Hi all, well everything went well in the end, gave my girl more time and she delivered 7 beautiful babies Friday night. She's a super mum, doing great and the pups are thriving except one little girl, she seems to be playing with the teat, sort of chewing it then falls asleep. I've checked for cleft palate, no sign of anything wrong, she's mobile and frantic at the teat at first same as the others but only takes a bit, hence she is losing weight. I have decided to top her up and she has taken to this really well, she's now gained at last, however her poo has now become pale and a bit loose. Is this down to change in milk or maybe over feeding? I know too much can cause loose poos. Should I be worried at this stage as only a week old today or is this normal?
Any advise would be great.
Thanks all

I think the change in motion would be expected with the change in milk. Whilst some will say give the puppy a specified amount I prefer to let them decide and this has worked for me. It's great that she is gaining. I would try to reintroduce the pup the dams milk as quickly as possible.

Thanks KaneFizz, she's being put straight back into to whelping box with mum and is still be being cleaned etc, I put her on a teat every time the pups eat so she's getting some off mum. Yesterday she filled up on the bottle, she was obviously hungry, but then slept all day, this worried me because of the weather, I don't want her to dehydrate. I kept waking her and trying her on mum but until last night she was too full and sleepy to take anything from her mum, she then woke up hungry fed off mum but mucked around again and lost interest. I topped her up then. I always let her feed off mum first, but if she doesn't drink all day won't she become dehydrated even if she's full of milk?

Are you letting another pup suckle first to get the milk down, then swapping over?. Sometimes it can be too much of an effort for a slightly weaker pup to work at getting the milk flowing.

I agree totally with Lorraine, as soon as you start to hear the gulping start whip the stronger one off and plug the weaker one on that teat and pop the stronger one on another teat. Let-down is done at the same time for that side so you could do it a couple of times each time if you're quick, the richer milk comes down at the end too so encouraging it to stay on longer will help.

The problem with topping up at such a young age is that it will come to rely on the bottle as it's much easier to drink from, then it's not getting the benefit of mums milk, antibodies etc. The best thing to do is keep popping it on a teat at every opportunity, when the others have fallen off a teat to sleep, plug that one on again. The back teats often have the best milk too.

Make sure mum gets constant fluids in this hot weather, adding ice cubes to water and goats milk will encourage her to drink more.

Obviously if the pup is too weak to feed off mum at all then it needs a vet visit asap.

Congratulations on your babies and keep us posted when you have time ;) x

*Just realised they're over a week old now, I originally read it as them being born this Friday, doh!*

Spoken to vets yesterday, had long conversation as I thought pup was aspirating bottle. Turns out I can stop panicking! Alls well, she put on 10 grams yesterday not much but it's such a relief. I'm letting her feed off mum first so she's always got her available but because she won't stay on for the rich part of the milk I give her 30 mins of sleep then wake her and feed her, this seems to be working and she feels heavier already, So still not out of the woods with her but at least I can stop worrying, she'll probably turn out the biggest!
This is the first litter I e had with a bottle fed pup, they've all been ok on their own before, still I can put this in my learn by experience folder and be prepared if theirs a next time.
Thanks for replies

because she won't stay on for the rich part of the milk I give her 30 mins of sleep then wake her and feed her,

If you let another pup feed from one of the back teats first then put this pup on, she will be able to take a good feed from that teat. The stronger pup will have done the hard work for her.

Wish there was a 'like' button Lorraine, totally agree with your comment :)