Sadly I lost a puppy from my 4 day old litter to-day. This was another smaller than average but had been feeding from Mum OK until yesterday evening where I was encouragng her to latch on. Earlier to-day she was obviously going down hill fast and died about an hour ago. I think I was in denial because she had barely put on any weight so something must have been wrong. She was also slow moving around whereas the other puppies go mad when Mum returns to the box. Devestating and of course I am now paranoid about the rest of the litter. Have I got the box too warm, too cool, are they getting enough from Mum and so on. I just hope they all thrive now.

sorry to hear that you have lost another puppy. I wonder if there was something wrong and that was why she was so small. I had a pup that was much smaller than the others and she died much like you describe. The rest of mine are doing well. I hope the rest of yours continue to thrive now.

Sorry to hear you have lost the other tiny pup, may she RIP

I think there may have been something wrong physically with the 2 tiny ones you lost for them to be born so much smaller than the others, as the rest are normal size there is nothing to make you think they too will fade and die.

You need high temp in the whelping box to ward off herpes and because the pups can't control their own temp at this age, if you have a heat pad they can move away from if they get too hot and the room temp higher than normal then things should be fine.

I'm sorry :(

Nature has designed species with litters to have built in wastage, even though ti is upsetting, some of the fertilised eggs don't implant, some fail to find enough room or make have failing placentas, and are absorbed, some get so far but not as far as birth, some don't manage the changes at birth, or were too weak from competition in the womb to survive.

These two were both very small compared to the rest of the litter (I had two stillborns like that in my most recant litter), so I would not worry too much over the remaining strong ones unless anyone is failing to gain weight.

Sods law of course the ones lost were the bitches, and you only now have one bitch.  though of course she could still well be your pick of litter.

In my breed two top winning litter-mates and influential producers were the only two pups in a litter, one of each sex.

so sorry to read of your loss. i have a 12 day old litter and lost one girl last week and am losing another as i type this, this little girl i am losing i have been battling to try and save for 12 days, she wasnt breathing at birth and i got her going eventually, but it seems nature knows best as this girl is the same size as she was at birth, depsite me feeding her, she went very quiet yesterday and hasnt fed today and is now going off to sleep on her waterbottle :(
I was very worried about this litter as it was a litter of 15 and over half the puppies were very very small, i hope that both you and i dont lose anymore babies, it is so hard even though you know it is often just one of those things and you cant do anymore than you are doing.

fingers crossed your other puppies will be fine, they are growing and fighting for the milkbar so all sounds fine, good luck with them

So sorry to hear about your puppy. I really hope for your little one. It is so hard when you have tried to save them  and yours now is 12 days old. Mine was a much smaller litter than yours and the others were almost a size different. I read that the organs cannot cope with any growth in a puppy too small for its breed and they pack up so I guess that is what happened to mine.
Like me I know you will keep trying so I wish you well.

So terribly sorry to hear of your loss.  I haven't bred a litter yet but my ideas and opinions when I first decided I might like to have changed a great deal.  All the pitfalls both for Mum and babies are considerable and I will never understand people who just leave their dogs to God and good neighbours, so to speak and let them have litter after litter.

I do hope you manage to keep hold of the rest of the pups. 

Good Luck