my litter is 18 days old now, the first puppy born was tiny and had to be hand reared for the first few days as he couldnt latch on and suckle from mum. he doesnt seem to have grown that much since being born and still only weighs 730g all the other pups in the litter weigh between 1500-2000g he is feeding from mum all the time and even knocks the larger pups off at times, i have just started to introduce a bit of puppy food to them and he is always the first one in the food, me and my partner thought from day one that he wouldnt make it due to his tiny size but he is still with us just now growing much at all, can anyone give us some advice please on what to do next should i just leave him with mum and hope he will start gaining soon? or should i have him to the vets to see if there is a reason for his very slow weight gain?

any advice will be very greatfully recived

just to add, he was 480g at 4 days old

If he is happy and active in himself and looks well fed i.e. a full tummy then I wouldn't worry about him, he will catch up eventually, some are just slower than others. A family member had a litter 2 years ago and the smallest pup ended up being the biggest at 12 weeks old.

Hi,

I had one very similar in a litter and he was always tiny compared to the others. He did catch up a little when i started weaning but he was the cutest little thing and everyone wanted him. I saw him again at 5 months old and he was bigger than the 2 i had kept who were much much bigger at 7 weeks old. If he is lively and feeding well and seems healthy i don't think i would worry.

Mel

i had a tiny pup born here 7months ago and i realy though she wouldnt make it too ,but my god she was a fighter ,she even stoped sucking for a day! but she was the 1st to do everything!! her eyes opening her walking eating food too ,she was still smaller then the rest of the litter when she went but is a normal size large breed now and doing great in every way so i wouldnt worry at all :) x

You say he is not gaining, yet he has virtually doubled his birth weight.

What rate is he gaining at, is it the same or similar rate that his siblings did when that size, if so he is simply behind because of his rough start.  He can't possible;y gain at the same rate his siblings at present do.

If he is literally standing still then I would be investigating thins like Liver shunt.

I had a tiny pup (half size when born) in a litter of 11 (2 stillborn) GSDs..little one born last so pushed up against ribs etc with little room to develop.  He was a fighter though and keen on drinking - yet I made sure everytime milk available he was there...so he would have drunk more than otherwise, but he would have found it hard to compete with the bigger pups.  By the time they left he was the same size as the smaller siblings and not far behind the bigger ones.

I have had several who were tiny, hand reared etc, and often they would be the first to learn new things, and almost all have grown up without problems.  At the moment I have 1 pup who was the biggest of 2 at birth by half an ounce, but did not gain any weight for 6 days - didnt lose any either, and was eating well, so I simply monitiored her closely and from day 7 she started gaining each day, but her sister was by then substantially bigger.  At 3 weeks old Midge refused to feed at all, I was panic stricken, but she would not  even attempt to feed from Mum, I tried a bottle but she refused, so was left with no option but to dropper feed her.  Things were obviously not good, and she ended up on rehydration fluids too, but vet could find nothing wrong.  Then she got a little Upper Respiratory infection, but by 4.5 weeks old was OK, and eating from my fingers well.  By 5 weeks she was eating puppy porridge from the dish, but had another little set back with a raised temp. and some over obvious breathing, so more ABs needed.  At 6 weeks (on Tuesday) she weighed 1lb 3 oz, with her sister 3lb 4 oz :) and is gaining between half an ounce and an ounce per day - what I would consider normal for a newborn, she is now the size I would expect a pup to be at about 2 weeks old.  However, she is now playing well, and running around- she was very  slow to play before that.  After discussions with vet we have put on hold the usual things like worming her, 1st vaccinations etc - she is a tiny, plump pup, can lie full stretch on the palm of my hand still, but we have no idea why this happened, so can only take it day by day.