More puppy questions

Sue-Shi is doing great, but I have a few more questions. She won't eat hard food yet, even if I soften it so I have her on Wellness soft puppy food. It says to feed 6-8 oz a day per 5 pounds. She's not 5 lbs yet, so I haven't been giving her that much. The problem is that she's burping and getting hiccups a lot after she eats. Is this normal? Should I give her smaller meals? Also, her poop is soft, is that normal? It's been so long since Mack was a puppy that I don't remember.

Also, I'd really like her to be on hard food. Should I mix a little in with her soft food to transition her or what is the best way to get her to eat it?

She also whines a lot if I'm out of her sight. I don't want a pug that ends up having separation anxiety. Should I just let her whine it out? She has plenty of soft toys and chewies, she just doesn't want me to be out of her sight. I separate her from Mack and Mattie when I'm not around because I don't trust them alone with her yet. They're all getting along great, I'd just rather wait until she's bigger and not nipping at them to leave them together.

Thanks for any help!

Does she eat really fast (she's a pug so I'm guessing she must do!). Try putting a kong into the bowl with her food, or even putting it in the kong, to slow her down. Toddy gets hiccups occasionally, and I seem to remember Snifter did as a pup, but not often.

Poo should not really be soft but when there is general emotional upheaval this can happen so I would not worry unduly at this stage. She's had a big life change. If it becomes obvious that she has diarrhoea then of course you need to check in with the vet.

I would try putting a few bits of hard food in with the soft and see what happens. If she rejects the hard food in favour of the soft then I would soften a bit of the hard food and gradually transition her off the Wellness until she gets used to the flavour of the hard food, and then transition in pieces of hard kibble a bit at a time. You could just go cold turkey and insist she eats the hard food by giving her nothing else but of course you run the risk of an upset tummy and if the poo is already soft that is certainly not the way I would choose to go.

For the whining I personally would let her whine it out but would stay within earshot and go back to pet and fuss her the minute she stops whining. Do this several times a day. She should then get the idea that quiet means mummy and noise means no mummy, so there's no point in the whining. Whatever you do, you don't want to inadvertently reward the whining by giving her attention for it.

The whining is normal. You have to remember that they are used to the companionship of mother and siblings. It will take about 2 weeks to subside. I don't have anything to offer on the food side. I have only found one food that does not give the runnies to puppies and that is Royal Canine puppy 30 or 33. I have tried amny foods over the years and every single one of them is no good. I free feed my puppies, but there is always someone home to take them potty too. I don't feel that puppies are used to eating on a set schedule until they are about 12-16 weeks. Their bodies are going so fast that I like them to eat when they want to. I guess sort of like babies.

Thanks for the info. I pretty much free feed her. She eats what I put down and then plays, naps, goes potty, and eats some more. I just don't want to leave the soft food out because it gets a little hard.

I figured the whining was because she's used to her littermates and mom being around. She's gone everywhere with us so far, but I know the time will come that she won't be able to go.

She doesn't have diarrhea, just soft stools, so I'm not too worried. Sounds like it's just the food. I'll try the food Sarina recommended once I switch her to hard food. Mack and Mattie do well on the Wellness so I wanted to get her used to that and eventually have her on the adult food when she's old enough, but if the soft stools continue, I'll switch her. I know it's not always possible to have them all on the same food.

Thanks again for all the advice.

One other thing....for my puppies at night I put the surrogate pug in the dryer to warm her up. If you have a stuffed animal, warm it up at bed time and give it to her to cuddle. The spice litter loved surro pug and they even tried nursing her! LOL

Sabra - no words of wisdom. I just know I'd have the same questions as you if I went the puppy route again! Give her some luv from me.

Sarina, I am the surrogate pug. And I don't fit in the dryer.

She sleeps on the bed, on my neck. I have tried a stuffed toy we have and it isn't the same for her. I wake up when she wakes up so we haven't had any accidents so far.

Well find someway to heat yourself up! LOL Mine don't sleep with me....sooner or later one of them would pee in the bed and that would ruin all my chances of Sat. night movies in bed with the pugs!

What you're describing is pretty consistent with what we experienced with puppies. Leo is a super fast eater and it seemed like he always had the hiccups when he was younger. It eventually passed and he doesn't get them as much.

The whining happened with all the pugs, especially with Bruno because he was the youngest when we got him. We practiced slowly leaving them. Like walk around the corner and then pop your head back in. Little exercises to help them understand that when you are out of their sight, you will come back. But most of it was just letting them get older and develop more security.

I would find a kibble that has small bites since she is so young. I remember that Tinker had soft stools for a few months before they firmed up. I first had him eating Solid Gold Wee Bits since the kibble is really tiny, but he was having really stinky gas so I switched him. He also seemed to hiccup a lot but has outgrown it. He slept with me since we brought him home, and he never had an accident in bed either. If he got up to start moving around, I would take him outside to potty. I think when he reached about 5 months old, he was sleeping through the night without needing to go potty. I crated him when I could not be home, and he hated it. He would pee or poop or do both when I left even if he had just gone, and I was only gone for a couple of hours. He finally grew out of that too, but he did it for a couple of months.