I know the earliest puppies can be started on puppy chow is 3 weeks. I have a litter where the mother's milk didn't come in. I have been bottle feeding, but am wondering if any one out there has any experience with trying to tech puppies to lap formula prior to three weeks. Thanks in advance for any information you may be able to provide.

I had a large litter of 12, and while I did not supplement the puppies at first, (because I didn't want to affect her milk production), I also didn't want to stress my bitch too much either. So I started feeding the puppies Royal Canin Puppy/Mother Starter Mousse, twice a day, starting at 18 days, and they took to it readily and easily. The RC Mousse has highly digestible hydrolyzed protein, and it didn't affect the puppies stools at all, no upset tummies, and my dam continued to do potty duty until I started kibble later on. I test for readiness to start solid food by taking a finger dipped in full fat plain yogurt and seeing if the puppies suck the yogurt off my finger or lap the yogurt off my finger.

Good luck to you. :-)