i have a litter  that are now a week old. one of them has not put on any weight since friday, she seems fine in herself and seems to be feeding ok but not gainging weight. she was the biggest at birth and is now the smallest, she weighed 10oz at birth and now a week later only weighs 13oz. all the others weigh approx 1lb even the tiny one that was 7oz at birth. i have been thinking about giving a couple of bottle feeds a day but not sure. could really do with some advice from somebody more experienced.

Is she being bullied off the nipples at all? If she's not at the moment, she could be as the other pups continue to get bigger and can push her off.

I try not to intervene unless absolutely necessary but if you do need to, I'd bottle feed a couple of the biggest pups to leave more milk for the smaller ones. I'd try this and see what happens. If still nothing, you may have to bottle feed her. Keep a very close eye on her but if in doubt contact your vet.

I normally feed the biggest ones like I suggest but in my most recent litter, I had 2 that seemed to be feeding but were losing weight - I had to syringe feed them rather than bottle feed as they had a good appetite but seemed to get bored of suckling - I would definately have lost them if I hadn't intervened.

id look up on the web about bottle feeding as i read and have heard a couple stories about certain milks can cause cataracts due to some ingredient so find out what ingredient it is then buy one that doesnt have it, i just did a quick check and couldnt find it but it was a study of some type

Personally I'd stay away from bottle feeding unless it's an absolute emergency, mums milk is PERFECT for pups and nothing can touch it, it's easily digested and contains everything needed to keep pups healthy ;)

Supervision is the key here, try putting little one on the nipple BEFORE the others wake up (by now you should be able to work out how long in between feeds ;) ) and make sure that she gets the best milk producers near the hind legs, it'll give her the chance to put on the weight she's missing.  Take her and mum out of the whelping box if necessary - a piece of vetbed is perfect for this ;)

This is the part of breeding that many new breeders are unaware of, making sure each pup gets the feeding time and supervision they need is time consuming but well worth it ;)

Just wondering, is this pup actually feeding properly? I know if they have a cleft in their palate for instance they can't latch on properly. I had a pup such as yours in our present litter. It turned out she had an infection which we were unaware of until she was sick one morning at around 3 weeks. A shot of anti inflamitaries (sp) and antibiotics sorted her out although she's still smaller than the others, she's fine now.

Someone gave me a great tip on how to help little ones. This was to let the biggest pup start to suckle and when the milk comes down, put the smallest one on that teat, it helps them get a full tum without so much of the effort. Worth a try. It's worked for us and we have a litter of 9 large hungry pups!

> Someone gave me a great tip on how to help little ones. This was to let the biggest pup start to suckle and when the milk comes down, put the smallest one on that teat, it helps them get a full tum without so much of the effort.

definately the best way, as they smaller puppy doesnt have to get the milk flowing, the big pups does the hard work, i would try thid before hand feeding

Yes, definitely do this for any puppy that is not doing as well as their littermates.  Slight pressure on either side of the mouth automatically pops open the puppy's mouth so you can get the pup on quickly.  To keep the puppy awake and sucking, scratch up and down on the puppy's back when attached.  We always supervise the milk bar if a puppy needs a bit of extra help.

I had a very similar problem but with a much larger litter, 11!!  The pup who was the biggest at birth just didn't seem to put on that much weight, sometimes it was next to nothing so I did what has already been suggested took mum and smallest pups away put the strongest pup on to do the hard work and then swapped for the small pups.  It did work I gave them plenty of time to have a good feed and then let mum feed as normal.  Something the breeder of my bitch told me was that occassionally a pup can suckle on the skin between the teats thinking it's feeding, you think it's ok as it's content but it's actually not taking any milk.  My babies are now 7 weeks old and the smallest one is still the smallest one but full of life and doing very well.
Jan

I have a teeny one with our current litter, he was 5.2oz at birth (rest were between 10-13oz) he dropped to 4.8oz, so I did as been mentioned, let the bigger ones start suckling, removed them and latched the little guy on, he's still small in comparison, but gaining at the same rate now as his bigger siblings.

thanks for all the replys. i do always put her on at the back for a feed when i need to, she has no problems finding it herself and when she is feeding you can see her working really hard, her head is moving back and forth like mad. she has no problems if i put my little finger near her mouth opening her mouth and sucking on that. i did weigh her again yesterday and her weight has slightly dropped she is now about 12 1/2 oz. she did have problems at birth, i don't know if this could have anything to do with it? she was the 1st to be born and i was asleep in the other room, i woke up to the sound of maddie licking, i went in to check on her and there was a puppy in the bed still in its sack. don't know how long it had been there but it was cold and not moving. i picked it up and its leg moved slightly, so i quickly ripped open the bag and for about 5-10 mins was rubbing its back trying to get it breathing, it was not breathing and i could not feel a heartbeat so gave up. i wrapped it in a towel and left it next to me because she was pushing again. after a few min a heard a noise come from the towel, opened it up and checked the puppy and she had a strong heartbeat and about every 20 seconds would take a big gasp. so i started with the rubbing again, it took about an hour for her to be breathing normally, my partner helped as she was still having more puppies at the time. but she seems really strong, moves about loads, and appears to feed really well. i really don't want to lose her especially if its all my fault for falling asleep. we have said that if she makes it we will be keeping her. i will try with putting another puppy on first, and also try bringing maddie and this one puppy in the other room with me for a bit so she can have 1-1 feeding as i know mothers milk is always best, i am going to the petshop tonight anyway so will buy some milk just incase but will only use it if everything suggested does not work, i would have to buy some anyway to mix in with their food when they start weaning in a couple of weeks. they are due to start worming on tuesday, should i leave her a bit longer untill she is a bit bigger?

Did you have the pups checked by the vet? That would be my first port of call, especially as you have mentioned above with everything that happened. I would propably be tempted to leave her to get a bit bigger but I never worm my pups at 2 weeks anyway, the earliest I've ever done it is 2.5 weeks - Although you don't know if it is a heavy worm burden that could cause her to lose weight. Did you use anything like Panacur while your bitch was pregnant to stop the worms passing through to the pups?

maddie was checked by the vet but he didn't want to see the puppies if i didn't have any concerns, and at the time i didn't. maddie was wormed just before the mating but has not been done since, how would i know if the puppy has worms? her tummy isn't overly large and bloated apart from that i don't know how else to tell?

All puppies are born with some worms and they are passed on through the milk. I always use a low dose of panacur sachets daily for the last 2 weeks of pregnancy and until 2 days post whelping, this stops so many worms passing through to the puppies so your puppies are born healthier. Might be worth considering this for your next litter.

Most of the time the worms wouldn't cause a problem but sometimes they can if there is a particularly heavy worm burden. Does her coat seem soft and healthy or is it dull? If it was a heavy burden there is likely to be a bloated tummy although I've seen this sometimes not become apparent until the pups start on solids.

Also, check inside her mouth. I'm sure you've already checked for cleft pallate? Check the colour of her gums, white gums can indicate worms, the gums should be pink.

her gums are lovely and pink, and her coat very glossy and gorgeous. i have just thought of one thing, when i removed the placenta the fluid in the cord was a bit green, i think this might be because she was left a little bit and was pretty much dead, could she have got an infection from this? she was gaining weight nicely for the 1st 3 days then stopped, what would cause this? and if it is an infection would she not be poorley and not wanting to feed? like i have said before she seems fine in herself. i'm just so confused and really worried, i think its going to have to be a trip to the vets anyway just to put my mind at ease, but just wanted to know what everyone else thinks?

I would suggest a trip to the vets - I had a little one who seemed to be suckling fine but was losing weight and he seemed fine in himself but he did have an infection. A few days on anti-biotics and he was fine.

Even if the vet says she's fine and just to stick with it you will feel better just for having her checked over.

I hope she is ok - let us know how you get on at vets.

Hiya, I had a puppy which sounds just like yours, she couldnt latch on, or even when I held her on she went thro the motions of sucking but I dont think she got much. I tried her bottle feeding and sometimes she would get the teat into her mouth and  seemingly suck like mad, other times she seemed to have her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and no way could I move it.I took her to the vets to ask if her heart was ok and if it was I was going to precivere altho both mother and I were getting up tight because of the poor thing not gaining weight, her siblings were gaining loads.Anyhow my vet said she thought she might be brain damaged as she had no suck reflex at all, odd times she would go ridgid and vet thought it would be better to call it a day, so that the mum could relax and not be getting upset, moving about and knocking all of the other pups all over the box.I must admit after I got back home, after a little while mum was very relaxed and then enjoyed her pups. I know that this is one of the worst scenarios you could want to hear, I sooo desperately hope you get abetter result than I did. good luck I will send spiritual healing to the little one

well she has now been to the vets and he says there is nothing wrong with her, but after spending all day watching her feed i have realised she is not feeding for long enough. all the others will feed for about 5-10 mins and she will only feed for about 2 before losing intrest or falling asleep. the vet recomended that i try to sit with her more when feeding to keep her awake and also a few very small bottle feeds a day. i have been doing both for a day now, so much that my back is killing from being sat on the hard kitchen floor, come the end of the day i can't walk properly because of it ( i am almost 6 months pregnant). she is having about 50mls a day in 3 small feeds from a bottle and still feeding whenever she wants from mum and has already put on 1oz and seems more relaxed between feeds.

I bet you feel better just from going to the vets though, I'm sure it will have put your mind at rest.

Stick at it and it will be worth it - Even if she stays smaller than the rest she will probably catch up when they start weaning.

Hope all goes well.

How is your pup doing??

sorry, i have not been on in a while. she is loads smaller than the others but doing really well. she is so greedy and loves her food now they are on solids, she and her sister are the bully's of the litter.