This is my first post and first litter. I am getting concerned about one of our litter of 7 puppies which seems to be falling behind her siblings. She is 6 days old and weighed 390g at birth but now only weighs 500g (only gained 10g in the last 24 hours) All the other siblings now weigh between 600 and 660g and even the smallest pup (320g) at birth now weighs 600g. She seems to be suckling well, is warm and as active as all the others. Mum seems to be very attentive to all the puppies.  When she was born her mum did nip her tummy when she severed the cord. There was some bleeding but it stopped after about 10 minutes. She does have a healing bite shaped wound on her tummy which has now virtually fully healed. Would such an injury interfere with her weight gain or is there something else lurking. They were all checked by the vet on day 2 and nothing found. Should I use some supplemental feeding now or wait a few more days? Many thanks for any advice as I have found this forum very helpful before and after the birth.

I would say that if she is gaining weight then everything is ok.  She is just a slower developer.  Wouldn't supplement unless she wasn't gaining any weight at all.

I personally would definately supplement this puppy straight away , before she falls any further behind. Whelpi , Lactol or any bitch replacement milk will do , she may only take a tiny amount but it can make all the difference. I have a litter of 7 too , now nearly 6 weeks old , and at around the same age as yours I had to supplement 3 of them for 10 days , after that they were able to eat soaked puppy food and all 7 are doing really well now and fully weaned apart from mum going in to see them first thing in the morning and last thing at night ! Good luck !

I would make sure she is able to get at the milk and isn't being knocked off by the others.  I had a little one in my current litter.  I made sure he was able to suck uninterupted , I used to hide him under her back leg so that he could feed from the back teats which produce most milk.  I decided not to top him up with milk supplements as felt that might cause digestive problems.  I also used to put him on Mum when she was out of the box, just a short top up, this helped him a lot.  I weighed him everyday to check there was some gain.  I also found that once mum fed them standing up I was worried that he couldn't reach, so I used to hold him up off his back legs.  I only needed to do this for a few days and obviously not for every time he fed - just a precaution to make sure he didn't miss out.  He is still the smallest but very strong and is a lovely healthy boy (7 weeks today)

I hope your puppy comes on okay.

In my last litter I had 2 that were a lot smaller than the others. they were 325g at birth, and by day 6 were 350 and 400 g each. Half the size of the others. Both were a decent size when they left, and both have made good weights now they are 1 year old. I didn't supplement as they were both feeding well and were putting on weight but I did make sure they were on the back teats when I could. They tended to want more frequent feeds at first as their stomachs weren't as big. So long as she is feeding well and putting on weight and doesn't look half starved I wouldn't interfere too much. If you don't think she is getting enough just give her skin a pinch between the shoulder blades and see if it goes straight back down. If it doesn't then I would be slightly worried about dehydration and try to supplement then. If it does go back down then she is fine.

Edited to add: I also had a bitch (not one of these 2!) who had a bleed from her umbilical chord. It wouldn't stop bleeding and I was on the phone to the vet who told me not to worry unless it was still bleeding after 15 minutes - a lifetime I thought! She is now sitting at my feet and weighs more than her mother She is only a year old ;-)

I would make sure you plug her onto the best teats at the back whenever they are feeding, and make sure the bigger puppies don't knock her off, perhaps even put them separately for half an hour if mum doesn't mind that. As long as she is gaining albeit slowly she's probably ok.

I agree with the others if she is gaining get her on Mum when she is not with the pups for private feeding sessions.  Bitch is probably feeding less often as the stronger pups take more and this one can't get enough in the time.  Supplementing should be a last resort as it can confuse/upset the digestive system, as the bitches own milk is really what you want this one especially to have more of.

I'm with the others on this, I wouldn't supplement, but would make sure that the pup got a chance to feed off those back teats and make sure it's not knocked off, also put pup on for extra feeds in between times ;)

Thing is, mums milk has all the antibodies and nutrients the pups need in a form thats perfect for a puppy to digest, no milk substitute comes close. ;)

And me - she is gaining weight so just make sure she is getting more than her fair share from mum. I had a little one in one litter - smaller than the others at birth and she hardly gained anything for the first few days. By the time they were weaning she was only 2/3 the weight of the others, but caught up dramatically once on solids!

id  make  sure the bigger one darws the milk down  then  take it off the nipple and put the smaller one on  it'll soon catch up.

Another one of the "if she is gaining weight, then all's fine"  I wouldn't supplement.  It may be that she is just going to be the smaller of the litter.

Obviously everyone else has a different approach to myself , still , having bred my first litter 30 years ago and having never lost a puppy yet , I must be doing something right ! So I will continue to do things the same way I always have , but it's really interesting to read other people's experiences.

> I had a little one in my current litter.  I made sure he was able to suck uninterupted

we did this as well with the 2 smaller ones in our litter. the other pups went in a heated box for a few mins before they got on mum while the wee ones got their munch on so they didn;t get knocked off. 2 nicest from the litter now :)

Thank you for all the replies and advice.  I've just weighed the puppies and I'm pleased to report that the pup I was concerned about has put on 80g in the last 24 hours. She is still the lightest of the litter but now by only 40g rather than the gap of 100g yesterday.  I will keep a close eye on her but hopefully she is on the right track. I'm quite relieved as she is one of my favourites.