When Can Puppies Start Eating Alone?

During the tender early days of puppies' lives, their only nourishment comes straight from Mama -- her milk. Young pups simply aren't ready to eat on their own until weaning. However, the process usually starts just a few short weeks into the canines' existence. Hello, independence during chow time!

In puppy land, the nursing weeks start immediately at birth and end at approximately the 1-month marker. During this tender stage, the only "eating" a puppy needs to do is with comforting and sweet mom, plain and simple. Nothing else can handle growing puppies' nutritional requirements like a mother dog's milk, after all. Puppies are 100 percent dependent on Mama at this point.

If the mother doggie is for whatever reason inaccessible or ill, puppies can get their nourishment just fine via bottle feeding, fortunately. Only use a commercial milk replacer and powdered formula made exclusively for puppies. Never feed puppies milk from a cow, as it could trigger uncomfortable diarrhea and stomach pain in the cuties -- no, thank you, and definitely not worth the frustration.

You can begin leaving food out for puppies when their mother doggie determines that they're old enough for weaning. In general, this takes place between the third and fourth week of life. Begin with smaller portions, and then slowly but surely amp up the quantities during the following days and weeks. When it comes to diet, you always want to avoid shocking puppies with rapid and sudden adjustments, of course. No need to rush. For the first few days of puppies eating solid foods, you may want to monitor them. Puppies usually mimic their mother's eating habits, however.

Although puppies can indeed begin eating on their own at roughly 3 or 4 weeks old, a mother dog may still occasionally nurse them until weaning is officially over. Weaning usually ends when puppies are about 2 months old. At this time, you can expect your puppies to eat by themselves 100 percent of the time -- no mother necessary. Bravo!