Hi all

My bitch has had a litter of pups who all seem healthy and are gaining weight well, they are now coming up for 4 weeks old and have taken to their puppy porridge with no problems. My query is that I have one TINY little boy in the litter who , although has gained weight steadily and is very lively , remains about half the size of his litter mates.His coat is also not as thick and he generally looks a bit 'runty' although he is a very confident playful little fellow. In your experience is he likely to catch up with the others ?. All the pups have been booked and I'm not sure if I should charge less for 'tiny Tim' as I don't believe that he will be of show quality.

In my experience, I am afraid, the only answer is 'wait and see'.  I have had tiny ones in litters who carried on being small all their lives, and others who cought up at about 6 - 8 weeks.  A couple of instances: Titch was born at about half the weight of his siblings, had to be hand supplemented, it was touch an go if he would live for at least 2 weeks, wight gain was so small but it was consistent.  At 6 weeks he was still slightly less than half the wieght of siblings, but very lively - and a lot less coat.  At 6 months we was proportionatly a half size american cocker, and the coat was coming.  At 1 year he was small for a male, but not a "miniature" by any means - more the size of a bitch, but very study and so much coat it was a nightmare.  On the other hand, Bianca was one of a litter of 6 girls, and she and 1 sister were exactly half the wieght of the rest.  However, they gained perfectly acceptable amounts of eight every day, and all development stages were reached as expected (doubled weight at 10 days, eyes opened at 12 days etc).  At 4 weeks they were still exactly half the weight of the rest, but quite perfect, and at 6 weeks put on a growth sprut, so that at 8 weeks they were petite but not too tiny.  At adulthood Bianca is a beautiful, excellent specimen of an American cocker, and would probably have made up if she had been temperamently suited to showing ;)
bye
Gwen

they can sometimes catch up.i got a female from a 2 dog litter that was almost twice the size of her brother, recently took her back to the breeder my bitch who weighs 35lb was completely dwarfed by her brother who must have been close to 50lbs.

thanks - he has reached all his developmental stages at the same time as the others and is quite a bold puppy - he was the first to climb out of the whelping box and explore the puppy pen !. - I guess I'll just have to wait to see how he turns out.

My first BC was a very small puppy & the only bitch in the litter, as we had an all GSD bitch household I had to have a bitch so she was mine. She never grew as big as the average Bc but was the size of a large Sheltie. She was one tough little cookie & was one h*ll of a working dog combining Obedience Working Trials & sheep working(was C only at 21 months & CDex WDex UDex in WT)

She had a Pyrometra & had to be speyed at 11 & was diagnosed with heart failure at 9. she lived until she was 16 1/2  passing away in her sleep after a stroke.

She was a very intelligent dog & was very much an alpha bitch ruling all the other dogs with a look or quiet grump if they stepped out of line. She was not the prettiest of bitches but was unfogettable & a dog of a lifetime

Hi,
  My dog was a puppy like that!  Less than half the size of his brothers/sisters at birth, still smaller at the age of 9 weeks when I got him (he sort of looked caved-in behind the ribs area) - but always full of life!  He is now almost 2, and has definitely caught up in size and weight to the others, and everyone is always saying how handsome he is.  I don't think the breeder charged me any less for him because he was smaller, after all, he was healthy enough!  Of course if they'd thought he was good show quality I expect he would have cost more, but at the time his coat was also a muddy grey colour, when should have been black (which it is now!).
  Hilda

I had one exactly the same, now 9 weeks old. Eyes opened etc same time as the rest. Over the last two weeks she has caught up, although lighter in weight than the others, mainly because she is much finer boned. She takes on the biggest and usually comes out on top (more nimble!). Size wise she is a fraction shorter at the shoulder than her sister, who is still here, and a lovely little girl. In fact, she scores higher than her siblings in many of her physical attributes.

some people say the "runt" is the best puppy to kepp i dont agree i usually pick the bounciest most boisterous one, but a lot of people say this so there could be some truth in it? if you are concerned aboutthis pup you could take him aside and give him some extra feeding? that is what i would do, give him the best chance you can. 9 is a fair sized litter so a runty pup is not unusual you may have to give him a little extra TLC