I posted a couple of days ago about losing 2 newborn pups, both of which quickly deteriorated and had to be taken to the vet to be PTS.  This evening one of the pups developed a raspy breathing noise and seemed to be a bit floppy compared with the others so I took him to the vet straight away.  He's had a steroid injection and is on antibiotics.  The vet says one lung sounds clear but the other is a bit rattly.  The steroid injection seems to have improved things for him so we just have to wait and see.  Vet says we should see an improvement tomorrow if he is going to make it.
Just wondered if anyone else has experience of this.
This is my fifth litter (gundog breed) and although I've had one stillborn and one stillborn/malformed this is my first experience of such health problems.
This was a litter of 11 - now 9.  I hope it doesn't become 8.

The puppy has now died.  Came back from the vet and he seemed better and even took a feed from mum, but then suddenly his breathing slowed, the rasping sound started again and he quietly died in my lap.
Does anyone have any ideas why this may have happened or had experience of this before?
Mum was vaccinated against Herpes as usual.

I’m sorry you’re having such a cr@p time just now. I know that you will be searching for answers but I do think it will be next to impossible to work out what’s happened.
The thing that came to my mind was a patent ductus, which is a heart problem, but I expect you can’t know for sure.
I don’t think the deaths will be related. It can be baffling if every litter you’ve had up to now has been plain sailing. With retrospect you then realise just  how lucky you’ve been in the past.

Thanks for your response.  You are right - we've had only 2 stillborn in the 4 previous litters and had a litter of 11 from this girl with no problems at all.  So to have 3 neonatal deaths is a new experience!  Talking to our vet we think maybe this puppy inhaled some milk in the first day (there were two puppies who had milk coming out of their noses the first day - one was the wee girl who died quite quickly) which caused the problem, maybe along with a hidden birth defect.  We are also dosing the rest of the litter with antibiotics just to be on the safe side.
All the remaining puppies are currently thriving - feeding, sleeping, squeaking and wriggling well.  Mum is also nice and chilled and doing well.
Keeping my fingers and everything else crossed that this continues.

> Talking to our vet we think maybe this puppy inhaled some milk in the first day (there were two puppies who had milk coming out of their noses the first day

To reiterate what I said about our disasterous litter - yes the puppy we lost on coming home, with milk coming out of his nose, was caused by asperating the (unnecessary!) bottle feeding done by the panicking staff before we got back to the surgery to pick up the result of the mess-up!   Instead of leaving them in a warm box to recover from their protracted birth.

Good luck with the rest of the litter.   Who said we don't deserve the asking-price we get for our puppies!!!

Totally agree - the emotional input we put into our puppies is immense!  Makes me doubly determined to find the best homes possible! 
I know I couldn't have done more for this puppy and he died very peacefully in my lap.  He is now buried next to the grave of our grand old lady who died last year.
It was more traumatic taking the two weak puppies to the vet to be PTS.