I have a four days old litter of seven small breed puppies. Mum is taking a good care of them, except that she has no milk or very small amount, and as pups went downhill with their weights, were crying a lot and were showing signs of slight dehydration, I started to bottle feed them every three hours.  Most of them bounced back and are now fine if I feed them regularly, they managed to gain some weight since yesterday,  they are trying to suckle from mum too, so I'm still hoping it brings her milk eventually. But I have one puppy who won't suckle no matter how hard I'm trying to save her, she won't swallow milk. I tried from bottle, from syringe, from dropper, non of them worked, I tried to attach her on a nipple, she is holding it in her mouth for some seconds but not suckling at all. I take her to the vet tomorrow morning, hoping she can get some subcutaneaus fluids, but I just wonder if anyone has any idea how to make her survive till then? There is a heat mat under quarter of the whelping box, and the temperature seems perfect, so they have warmth. Mum is eating for England and drinking plenty of fluid, so I have no idea why she is dry. Thanks for any input. X

I'm no expert with struggling puppies, but you could try googling and search on youtube for videos on how to tube feed? I do know you have to be very careful, but luckily it's not something I have ever had to do so I don't know anything about it. Good luck! Hopefully the real experts will be on soon to help.

It's disturbing that the puppies haven't gained weight BUT newborn puppies don't need lashings of milk so the fact she appears to be low on output, other than the weight loss could be as well.  If I had a puppy not doing well at all, I'd be finding an emergency vet - they go down so fast at that age.   Crying a lot isn't good though and what's going on could be more than 'just mum being short of milk' - and for sure, keeping the puppies nursing on her is the best way of encouraging lactation.

I'll add an article on Fading Puppy Syndrome.

https://www.puppyculture.com/new-fading-puppy-syndrome.html
Loving that hound with her big litter.   We never managed to get our Bassets to go prone like that - we had to plug half the litter on one side and then roll has so she could accommodate a second layer!

FADING PUPPY SYNDROME

Thank you for your answers. Little wee pup had been removed from mum and she is in a separate box with a heating pad. I tried to feed her little drops very often and she gained some strength to suckle from bottle, but still weak and thin. I keep fighting for her. I'm very hopeful.

Tube feeding is often the best answer for small breed puppies in this situation.

Any update?