my bitch had her puppies 4 days ago. She had 11 but 1 died leaving 10. Are they likely to need supplementary feeding? at the moment mum seems to be managing ok, but sometimes the puppies seem rather noisy. How will I know if they are getting enough milk or should I just offer them bottles?

She should manage them all right. As long as you give her plenty of high-protein food and loads of liquid she'll make enough milk for them. The more they suck the more she'll produce. I had a bitch who only had 8 nipples and she reared a litter of 10 puppies very successfully and without any supplementary feeding needed.

thanks, thats good to know. I am weighing the babies every day and they are putting on weight although one is not putting on as much as the others. is it worth giving him a little extra. At the moment I keep putting him on the teat and making sure he doesn't get pushed aside by his bigger brothers and sisters.

a friend of mine ...her girl had a litter of 10 pups 2weeks ago ,her bitch is feeding them all well ....she may have to start wean alittle earlyer as pups are now wanting to feed more from mum but mum dont want to has her milk isnt filling that quick and she starting to look very thin now even tho shes on very good food and lots of it and drinks very well !!

You are doing exactly the right thing - making sure the littlest one gets more of mum ;)   by weighing every day you will be able to pick up on any that need a little extra at the milk bar.   Regarding the smallest one, as long as he puts on weight at a similar rate to the others then he should be fine.  Often the smallest pup ends up as big or bigger than the rest of the litter once fully grown ;)

i had a pup born last litter half the size of al the others and made sure she fed first and had her fill.i soon found it was the bigger pups that were needing more,due to the weight of them they were hungrier.i would make sure all pups get a feed and have theyre fill before falling asleep.you'll probably find should they be pushed out theyll be waking every hour instead of every two hours....so contnuous crying.
if it were me i would hold off from bottle feeding once you start you cant stop.if you have a large litter maybe wean them a little earlier than you normally would.?
i always give mum plenty of fluids to help with her milk flow.so far sounds like a your doing a good job. ;-) x

he is growing but not as fast as the others. they are a week old tomorrow and to double his birth weight of 285grams he would need to put on 130grams over night. He is 440g this morning.
He does feed but seems to spend a lot of time crying and gets pushed off the nipples. I  supervise and replace him but he is still not growing as fast as the others who all only have a few grams to double thier birthweight.

honestly....i wouldnt be worrying about doubling his birthweight as long as he IS feeding.you will (as others may tell you) sometimes get a smaller puppy,but ill bet in 3 weeks time hes rumaging around just as strong as his litter mates.
in my litter i had pups born at 450g and 600g.the 450 was the smallest but was soon the strong little pup and went on to be as healthy as the litter mates.
if it makes you feel better you can make sure that he feeds first,put him on the back nipplethen put three other pups on to feed to get mums milk to flow, when he's finished you can then allow the other pups to feed.
is it just him crying,theres no way the pups could be cold is there?i mean they could all be warm on a heat matt but a draft can cause pups to cry.i wish someone eles would advise you as im no expert iv just raised litters!
wish i could help more

edited to say i think as long as he gains weight and doesnt lose it then he should be fine. ;-)

I had a couple of smaller pups in my litter, we just basically put them on every hour and let them feed without the others... I would seperate them completely but still in the box so mum didn't fret this way the smaller weaker pups could feed without getting knocked off. I would also start with a bigger stronger pup to get milk flowing then remove and pop the small one on....this way they don't have to get tired before they have even started. I wouldn't think that you would need to supplement them. My bitch had a litter of 10 and managed to feed them all for the first 18 days (for some reason they only ever used 8 of her 10 nipples too ??) I then started to wean them (they are a large breed) and they all caught up nicely once weaned......try not to worry yourself seems like you are doing everything just right :-)

> try not to worry yourself seems like you are doing everything just right

lol how funny we all say that but when we're worried about our pups for whatever reason,doesnt it seem to help with lack of sleep eating and normal life.
i feel for you i do.i know how worrying some littlens can be i agree with what emz77 has said like i said get other pups to get milk to flow and then put him on.
i also agree with your doing fine so far so do try and relax you can only do so much,just enjoy them while theyre quiet......yes this is the quiet stage lol.

just one other thing is your bitch toileting them all ok??

As far as I know. She spend time cleaning them and seems to do them all.

Have weighed the little one this morning and he has put on 30 grams but is 100grams short of doubling his birth weight. I am trying not to worry as he seems fine just small.