage milk production.
After her teats have returned to close-to-normal, you can increase her food again to restore her normal
weight.
Start weaning the pups at about 3 weeks of age, or as soon as they can stand fairly steadily on their
legs. I have great success with commercial dry puppy foods such as Purina Puppy Chow or Pedigree
for Puppies. I have had equal success raising puppies on a premium *adult* food such as Bil-Jac
Select Adult or one of the Blue Buffalo adult foods. I don’t recommend using the puppy version of a
premium brand, as they tend to be much too high in protein (more like what you would feed a cat) and
too “loaded” for puppies despite how they’re marketed, and feeding those high levels of protein and
fat can result in growth problems. In short, use either a lower-end brand puppy food or a premium
brand adult food. Whatever works for you.
For your first few tries at feeding, put a handful of food into a blender with enough hot water to make
the food start to float. Puree it thoroughly, to make a sort of gruel. Add more hot water if necessary,
so it is fairly thin. Remember, baby puppies only have milk teeth and are learning the transition
between sucking and lapping. They can't really chew yet and you don't want them to choke. Pour the
gruel into a shallow pan or cookie sheet, and place it in the middle of the whelping box. Move the
puppies to the edge of the pan, or even into it, and let them explore.
The first few feedings are truly funny as the puppies figure out how to eat. Most of the initial feedings
consist of the puppies sliding around in the pan, falling down in it and licking each other off (which is
how they discover that this weird stuff tastes good). Let them wallow in it -- what they don't lick off
each other the bitch will clean up at visiting time. For those pups who show no interest, you can put a
dab of food on your finger, gently pry their little mouths open and put the food on the end of theirtongue (or on their nose). They will sneeze and choke and act completely put out, but after the second
or third feeding they will eagerly waddle over to the pan. Don't let your bitch in with them while you
feed, as the puppies will leave the food and go to the "milk bar". Also, she is likely to eat the puppy
food!
Feed the puppies as much as they will eat, three or four times a day. (I feed mine in the morning
before work, in the evening when I return from work, and late at night before bed). Make more food
as they start to clean the pan, to make sure they are getting enough, and let Mom in with them either
only at night or only two or three times a day. As mentioned above, you want her milk to dry up and
you want the puppies to be getting most of their sustenance from the food, not from her. As the
puppies get older, you can use less water in the blender and make the food thicker and chewier.
Changes to the Whelping Box Environment
As the puppies grow, become more physically capable, and see Mom less, you will want to put a pad
or sheet at one end of the whelping box to form the nest once made by the bitch. I like to use the faux
fleece dog beds which have the rolled “bolster” around the edge. The reason for re-creating the nest
is to reinforce the "denning instinct" in the puppies' minds, which helps immensely with
housebreaking. Dogs are instinctively clean animals and do not wish to soil their bed. The puppies
will naturally cluster together in their nest when they are sleepy but will leave it and go to the other
end of the box when they need to urinate and defecate. By providing a defined nest, you are
reinforcing the idea of keeping the nest clean while using newspaper for "other things". Of course,
there will be mistakes and the nest will have to be washed fairly often at first but they will eventually
get the idea! When they go to their new homes, this early imprinting translates into full-fledged
housebreaking.
As the puppies start to eat real food instead of milk, the bitch will no longer clean up after them.
Guess what -- it's your turn! Have tons of newspaper on hand, lots of paper towels or tissues for small
pick-ups, a big box of trash can liners, and a nice, big trash can. You'll need them. (Now is the time
you will be grateful that you put so much newspaper in the box before whelping. At clean-up time,
you should only have to remove and replace the top few layers of newspaper, rather than have to clean
out and re-paper the entire box). It is helpful to have an exercise pen or another confined area in
which to put the puppies while you clean out the whelping box. It is very difficult to do with the
puppies in there, as they climb all over you while you're trying to clean up! Puppies always eliminate
right after eating and after waking up from a nap, so be prepared for major clean-ups when you get up
in the morning and right after you feed them. With young babies, it's almost constant, so grit your
teeth and dig in!
When the puppies are between 4 and 5 weeks old, they will be exploring the furthest reaches of the
whelping box. You should then provide them with some simple toys. Like human babies, exposure to
weird and wonderful things is important for brain development. A tennis ball is good because it is
light and easily rolled. Puppies also adore cardboard paper towel rolls (which you should have plenty
of by now!) or toilet paper rolls because they can pick them up and carry them. When they are chewed
up, just throw them away. Another good toy for bigger pups is an empty plastic milk carton. These
can be carried, pounced on, stood on top of and tussled over. A soft latex toy with a squeaker in it is
also good for young puppies (the first time they actually make it squeak is a riot) but keep a close eye
on the condition of it so that the puppies don't chew the squeaker out of it. As they start teething, real
chew toys are excellent, although you should avoid rawhide or any items that can actually be chewed
apart or broken off and swallowed. I like the Nylabone products, and Manchester puppies and adults
alike seem to love chewing on those.
Keep an eye on your bitch so she doesn't swipe all the toys from the puppies -- she could be very
jealous of them and all the nifty stuff they're getting to play with. If she becomes gruff with them orkeeps trying to horn in on the fun, give her one of her own toys and give her some undivided attention.
After all, she's the reason those puppies are there in the first place!
Finally, between 4 and 5 weeks of age or so, it is usually safe to put a water bowl in the whelping box
with the puppies. Make sure it is heavy enough that they can't tip it over, and high enough on the sides
so they can't fall into it accidentally and drown. As you start to make the puppies' food thicker and
they visit with Mom less, they will need water. Let them discover it on their own; they'll go to it when
they need it.
Socialization
Puppies at the weaning age are beginning to relate to their outside environment and this is the stage
when they need lots of human interaction, mental stimulation and exposure to new sights and sounds.
Take your shoes off and get right in the whelping box with them (after you clean it, of course!). Pick
them up, cuddle them, talk to them and let them climb on you. Roll the ball for them and hold a paper
towel roll so they can tug on it. Observe their behavior carefully and give extra attention to any that
seem reserved, frightened or disinterested. Early behavior modification begins now! I play a radio in
the room with the whelping box and put it on a different station every day. My puppies have heard
DJs, CNN, and music from rock to Bach by the time they are 6 weeks old. The radio teaches them not
to be afraid of funny noises and to recognize the different timbres of the human voice.
Take the puppies out of the whelping box frequently and let them explore the room, talking to them all
the while. Observe who is bold and curious and who is reticent. Don't baby the cautious ones, but
rather, encourage them to venture away. Roll the ball across the floor away from you and encourage
them to follow it. If a puppy is crouching next to you, get up and walk a little way away and call it to
you. When it comes to you, praise profusely, and then walk away again. Soon, it will toddle around
on its own and play with the others.
If you have a separate exercise pen or a way to gate off a room, set it up somewhere where there is lots
of family traffic and put the pups in that area frequently. Kitchens are great because sounds tend to
echo off of the floor, the oven and refrigerator doors are banging, and the family congregates there.
And all of that is overlaid with terrific smells! If the weather is warm, you can also set the pen up out
in your yard and expose them to outdoor sights and sounds. Remember, all these new experiences will
be something of a shock the first time, so spend time with the pups, talking to them and encou

Nice one Kelly !

Learn something new everyday x

No, i copyed and pasted , still, it was a good read