Had a litter born on day 59 at lunchtime on Friday. The last puppy was smaller and weaker than the others and shows signs of being premature. She has the sucking reflex so that is good. She was too weak to feed from mum on Friday and Saturday so I bottle fed her. Since Sunday morning she has been able to latch onto mum and feed from her and I am topping up with the bottle and bottle feeding in the night. She is much stronger now and is doing all the things you would want her to do and has a shiny coat, sleeps with her siblings and mum is looking after her. She did not lose any weight on Day 1 which i was really pleased with but we are now on Monday and although she has lost nothing, she has gained nothing. Is this normal for a premature puppy? Today I have added some Life Aid to her bottle. She has energy around the box and is not dehydrated, she is doing toilets. Any ideas ? All her littermates are thriving.

Can I say that this doesn't sound like a premature puppy to me.  Just a smaller one.  And rather than feed her myself, I would have wanted her to get the bitches colostrum as it is so important.  Rather than feed her yourself, make sure she is latched on constantly.  My pups tend to stay latched most of the time, even when sleeping!

I have a breed that whelps on day 56 most of  the time.  Pups are normal with fully developed lungs.  Have your vet check for cleft palate.

Has been Vet checked, no cleft or any issues could be found, I expressed the colostrum and she got that x

I had a litter 6 wks ago and the same thing happened to me, on day 10 she was 1/4 the size of her litter mates and had only gained 10g I was essentially keeping her alive and plugging her to mum myself. Sadly on day 11 my vet said she probably had fluid on her brain and would die herself if I stopped feeding her. She was pts that day.

She has become much stronger, feeding from Mum almost every feed, then topped up with the bottle. Weighed her yesterday at 9am, no gain, weighed her today 9am and she has gained 35 grams! Hopefully we are getting there x

So sorry to hear this Axe97 xx

I am planning to get her checked out at the Vets again at the end of the week even though she has gained weight x

That’s great, hopefully she was just a late starter and thrives.

Thank you, broke my heart getting mine pts.

Gained weight again today!!

We are now on Day 12 and she is doing great! Gaining weight and her eyes are open! Not needing to bottle feed her now I just supervise the feeds and make sure she is not pushed out. She is a little live wire!

Update, now 5 weeks old! Doing everything you would expect just a diddy little thing! She is half the size of her siblings. vet can find nothing wrong with her she is just diddy!

   

She is full of energy and loves cuddles bless her x

Just out of interest is there dwarfism in your breed?   I had a dwarf born in a GSD litter, prettiest little thing just a quarter the size of all the others, despite all info to the contrary she is now nearly 10 and reasonably healthy.

The type of Dwarfism makes a difference, the kind GSD's normally have is linked to poor health and short lifespan (Pituitary Dwarfism). 

Many breeds will have the occasional Achondroplastic Dwarf (short legs) it is this mutation that has resulted in many breeds of dog.

We have a DNA test in my breed, but have known of only 1 puppy born in my breed in the UK in 25 years.

No, no dwarfism in my breed. She is almost 7 weeks now and eating well, playing and running around full of energy, just half the size as her siblings. Vet has looked her over a number of times and can find nothing wrong with her.