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Diet/What to feed six week old EM

Hi everyone! We got our EM when she was almost 5 weeks old. At the time, her mother had kicked them off the nipple and she was on a diet of straight from the cow milk. The breeder said she was getting about 18 oz a day total. It seemed to us that it wasn't enough for her and so we upped the amount of milk she was getting. I then did a little research and found some recommendations for diets of puppies and now she gets a combination of goat milk, greek yogurt, and ground beef. She was doing really well on this until the last few days. Now she seems uninterested in it and is not interested in her puppy kibble (even wet) or other wet puppy food. The only thing she wants to eat consistently now is turkey, which she got from our baby who threw it off her high chair tray Thursday. Duchess snatched it up before we had a chance to stop her. Does anyone have any suggestions or alternative recipes for what she should be eating? I have done some searching and can't find much for puppies as young as her. Any help would be appreciated :)
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
Even at 5 weeks old, I would have thought they puppies would be weaning off of anything with milk. A mush of solid food first, then normal meals. By 7 weeks our puppy was on regular solid kibble. A 6 months we switched her to a raw diet.
A lot of people take the puppies straight to raw.

I'm not an expert... I'd try some of the breeders here on the forum (I think Mountainfila is one) or RxGoforth - who currently has a litter, too. Smart_Family is the food guru, but not sure if she helps with younger puppies or not. I'm sure she'd know the right person to ask, though.
 

MastiffDude

Well-Known Member
When we brought "Moose" home from the breeder, we fed a mix of kibble soaked in chicken broth, goat's milk and boiled chicken (cooked chicken thighs in the crock pot -- this also yielded the broth with which to soak the kibble) with some yogurt here and there. The breeder also strongly suggested giving him a supplement, Trophy Sure Grow 100, which we did. It is a mix of Calcium, Phosphorus, Vitamin A and Vitamin D. This supplement was to ensure proper development of the skeletal system. Moose was growing very fast -- at one point putting on an average of a pound a day.
 

Mooshi's Mummy

Well-Known Member
Send Smart Family a PM and ask for their advice, what SM doesnt know about food probably isnt worth knowing. Mastiffs are well known for being grain and chicken sensitive so I personally would avoid those in case of upset or allergy. I would also stay away from cows milk and seek out a puppy milk from your local pet supply store or vet.
 

Rugers-Kris

Well-Known Member
I brought Ruger home the day before he turned 6 weeks old and he was already on Puppy chow from the breeder, I didn't soften it or anything. At 8 weeks I started switching him from the crap they were feeding him to Blue wilderness adult (duck Formula) and he has been on it ever since. I have never had a problem.
 

raechiemay

Well-Known Member
Funny your pup is named Duchess. That's what my girl is named also! And she was also an extremely picky eater! I would add water, canned food, green beans, really anything I could think of to get her to eat. Also switched her kibble a couple times. Have you tried maybe placing a couple shredded pieces of turkey in her kibble & maybe mix a little warm water in it? I know it's probably not the best thing to do but maybe it would entice her to eat. Also is she on a set feeding schedule? I know my biggest problem with my pup is I initially tried to free feed which has proven to not work with my girl at all.
 
I am trying to keep her on a set feeding schedule. I have tried throwing a few treats like turkey in to try and get her to eat the kibble. I have even tried wet food, which she doesn't seem too crazy about surprisingly. Adding the treats kind of back fired because then she only wanted the turkey or pork or whatever. She doesn't like raw burger too much either, so I tried warming it up a bit and adding. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I thought about soaking the kibble in some broth to see if that helps. The pet store gave me some unpasteurized goat milk to give her as well, after a long lecture about how bad it was to give the store bought goat milk. My other dogs free feed and I have altered their diet to match hers so they are all on the same kibble. She must be eating some of it because she is gaining well (about a pound a day almost). I just don't want to create any unhealthy eating habits for her and don't want to feed her junk just to get her to eat.

Raechiemay- that is too funny! Your Duchess is gorgeous :)