worming and weening

Question
QUESTION: hi there, my name is lucy and recently my jack russell had a litter of five pups.... they are now threee weeks old and im wondering, at what age can we worm them and when to start weening them on to solids???? please help me with my questions. many thanks.

ANSWER: This makes me very uncomfortable because I don't know how you can breed your dog and not have this information already. Havne't you been to the vet???? It makes me wonder if your dog (the mom) has had any of the proper pre-natal care she needed before getting pregnant, and also if you fed her correctly while she was pregnant.
Why are you breeding her in the first place? Was it a mistake? There are SO MANY unwanted Jack russells out there, I hope you have reliable and safe people interested in the puppies. It's a terrible shame to bring them into the world only to be unwanted and eventually euthanized.

You can begin to very slowly wean them now. If you don't do it right you could hurt them.
Go to the pet store and buy Esbilac - a puppy milk - and crush into powder a hard TOP QUALITY dog food, and increase the food to milk ratio week by week  and then crushed food with warm water until the 7th week they should be completely on the hard crunchy dog food and water only.
You'll notice the mother dog will be less and less interested in nursing them as time goes by.

The first worming is done at 7 weeks old with the first set of required vaccinations. You ARE going to have them vaccinated right?  Did you have their tails docked at three days old? I guess I should first ask if the dad is a jack russell also. If not, they really don't need their tails docked anyway.
Make sure you tell whoever takes a puppy that they will need their SECOND set of vaccinations and worming at 12 weeks of age.  Hopefully their veterinarians will get them on a vaccination schedule after that.

Don't let the puppies leave their mom anytime before 8 weeks - I usually don't place puppies until 10 weeks old.

I hope you don't take my seriousness personally, I have just seen too much sadness and heartache happen with people who think it's great fun to breed their dog. It's so important to do it right. Jack Russells have a bad reputation but it's the PEOPLE who breed them and then can't get rid of them who make the problem. Then we end up with Jack Russells in dog pounds who have had a lousy start in life and no human training. It makes me crazy!
I don't mind helping you for the puppies sake, but please  read and research everything you can on whelping and weaning and the important responsibilites that go along with having a litter of puppies.  Has your mother dog been looked at after the birth?
Good luck.




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QUESTION: look i asked you a question for your help and u reply with that attitude well personally i think your not suitable for the job!!!!!!!!!! our dog has the best of the best and has always been treated right!!!!!(for your info) so in future u should keep ur opion to ur self and sort it out!!!!! thanks for nothin, i wouldnt recomend u to anyone lookin for professional help.
ANSWER: That's just a shame.
I didn't SAY you didn't treat your dog right I ASKED how you could have three week old puppies and not know about weaning or worming yet. Your mom dog has been pregnant for 2 months and the pups are almost a month - that's 3 months of research you could/should have been doing.  Again, I'm sorry but I've seen SO MANY dogs, especially Jacks, euthanized because of ignorance - and for the sake of the puppies, I answered your question about both weaning and worming. Good luck with them. You aren't a bad person, you took it wrong but that happens a lot over the computer when you can't hear the innotation of someones voice.  Again, I was making a point, not trying to insult your love of your dog or your puppies. I don't think I'd feel so strongly about this but if you have seen the unwanted puppies that I have seen, you might understand my "attitude" more.
Good luck with your puppies.

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QUESTION: i found out information from vets and other people too which breed dogs (jack russells) but i came to you as u r a professional and obviously know what you are doing, this is the reason i came to you. i expect u have seen some awful sights before but i can truely say to you all of our puppies will be well looked after and will all go to homes that they are truely wanted, and if we couldnt find a suitable home we would keep them so we knew the were safe!!!!! sorry to be rude to you but i thought u should know my reason for comin to you!!! many thanks lucy.

Answer
Hi Lucy,
I can tell just by your emails that you care! You weren't rude at all,  I know you were hurt and I'm really sorry for that. I wish things weren't so bad out there for the unwanted puppies. It just makes me so sad :(((
Again good luck and you probably won't take me up on it, but if you need any other help AT ALL about anything please know I won't jump down your back. I just love the babies so much. Take care Lucy.
Carol