This might be a long post so please bare with me if i doesn't make much sense as i have had no sleep in the last few days. Jessie whelped 7 days ago, two live puppies (a bitch and a dog) and 3 part absorbed puppies. Everything seem to be ok, got the pups and mum vet checked at 48 hours and all was good. At 4 days the little boy was still feeding well, but was a little restless and hadn't put on much weight from the day before. That night he cried on and off all night and so rushed him his sister and mum down to the vets. The vet checked them all over again and said he had a heart murmer and had a build up of fluid in his stomach and so they were going to keep him in for a while to monitor him. The little girl they said was perfectly healthy. Unfortunately a few hours later after a lengthy chat with the vet we had to let him go to the bridge.

Jessie was pretty stressed after losing another puppy and wouldn't eat or drink as she wouldn't leave the lone puppy, we tried to hand feed her and hold the water bowl in the whelping pen so she could stay near to the pup. Pup was still putting on good weight, but last night she started to cry when feeding, Jess didn't seem to have as much milk, so we spent the night moving the pup from teat to teat to make sure she got enough. Jessie was beside herself worrying as the pup kept crying. Today the pup seems to be more content and settled and Jessie has started to eat and drink a bit more. We were worried that maybe the pup was missing it's brother and so have tried to make the whelping pen more cozy with a few soft puppy toys and microwavable teddy heatpad which she is snuggling into.

So a few questions; can single puppies get lonely? Is it harder to keep mums milk going with one pup? Obviously we will need to socialise her much more as she wont have siblings to play with. After everything we have gone through are going to keep her. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Just a note this is mums third litter, others were fine, mum is always very attentive and only has one litter a year and this will be her last litter.

worring about the most immediate problems first then worry about socialising etc.

firstly you have done a good job so far and adding teddies etc was a good thing to
i dont think a puppy at this age will not get lonely howver i know people have taken their singleton to other local breeders with pups and done 'play dates'

i believe it is suggested with 1 puppy to put tape over all the bitchs teats bar the back two so she doesnt get mastitis and the pup doesnt become fat and a swimmer puppy

I've had 2 litters of singletons (from the same Mum).First was a huge dog pup, who grew into a huge dog,second was a correct size bitch pup who grew into a normal size bitch. Mum was a bit over-protective of the dog but when she had the bitch she was more laid back. I think they do get a bit lonely and do need more toys and more attention from their owners, especially if Mum isn't particularly playful with them, but it's not so bad if you have other dogs who will tolerate bored puppies!
I (or rather the Mum)had no problems with milk supply. They usually produce to demand, so as long as one puppy is feeding, they produce what is needed and no more. If the bitch is likely to be susceptible to mastitis, you probably do need to keep an eye out for it though (I'm sure you would anyway!). They were both extremely well fed pups - at one stage the bitch was square but was up and about normally and neither were fat adults.
Mine didn't have any more or less socialisation than any other litter and didn't have any problem with other dogs when they matured.
The upside of a singleton is that they get eveyone's undivided attention. The downside is that's it's almost impossible let them go! (Mine stayed for 15 & 14 yrs respectively ......)
Good Luck, I'm sure she'll be fine.

> i believe it is suggested with 1 puppy to put tape over all the bitchs teats bar the back two

NO NO NO Please do not do this - it is cruel and unecessary.   There is no legitimate reason to distress a bitch by taping anywhere.  Bitches produce to demand, and dry up for the same reason.

I had a litter 2 years ago with just one single puppy survive. He's grown into a fantastic dog. He can be quite aggressive towards dogs outside the home (if they approach him, he will ignore them otherwise), but in all honesty that started this year after he was used at stud, and I don't think its anything to do with him being a single pup. In all other respects he's just wonderful. Of course, he had adult dogs around him all along, and they seemed to substitute other pups perfectly. His mum played a lot with him. He's such a happy and outgoing dog with people, and he's fine with the dogs he lives with -all sizes. He grew quickly and I feared he'd turn into a Saint Bernard (he's a Papillon) but he ended up normal size. :)

> become fat and a swimmer puppy

just a querie and a bit o/t but arent swimmers born swimmers i.e. they do not become swimmers ? Just curious thats all.

I am hand rearing a Singleton at the moment, and have been wondering the same thing, what do I do when she's older and how do I stop her from getting bored or lonely. She's just over 3 weeks old, her eyes are open and she's now getting about a bit more.

When I had my singleton I too used a fluffy dog toy that you warmed in the microwve for him to snuggle into. Once he was out and about instead of the large run I have to keep the little monsters under supervision I just let him mingle with Mum and Granny. He was virtually 100% house trained when he left for his forever home. Obviously he had a den to be safe in but he spent a lot of time with me or his Mum just wandering round the house. At night I placed his den (Cage) in the room with the big girlies and he slept fine. Mind you this is a large breed and a 4 week pup is as big as a full grown small breed, I would be wary of letting a real tiny free run (Terrified of stepping on it). His Mum and Granny played a little with him but he was my shadow. He went of to a good home and he had a very easy going temperament. Sadly he died earlier this year at 5 years old to cancer.
He never had any dog to dog or people issues.
Aileen
Edited to say, I agree don't tape her nipples up Mum will regulate the milk production and even though my little man was not skinny he never got too fat. My problems began when weaning as Mum had plenty and he never felt the need to eat solids, he never really committed untill he left and had no other food source. Then he soon got stuck in !!

Tyddhound,

Hi I would suggest letting her socialise with other dogs of all ages, shapes and sizes. Some would say this is wrong due to the vaccination guidelines, but I believe there is sooo much benefit in a pup being socialised as early as possible, obviously you can take precautions in ensuring that the dogs you socialise her with are vaccinated, wormed and healthy. I got my pup at just under 7 weeks and I immersed her in socialisation with other dogs immediately. I have also since then spoken to a vet about this (when she went to have her second jab) and he said that he doesn't usually give any guidelines, just lets the owners do as they see fit because there is actually no evidence that backs up why they shouldn't meet other dogs until fully vaccinated.

Jaz is now 15 weeks old and has met dogs of many different temperaments, so she has learnt when to play and when to leave another dog alone. Socialisation is the only way dogs can learn their own language, no human can teach that. In fact I was asked yesterday when we visited a friend and her bitch and the bitches son (who is 11 weeks) how I have managed to get such a calm puppy who doesn't throw herself onto any dog as soon as she meets them...my only answer was extensive socialisation.

Jo

Thank you so much for all your replies, sorry it's taken so long to respond, but haven't had the chance to switch the laptop on. Mum seems more relaxed today and the pup is more content too. The pup was a bit restless, crying in the night and so had to sit in the pen with them and put the pup on each time and then they were both fine, mum seems to panic at night when pup cries, has never done so with previous litters. Pup is really lively today and put on good weight, I read somewhere that as a singleton doesn't have siblings to push them of the teat you should gently push them off occasionally with a teddy to teach them how to deal with frustation. I haven't done this as I have been more focused on making sure we don't lose this pup too.

As for playmates, we have 3 other dogs who love to play and are really good with puppies and so hopefully as she gets older she should learn to play properly. At the moment mum is protective and so has not let the other dogs into the living room yet, in another week or two she will start to let them in to nose at the pup.

> i believe it is suggested with 1 puppy to put tape over all the bitchs teats bar the back two so she doesnt get mastitis and the pup doesnt become fat and a swimmer puppy

studies have proved that the amount of milk produced is governed by supply and demand and the number of glands utilised will have no effect.

some bitches have More nipples than others an still rear same size litters./  My youngest only has 8, some of my others have had 9 and most often 10.  I have had anything from 3 to 9 puppies and all functioning nipples and glands were used.

Studies in rabbits with half the mammary glands taped found that the doe could rear the same number of kits, so producing same amount of milk.  In marked breeds where it was common to kill all but the best marked young so they could get maximum milk it was found top make little difference, and in fact with a first litter made it harder for the milk to get going as well as with a larger litter.

Yes a greedy singleton is likely to be a fat puppy and also with no competition is likely to want to wean later, but taping some glands is more likely to end up with the remaining having to be used more and perhaps engorging too much and mastitis resulting.  After all it is usually they more productive teats that develop the issue.  Human mothers most often have singletons and only two mammary glands, yet still get mastitis ;).