Hi All

Our bitch gave birth to 11 pups(10 survived) last Thursday so they are now 1 week old. She's not been the best of Mums(first time round and clumsy - nothing nasty) hence my wife and I are on 24 hour watch but all the pups seem in good health. Our 1 concern is Mr Yellow who is gaining weight but at about 60% the rate of the others (last 3 days have been 23g,11g and 18g) where the others have been averaging about 30 to 40 grams.

We have been putting him on the teats when things are quiet so he's not just getting bullied off, do we need to be concerned as long as weight is going on and should we try to boost things a little with hand feeding or is Mum still the best option?

Thanks in advance

Would say it is not unusual for one of a litter to be as you describe, hence the term the runt, they do seem to catch up in the end and I would not be worrying unless that pup, Mr Yellow, is crying all the time. Someone with more experience will be along soon and may contradict me but I don't think so.

I assume they were vet checked just after birth to make sure all is well with the pups and mum... assuming so, I'd just make sure that everytime I could I'd put the one gaining less weight on the best teats - just keep putting him there and that will help.  I had a pup born who'd obviously been pushed up in the womb so was half the size of the others in the litter - he was a strong character though and I helped him a lot in the first few weeks, by 7 weeks he had caught up with the others. 

In my recent litter the smallest one at birth turned out to be the biggest when they were homed at 8 weeks. Just ensure he's getting a good feed and I'm sure he'll catch up with the others given time.

Hi

Yes they were all vet checked the day after whelping, ironically this chap wasnt the runt of the litter at the start he was No 4 in the fat lad stakes, now he's all the way down to No 9.

Birth weight was 401g and he's now at 572g whereas his nearest litter mate started at 404g and is now at 659g.

Hi, am wondering, was Mr Yellow one of the lower weights at birth? If so, in my experience, he will gain at a slower rate than the "bigger" pups in the litter. I'd say as long as he's weeing/pooing, quiet and content and not squawking, then all is probably well.

Our smallest pup in the last litter (we had 2 smaller but one was struggling a bit) was helped along with nutridrops just to keep her on an even keel. She was a bit slower to gain as you've described, but wasn't sick at all, just a bit smaller. By 8 weeks, she was still a bit smaller, but perfectly healthy.

Just to put into perspective, our first litter of 10 had an average weight of 10 - 14 oz. Second litter same bitch different father, 7 pups - 5 over 1 lb and 2 x 11 oz, so not too small really, just that the other 5 were whoppers! The bigger pups were probably stronger and more vigorous than the smaller 2 girls & without any intervention on my part, they may have slipped further behind as the bigger ones were storming ahead! All healthy none the less...

Generally they'll catch up somewhat when weaning starts. In the meantime, make sure he gets prime location on the teats and doesn't get pushed off (I found holding my hands either side prevented my pup from getting pushed off).

I also found that by feeding from individual bowls once weaning had started I could closely monitor their weight gain. By feeding from a single dish that would be far more difficult.

I always feed from a communal dish but give enough that they always leave some, that Mum then gets to finish.

Hi, when my bullmastiff had pups she had 2 litters both times 10 survived,we tried putting the lighter ones on first,but i also topped them up with a bottle last thing at night,after a while they caught up and you couldnt tell them apart size wise 10 is a lot to feed and i think fir a first time mum she will appreciate a litte help good luck.