My week old puppy can't eat from its mommy, we have tried feeding it and it can't, we have a nursing mommy cat.. that is nursing only one kitten (she had 4, 1 died, and 2 got killed by one of our dogs) if the mommy cat will allow it would it be OK to try and let the pup nurse off the cat?

I know cats nurse off dogs at times, for sure, yes try it if it gets the wee thing on its way. If it takes, then it will be able to go on a bottle. If it doesn't you will have to get advice from the vet to get it feeding from a bottle and formula. Something will have to be done very quickly before the pup expires from lack of nourishment and liquid.

What is the reason it can nurse from the mom ? Please give us some more information.

Tick

This may help or may not. I use to breed paterdale terriers, and my dogs had litters no less than seven at a time. Some of them had the same problem as your explaining. What I did was fed them myself with very runny porridge. The pups loved it and soon there eating habbit became normal.

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Originally Posted by peetree

This may help or may not. I use to breed paterdale terriers, and my dogs had litters no less than seven at a time. some of them had the same problem as your explaining. What I did was fed them my self with very runny porridge. The pups loved it and soon there eating habbit became normal.

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I'm just wondering if porridge would be the best thing,can such a young pup digest the oats?

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Originally Posted by redhed35

im just wondering if porridge would be the best thing,can such a young pup digest the oats?

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Nope, a week old puppy should be having milk only.
Weaning begins at 4 weeks and then they can have things like porridge (although there are much better alternatives).

If the cat will feed the pup then go for it. A cats milk is better than no milk at all, but personally I would be trying to bottle feed the puppy.
You can get bottles and formula from your vet or even some pet stores. Instructions will be on the packaging.

Your better to use ready break. The oats are that small the urn to liquid. My pups loved it and grew to become very strong good hunters. That's my opinion though. If there is an other alternative by all means try what you think is best.

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Originally Posted by redhed35

im just wondering if porridge would be the best thing,can such a young pup digest the oats?

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Actually, when I was a lot younger I watched my nan get a very young pup started this way. It (the oatmeal) was very runny which served a dual purpose of nutrition and hydration.

Edit: she just happened to be a scot too. Oatmeal has many purposes as I found out :)

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Originally Posted by meme130

my week old puppy can't eat from its mommy, we have tried feeding it and it can't, we have a nursing mommy cat..that is nursing only one kitten (she had 4, 1 died, and 2 got killed by one of our dogs) if the mommy cat will allow it would it be ok to try and let the pup nurse off the cat?

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Why can't the pup nurse from its mother and what and how have you tried feeding it that 'it can't'?

If the pup is having difficulty nursing, then the cat might not be able to feed it either.

I would consult the vet to make certain that pup and momma cat both get the nutrients they need to keep both of them healthy especially if she does take the pup in.

How large a breed is the pup?

Yip oats have all the goodness the body needs. Worked a treat with all the little pups my dogs had, and they loved it that much they always looked for seconds :)

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Originally Posted by Cat1864

Why can't the pup nurse from its mother and what and how have you tried feeding it that 'it can't'?

If the pup is having difficulty nursing, then the cat might not be able to feed it either.

I would consult the vet to make certain that pup and momma cat both get the nutrients they need to keep both of them healthy especially if she does take the pup in.

How large a breed is the pup?

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Well, cat, we can ask these questions till the cows come home, sometimes not get answers, and the OP has gone off on his/her own tangent.

Sometimes I wonder why we are here.

In this case, the pup has to be latched on to the tit by hand, if it can't itself. And encouraged manually. We as moms know the problem. But unfortunately the OP doesn't know the basics of 'latching on and stimulating'. All the OP has to do is a search for this type of problem and go from there. OR CALL THE VET AND ASK WHAT TO DO!!

Tick

Thanks all. We had called the vet about this problem... and they suggested us feeding the puppy with puppy supplement and a bottle. We tried that. We ended up having to use a syringe and it would take some of it. We called the vet again about seeing if we could see if the cat could nurse it. They said that if the pup can it wouldn't hurt for it has been done before. We figured the cats nipple being smaller would help the pup to latch on better since momma dogs were bigger. It couldn't latch either. I told my daughter it just might not know how to suck, don't know. We had been keeping it warm and trying to get some milk down her. When my daughter told the people at the vets what we were doing they said that we were doing all we could do. The pup died yesterday. Would have been a week today. You asked what kind of dog... momma is a German Shepherd/Lab and the daddy?? Well going by the looks of the pup and the color it would be our other dog which is a Lab/Border Collie mix. The pup was the runt... the momma dog had 10 puppies all together... last time she had 7 and one was born dead. I was looking up things on the net to see if I could find any answers to my questions just in case the vet wasn't in.. for the weather is bad here... and I ran across this site and thought I would check it out... BUT THE VETS OFFICE WAS CALLED
Thanks

I am so sorry for your loss. I know it isn't easy to lose a pet even one so young.

I hope the rest of her litter grow to be strong and healthy.

My 5 day old puppy is not eating what can I do?

Take the advice that has already been posted. Try offering a suitable substitution such as puppy formula by bottle, but most importantly, contact your vet to find out what is going on.