You can make a gruel of commercial dog food mixed with water or baby cereal thinned with water. Another option when weaning puppies is to use diluted strained baby food.

Put any of these mixtures in a small, shallow dish. Some of puppies will have no problem eating. They'll catch on immediately. But there may be a few that just don't get it. So they'll need some encouragement. The easiest way is to put a little of mixture on tip of their nose or on their tongue. When weaning puppies you'll also need to decrease amount of food you're giving mother. This causes her to produce less milk. At same time, you can gradually begin increasing amount of food you give puppies, and over next several days make it less soupy. As they grow and their digestion matures, their food should slowly become more solid, day by day.

Weaning puppies at this point becomes easier because, as solid food grows more familiar to them, they learn to enjoy it more. Let them eat as much as they want as long as they don't become bloated.

If you approach weaning puppies like this, process should be simple, painless and easy. Expect to see them completely weaned by time they're six to eight weeks old.

This was how I finally figured out root cause of Scout not using her box. I just happened to see her use box to urinate, and I was so happy, I decided to scoop urine ball immediately, to keep her box clean. The urine ball was reddish in some spots. I called vet right then and there, and while I didn't know it at time, I had finally found source of Scout's discomfort with her litter boxes!

NOTE: If your cat stops using litter box, but you find her squatting in either bathroom sink or tub, you can easily see color(s) of her urine - lucky you!

Why is this lucky?

- Because your cat's urine will show up brightly against porcelain; - It's easy to clean up; - She has right room and idea, but wrong appliance!

Here's another clue your kitty will give you:

After she uses box and covers her business, if she licks her genitals excessively, and meows, you can be pretty sure she has a feline UTI. So, it's time for a consultation with your friendly neighborhood vet, and some testing to determine if a UTI is haunting your kitty. Particularly if you see this behavior coupled with "accidents" around house, you can be pretty certain vet will conclude kitty has a UTI.

Taking a few minutes out of your schedule each week, watching your kitty use box, and quickly analyzing her urine production can save you a lot of heartache and puzzlement down road.

And, by evaluating her behavior in litter box, you're saving kitty lots of pain and agony from a feline UTI. You're also saving time and money by not having to seek out and clean up multiple cat urine spots on your floors and furniture.

Nancy has successfully eliminated cat urine odor from her home, and kept the kitty that caused it.