My girl has 10 beautiful 2 day old pups and I would now like to mark them so I can track their individual weight gain and health.

I know some owners use coloured ribbons around the necks or a felt tip pen at the end of the tails.....

I am concerned about anything around the neck since an adjacent puppy may get a foot caught at the back of the neck with perhaps fatal consequences. Also, mum keeps them so incredibly clean that she may well lick off the felt tip markings.

Can anyone share their experience here.
I'm open to all options (other than chopping off different appendages!)

Thanks.

I use nail varnish blobs on the head

Could you put nail varnish on their claws?

At the moment I have 12 puppies 3-4 week old puppies. Once they were born and dried off I placed little paper collars on them.

Then as they became older (at approx 1 week) I replaced them with puppy collars. My pups are never left unattended and there is someone sitting with them, awake 24/7. I have not seen another of my puppies get caught up in one of the puppy collars. I am sure this may happen and once my pups are old enough and begin to play rough I will probably remove the collars in case they are eaten by another pup.

But as an early way to ID the pups I would go with the collars, I will certainly be using them again.

I use strands of double knitting wool of different Bright colours (you can get small 25g balls) tied by holding the two ends so a tag of and inch or so is left, and loose enough to put a finger under. 

First week may need changing twice, after that once a week at weigh in time.

I used to worry about them getting caught, but this has never happened with the right tension (and so many people have used the method with no problem, or even more formal collars), and the wool would break with any greater pressure, being just one strand.

Like you any kind of ink, nail varnish, or tipex got washed off.

I too use the paper collars initally and then move onto tiny lightweight ones which are now available to buy.  I would have had the paper collars ready at delivery so I knew which pup is which from the very start as I like to know which was first  born, second etc - a tip for next time.  Obviously your decision to an extent must depend on the size if pups and how comfortable you are with which option you go for.

For all but my last litter to start with I have used tippex. At times I have wavered and thougt there must be something better.
Just mark them at different points i.e. tail, head, right side etc and that becomes there name! My current 15 month old is still spot on the tail ( bitch ) and I had 14 in the litter. I regularly replenish and there is always a tiny tiny spot even if it has started to wear off. Tried varnish, just didn't work for me.
Mine are black & tan but mainly black when very young.
The 14 litter I wavered in confidence and ordered the paper collars but for myself would not bother again. Mum didn't seem to like them and was pulling at them ( she had 1 litter before) which worried me. The are a terrier breed and I would just find that a collar was lying in the whelping box. ( I kept up the tippex as a precaution and that is what I will always use.
Of course each to their own but that was my experience.

we used paper collars which have slits on them so if anyone got a foot stuck, then they broke. I was a bit dubious at first thiunking they would last long, but they were great. Again, our pups were never left for the first 3 weeks, so we always had an eye on them, but very easy for identifying who was who

I weigh and tag as soon as born, so I know who was who and what sort of birth they had etc.

A rather belated thank you to all your suggestions.

In the end I decided not to bother marking them at all.
I just weighed them every few days and plotted blue lines for boys and pink for girls. (yes, I know, it's terrible to stereotype them so young :-)

All the lines on the graph moved in the same direction and we now have 10 adorable and healthy 5 week old pups... and found lovely homes for all but one so far.

Thanks again.
Edward

I asked a company to send me samples of their puppy collars, they sent me 10 red and 10 white which can be marked with a permanent marker but not had a litter since to try them on, as newborns probably half the width would be enough.

I am thinking of making reusable adjustable puppy collars using ribbon, I have been looking into where I can find the bits I will need including cat buckles which break apart.

Try www.profabrics.co.uk Rhodach, I am also going to make some myself with light ribbon and the break apart clasps. I've actually seen two for a quid in Poundland on cat collars with the same clasps so might just get some of those and cut them off so I can make my own!

Beth I have been trying to buy the break away clasps that you get on lanyards but can't find any, they would be smaller on small breed pup than the side release type buckle.

Will checkout cat collars and if they would be cheap enough to cut the clasp off.

They're pretty flimsy, and yes the clasp isn't release like buckles, it's a break away type, I'm going to get some from Poundland and take the clasps (they also have an adjustable band) as I figure the most I'll spend is £4 on clasps that way if there's two in a pack! Then ribbons from The Range or similar! My pups are similar size to yours so I'll let you know how I go, we're looking to mate my bitch quite soon so I'll be making some up when she's confirmed. x

Using a single strand of double knit is much easier cheaper, tucks into the fur, and will break under pressure for safety once pups are that mobile.

I tried wool and Mum chewed it off within minutes, they were 4 shaded red males, my first litter was also shaded red but had one male, large bitch and wee bitch, less than an ounce difference but they were built different so didn't need to mark them.

Interesting my girls have never touched them, but I only have  fingers space of looseness and replace them every few days n the first 2 weeks, then weekly, and of course even newborn ours have quite a depth of coat.

Yours must make very cute puppies Brainless, mine don't get proper coat till about six weeks if that. I only need them for the first week or so, after that I can tell the difference, but found with using gingham ribbon last time that it would come undone easily so need a clasp really.

Newborns remind me of Moles.

different colour nailpolish on tip of tails and ears.

>Newborns remind me of Moles.

Newborn Yorkshire Terriers look like fat black slugs.

I've used TabBands for donkeys years.  Made in the US, they were originally used in hospitals for humans. 

I have seen the UK copycats and they don't compare.  The only place I've seen the genuine originals over here is Petcetara.  They are not at all expensive, and come in lots of different colours.  I found that I could cut them lengthwise for Chihuahuas and Yorkies, and they never came off, and I never had a pup hang itself.  I like that you can write on them, as it means folk can see it is definitely the pup that they chose.

Rhodac where did u get your free sample collars from? we use pup colors. they are brilliant! all you have  to do is readjust them every few days as your puppies grow. they can be washed too! also they are really secure and dont come off, however you would probably need to buy a new set for each litter as the velcro loses its stickyness.

www.pupcolors.com/

I can't remember where I got them from, it was somewhere suggested on here some time back, will look them out and see if there is info with them.

The ones I have been making have a cat buckle and triglide making them fully adjustable and reusable for more than one litter if you want to.