Have a litter aged 2 days. Ended with a section and the pup born by section was lively that evening and suckled. Since then she has stopped and I am syringing her milk. If placed near a teat she makes no attempt to suckle but when hungry she does cry out and will move her mouth up and down on the syringe! She is also having nutri drops.
She does not have a cleft palate. The other pups are all feeding.

Any ideas please?

Is she crying all the time? all you can do is keep getting milk in her slowly, its really hard with a weaker pup, sometimes (im not saying this is the case) it is not meant to be, we have had an odd pup like this and no matter how hard i try they have faded, is she arm, or cold and clammy? is her tongue pale?  good luck hope she begins to thrive soon.

I am having the same problem i am now on day 6 and still feeding the little one , but she does not seem to be getting any stronger it's so sad  :0(

Everything about her is normal, she cries for food but not the cry they do when they are dying.
She is warm. The only thing she isnt doing is taking a teat.
I have never had a pup like this before. Have found out the baby bottles so hopefully we can progress from the syringe to the bottle and then hopefully the teat.

hi hope your pup is ok now i had a litter born last friday, i lost one  last night the other 4 are not good found out my bitches milk is not good had her to the vet nothing he can do
my pups are now being feed every 2 hours by another bitch  but are still with  there mum as well anyone else had the problem

hi..on day 12 here..still fighting to keep my little alive...she was ok when 1st born and then stopped suckling..was feeding every 1 to hrs with lactol via a syringe and putting her to the nipple as much as possible, she is now feeding from the nipple along with the other 2..although I put my hand in between them to stop them pushing her off...I have cried over this one every day and Im shattered..she is putting on weight and her eyes have finally opened..she certainly isnt crying like she was, her weight has gone from 10ozs at birth up to 15 today, not great but it is going on. we are at the vet tomorrow due to her having a sticky eye.

Dont give up and keep trying :)
Good luck and best wishes to everyone

We had similar problems a few years ago, pup was born naturally, seemed to be suckling well in the first day, 2nd day weight dropped and kept dropping, checked him feeding and he seemed to either not be interested in the teet or kept falling off, was checked over by 3 different vets and said as far as they could see he was fine.  I took over bottle feeding and very slowly (10grms a day on good days) he picked up, it wasn't until he was 5 weeks that we found he did in fact have a very small hole in his soft palette which wasn't visible in the early days because of how small it was, but as he grew the hole got bigger.  Thankfully a very good friend of ours took him on, they paid for the surgery and he is now a very happy, healthy dog.

So please keep checking, but please keep going

Well pup progressed onto a bottle and was doing well. Unfortunately about 1/2 hr ago she started to gasp and there was nothing I could do. She has passed away. God bless her.

Awww..Im so sorry to hear that. Peace for her  and ((hugs )) for you.
Good luck with the rest of the litter..fingers crossed.

I'm sitting here in tears reading this,as one of mine is very, very poorly now too, was born on Sunday and wouldn't suck, been syringing but it is gasping and just lying with its Mother.No more I can do and feel so helpless.My thoughts are with you, know how you are feeling.

I just wanted to say I'm so sorry you are all going through this. I found losing a pup to be the most upsetting thing & I cried buckets even though she was only a few days old. I think it's probably the hardest part of breeding, as we are so exhausted and put so much into the pups & mum it hits hard when we lose one.

Stay strong & put your energies into the remaining pups as they need you.

Good luck everyone, I'm thinking of you!!

Tanya

My little 6 day old pup just passed away at 9pm tonight & it was heartbreaking :0( . This is our first ever litter and our girl had 2 pups both girls , so now i have the added worry of a singleton pup , just hope she does not miss her litter mate .

I named her Ollie after the old lady across the road .... sweet dreams little Ollie xxxxx

Just lost a pup myself.  I tried my best, even though she was gasping.  There were only two little girls, but mum wasn't happy about me taking one out, and got very agitated.  I am still crying, knowing that my girl realises one is missing.  I hate to see bitches upset like this.

Why do we do it?

so now i have the added worry of a singleton pup , just hope she does not miss her litter mate .

4 months ago I had a litter of 3 born, two were dead. The surviving pup has grown into THE most well adjusted, happy and confident pup you could ever wish for -he's an absolute dream. He created his own playmates out of the adult dogs (he LOVES all dogs, all sizes, even if he has to jump up to reach them -being a Papillon, he's not big) and even the cats. His mum has spent a lot more time with him, playing with him, than I've seen any other bitch with normal sized litters. Hopefully you'll have the same experience. :)

To be honest if a puppy is not gaining despite supplementary feeding my view is that rearing should not be attempted in case there are serious underlying problems that even if the pup survives may impact on it's future health and welfare.

I kept a weakling pup going to day 11, it fed from both Mum, and was getting more than enough by bottle to gain weight yet didn't so I put to sleep.

Helping a smaller pup get extra turns, and fair shares so they can catch up is different.

Sometimes we have to listen to mother nature, and ignore her at our peril.

I knew she was going to die , it was just a matter of when and untill a couple of days ago was still suckling from her mum . I spent the last 48 hours with her constantly waiting for her to go and as it happened she past away snuggled into her mum so i was glad it happened that way .
She would have been going to the vets on Monday to be pts , and i agree nature knows best and no way would i have kept her alive if it was not meant to be , all i did was make her last days comfortable .

> Well pup progressed onto a bottle and was doing well. Unfortunately about 1/2 hr ago she started to gasp and there was nothing I could do. She has passed away. God bless her.

That gasp is horrendous, so sorry for your sad loss, r i p  baby. hope the others are well.

Its  so upsetting to go through this, my heart goes out to you all, i,ve been there too, God bless all our babies up in heaven.
You just know when it is going to happen, that gasp is unforgettable.

Have been breeding for nearly 50 years and can  honestly say fading pups is something you never get used to, and I never accept it I always try to help,but it is not often that it works.If mum pushes the pup aside, as they often do,you can bet she knows something we do not,and once the pup has lost its sucking reflex,there is not much hope.I sometimes wonder if our well intentioned interference just prolongs suffering for the baby and distress for the mum,but stlll do it anyway,and hope for a miracle,They do sometimes happen,and that is so rewarding.I  had a lone very very tiny one a couple of years ago,and supplemented him from birth,he thrived but I was worried that there must be some problem,even though the vet could not find anything ,I got very attached. to him and reluctantly sold him to a very special home where he is a very happy tiny specimen,half the normal size for the breed

> sometimes wonder if our well intentioned interference just prolongs suffering for the baby and distress for the mum,but stlll do it anyway,and hope for a miracle,

Yes i wonder too Rhona, but cant help myself intervening.

ah bless your little tiny one, lovely he has found a special home.

I had this happen to me 6 and a half months ago.  Only two vey big puppies were born at the vets first one had to manutiplated to be born and struggled to get her going but managed, she didnt want to suckle for the first day then started but didnt thrieve.  At the age of a week I made the heart breaking decision to put her to sleep and was therefore left with a singleton puppy.

Now 6 and a half months on the other puppy has turned into a great girl and has started her show career winning two best puppy in breeds and a best of breed at only two shows.

Hope this helps anyone that there is light at the end of the tunnel even though its hard at the time.

Thinking of you all.