I have 6 puppies that are 6 days old. 5 of the 6 are developing well, feeding, growing etc. One of the puppies seems unbothered to suckle and although I definitely know she does "poo", this seems irregular. They are with their dam. She is loads smaller than her siblings. I have been hand feeding with a syringe to make sure she is receiving some nourishment. her breathing is a little shallow. I have taken her to vet who checked her heart and breathing and gave her an anti biotic. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I can do now. I have had never experienced this in any of my litters and internet and book research has not helped. I know about fading puppy syndrome, is there any future for her. She will sometimes suckle from Mum but drops off very quickly.
Hope someone can help.
Diane

Usually failure to thrive like this is nature's way of telling us that there's a serious problem that's incompatible with life.

hi tondidog , try and get life aid for the pup ,my girl had her pups 3weeks ago she had 12 !...2 where still born and 1 stuck (didnt live)
was there to long , and then sadly 4days after being born our smallst stopped suckling ,i rushed her to the vets thay had her over night ,in the morning thay rang me to say she was still the same , the vet asked me what i wanted to do ,my heart sunk!!!!, thay told me i could syringe feed her but she would oly live for another few days ,i couldnt let her suffer ,she was put to sleep ,what im saying is please get life aid and try dont give up till u have too ,
i was told to keep mine away from other pups and mum too ,incase it was to spreed ,and do everything for her ....feed every 2hours and top and tail her ,im praying she will pull thru for you ,
please let us know how shes going (((((hugs)))))

Did your vet check the pups mouth for Cleft Palate, we had a pup 3 years ago that would try to feed but never seemed to get very far, so we continued bottle feeding, he was checked over by 4 different vets in total and they all missed the fact he had a small hole in the soft palate right at the back of his mouth.

I have had a pup like this which after 11 days of not thriving despite me and Mum feeding I had Put to sleep, I think we have to listen to nature.

we had a pup just the same in our recent litter, i tried in vain with welp and a puppy survival tonic, he didnt make it, it is natures way, but so heartbreaking, good luck.

I have also had puppies who just didnt thrive, with all my efforts they live for a while but in the end all we could do was have them put to sleep.  Not nice but if nature ran its course without us around they would most propably die also.  I doubt a cleft palate would stop them from stuckling as suggested, they usually feed ok but milk comes out their nose.

The only suggestion I have is you could try putting the pup on an easy nipple, one thats already flowing from another pup starting it off

Emma

Sorry to say Jeangenie and Brainless are spot on. It's best for you and the pup to let go. It's more likely be a Cleft Palate, if you know what you are looking for open up the mouth and have a look, you will see it rather easy, if not get the vet to come out and have a look.

yes you are all right !! its so hard to let go ,i had to do it 3weeks ago :(

Thank you all for your comments. I have  taken her again to a different vet at the same practice. He could not find anything wrong with her as the other vet said. He has suggested we keep trying at least for now. The good news is that to-day she has started in a small way to respond to a bottle with Lactol. Tomorrow I have Nutridrops arriving. I will keep trying. My vet was actually s, urprised how strong she appeared to be from my description over the phone. I am realistic but hopeful. I am not giving up on her just yet as my vet thought it worth a try. Will update here one way or the other as time progresses. Thanks again Diane

thankyou for letting us know !!! im so glad she seems to be fine !!! just because shes like this now dont mean she not make it ,you say shes responding to the bottle !!!!!! thats great news too ,our little one wouldnt do anything ,remember theres always hope !!!!
(((hugs))) :)
look forward to your next post x

how is she doing ? x

I hope your pup is o.k.  I have 13 day old pups and sadly lost one at 5 days old.  Another suggestion that i was told about was to check that the pups tongue doesn't stay on the roof of their mouth and somehow you need to make sure that it stays down when feeding otherwise the milk is not going down.  I hope that she pulls through.  (it is heartbreaking to lose one but after a while your instinct kicks in to keep the others going) Fingers crossed for you.

I am really sorry to report that the little puppy finally lost her fight for life. She did start to try and suckle but we think that she had a lung infection after all and any food she took down seemed to overload her. Her breathing became more and more laboured and it was all too much for her. This has been very sad and perhaps my hardest experience as she lived to just over a week old. The remaining 5 pups are thriving and strong so I know that I am now able to concentrate on enjoying the litter and had she survived, deep down, she may not have been a healthy dog. Will remember her as we developed a strong bond as she fought on. I would like to know if anyone has had anyexperience of an oxygen cage which I have read about on the internet as during my research into this I kept coming back to this. Both vets I saw said her breathing was OK but I knew in my heart of heart it was not as I compared her to the other puppies. Any information would help as in the back of my mind I keep feeling that if I had a vet who was more experienced in the area of breeding, it may have helped her.
Thanks for your help and words of support.
Regards D

bless her (((hugs))) i know how u feel tondidog , i cried myself to sleep for 2 nights silly to some mybe but when you feed and do everything for them and still loose them it hurts xxxx

So sorry - another angel at the bridge.  You did all you could to try to save her.

So sorry to hear this - it must be hard enough to lose them at birth, but when you've struggled and loved them for a whole week it must be devastating. :-(

Yes it has been very hard and although I have bred several litters,( still have my eldest, 10 and a half years from my first litter) it never gets any easier. I have never had a pup survive that long and then only to pass on. I now though have the joy of rearing the rest of the litter with the help of Mum. They are doing really well. 10 days old to-day and gaining weight rapidly. Thanks again and as I say if anyone out there knows anything anbout the oxygen cage I would really be interested to hear as I still have that niggling doubt that this would have helped her earlier on if the facility had been available.
regards D

So very sorry to hear your puppy didnt make it, i know how you feel we lost 1 at 5 days old a few weeks ago, its heartbreaking and never gets any easier, hugz to you.

So sorry for you. It is heartbreaking to read.
Can't help with the Oxygen cage have you tried asking your vet though they may be cagey if they said there wasn't anything wrong with her.
Glad the others are thriving x x

Well my vet seemed non commital about the cage as I assume they do not have the facility but I found when you looked at American sites there was a lot of mention of tube feeding and oxygen cage. Perhaps this is something here that would be available at a veterinary school. I don't know.
Thanks Diane

To be honest if I had to take such extreme measures to help a pup survive I would be worried about it's hardiness and fitness for a long and healthy life.  There is a slippery slope there in rearing unfit pups.

I agree with you but internet search did suggest that if it was caused by ingestion of fluid at birth, this could be cleared simply and did not suggest any long term health problem. Still I cannot go over and over this, I just wondered whether anyone out there had experience of this.Diane