Hello There,
McKenzie, my 2 1/2 lb JRT/CKC Spaniel mix, is now 8 weeks and 2 days old. She is so tiny and Eric and I are trying to figure out what is appropriate to give such a tiny little thing. We wanted to know if it was ok, to give her a chicken wing and wondered if she could even chew through the bone considering how small she is. For the time being we made a mixture of hamburger, turkey patty, liver, beef heart and chicken thigh(with the bone), all grounded up through our meat grinder. I also add a little yogurt with live active cultures and a veggie glop mixture to her breakfast. Also, I have been putting 1 drop of vitamin E and 1 drop of Fish oil in her mix for lunch, and for dinner just the meat and bone mixture. Her poop is solid and holds its form. She poops at least 3 times per day, so she is taking to her all RAW diet well. Any suggestions would be very helpful on what else to give and serving size.
Thank you,
Marisa

Congrats on the baby! Sounds like you're doing nicely. If poops are well-formed, then I assume you've got the meat-to-bone in the right range.

I think a multivitamin/multimineral supplement, especially for puppies, is a good idea/can hurt/insurance thing. Although, honestly, it sounds like your raw diet is quite complete.

There's no reason you couldn't give her a chicken wing to gnaw on--although I doubt if she could get through the largest bone in it, but that's okay. She'd eat the meat and cartilege that she can, and then you take away the bone that's left.

Quail or other small game birds would be teeny-dog sized. She could also handle fish too--either fresh or canned mackerel/sardines.

For meal size--If you could hazard a guess at what her expected adult weight will be (perhaps average the breed standard sizes of these two breeds?)--then serve 3% of that weight in food per day. That'll get you in the right ballpark. Then just monitor to keep her weight in appropiate ranges, neither too fat nor too thin. IMO, puppies should look like small adult dogs, not piglets.

Bet she's cute!

Thanks Tracy,

How about a cornish game hen wing or a small section of duck or chicken neck?

Any other suggestions?

Anyone?

Any of those items would be fine--but I wouldn't expect a wee baby to be able to eat the bones in any of these items, or much of it--but tugging at it would be good practice for her, and fun for you to watch. Just don't cut anything into such a small piece that it is a choking hazard if the pup decides to try to swallow the whole thing. If she is still working on a bit of a wing or neck and it has been reduced to a stub, just take the remainder away.

I bet she could work through most of a game hen.:smile:

How are her teeth? My Chi's could always go through reg. chicken, but while the female was very small, at least she had adult teeth. The good news is, you don't worry so much about dental probs w/baby teeth; they fall out anyway. Widget will eat an entire drumstick, and has no problem with the bone. We underestimate their jaw power in most instances.

Try chopping up game hens, though. That would be good to start with. Like Tracy says, take any "nubs" away. Widget always thinks it's a good idea to walk around the house chomping on it like it's a piece of gum. Watch closely to see when it's no longer a good chew item and turns into a round nub that would block a windpipe.