Hi,

I have a litter of pups, they came a bit early but all bar one were of very good size. They were born on the 1st/2nd.

Anyways, they were all doing well even the runt until today, the biggest one is very weak. She is yawning alot of the time. She can still move, i dont believe she is motivated to suckle and therefore hasn't. I have her in my hands now handfeeding her. She took the 1st bits quite well, maybe around 5ml, i know she needs alot more than this.

Can anyone help?

"even the runt" - you seem to think that having a runt is normal - why? Has the bitch got milk? Has she lost all the afterbirths? She could have an infection - this would dry up her milk: was she and the puppies vet checked after the birth?

Hi Razor, so the pups are approx 9-10 days now.  Is it just the largest pup that is listless?? Has she lost weight at all, is she crying? If so she may have a touch of colic, or perhaps she is taking a larger feed and filling up more so is not in as much need and sleeps more due to this, if your instincts are telling you there is something wrong, please don't even bother waiting for info from here, trust those instincts and get her to your vet, pups can fade very fast.

Hope that she is ok, let us know.

Jenna.

Just to echo Carrington, if the pup has suddenly become listless and is not feedng well don't bother with opinions from the forum - we can't see or feel the puppy. Just get it to the vet. Hope all goes well for it.

To agree with past posters, get this little one to the vet asap. When you say she is yawning is she making a cry like a seagull also ? I wouldn't hesitate to take a pup to the vets, go on your gut instinct about this one, you are obviously worried about her to post. I hope that all goes well and this is a minor blip in her development but it isn't worth the risk of 'wait and see'.

Sorry about the delay. That night i was really worried, i watched over them for hours. The biggest one improved to full health, just with a little handfeed. I dont really know why she was like that. Anyway, the biggest one went back to full health, then another one became listless. This is when i decided to take action. I took them to the vet, and the vet said to give it a worming formula. Later that day i brought it, and all pups were ok and very lively. So i waited until yestarday, and wormed them. Everything is now fine. Thank you for your replies.

That is great news, I was actually wondering yesterday how your pup was, so really pleased to hear all the pups are fine and thriving. :-) Thanks for the update.

what is a worming formula i thought you didnt wom until at least 2 weeks old  if fact i do mine 4/6/8 weeks  from birth

I would imagine that by "worming formula" the poster is refering to a liquid puppy wormer, the puppies were born on the 1st/2nd and wormed yesterday - the 17th, so they are over 2 weeks old now, I thought alot of people wormed their pups from between 2 or 3 weeks old

i only start my worming progamme once the puppies are solids so that could 3.5.7 weeks but this litter will 4.6.8. as they are not going in thier new home untill 8 weeks.the start of the easter hoildays,
and that the same time as the puppie i do mum as well.

Peoples worming programmes differ. I do my bitches in utero form day 40 to 2 days post whelp then the pups are wormed a 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks.

We all have our own ideas on best worming regimes.  I worm bitches from day 40 of gestation to 2 days post whelping.  Then pups get a 3 day course at 5 weeks, 8 weeks and 11 weeks. Pups leave with a worming record for the new owners vet, as they are normally the ones who will prescribe the course at 11 weeks.  Whenever I've taken a bought in pup to the vet for puppy health check and vaccination, he has always wanted to put them on a 3 day course of Panacur.  I imagine most vets are the same, so I supply the information for them.