Hi, looking for advice.  I have a bitch with a 6 day old singleton bitch puppy.  The pup has been thriving but last night we found that she had a very sore vulva.  We are thinking as she is a single pup, mum has been licking her more but is there anything we can do other than watch like a hawk that she's not over-licking?  Bit stumped as we don't really want to interfere too much.  The bitch has had a litter before if relevant and the pup is really doing well apart from this.  Thanks in advance.

Mum could be licking because there is an infection, or just because there is only one puppy :) I had a singleton a few years ago and her mum was the opposite. She would feed, clean and then dump the puppy on the first available lap I'd take pup down to the vet for a quick check.

If all is well I would smear Vaseline on the vulva and rectum to act as a barrier.