My new pups are all doing well (2 weeks old) but one of them is particularly small. He is growing,but the rest have doubled in size and he remains very small. He seems to struggle to stay latched on and even though I take him and mum away to feed without the onslaught of the rest of the hooligans, he doesn't seem to know exactly what to do. He gets agitated and constantly falls of the teat even if I try and hold him there. He is pretty robust apart from his size ! I have tried heavily diluting puppy porridge and syringing it into his mouth to get some vitamins into him but it is a fight. He seems very hungry and I don't think he is satisfied. He can't be as he is not growing at the same rate as his siblings.He is not (other than his diminutive size) showing any signs that he is failing but I would like to know if there is anything else I can do to get some sustainance into him. I can't bear the thought of the little mite feeling constantly hungry. Can anyone offer me some advice please ??

I would start feeding him aned the others from a dish.  I have started pups on semi solids (puppy milk and puppy food made into a gruel) as early as when eyes just open if weight gain was a vit slow or slowing.  If he is hungry he will take to it very quickly.

Thank You
I will try that and let you know.

I had a tiny puppy from last litter he was bottle fed in addition to his mums feeds but what I found was that when he started weaning he quickly caught up and he is now a great brute of a dog.  If he is doing fine then I would just accept he is a bit smaller in another few days he will start going on to solids and will quickly catch up.

I'm probaly waaaaaay off base but i remember reading about cleft palate and pups not being able to latch on because of it,i think i remember something about pups not surviving with this condition tho.Sorry no help at all,i'm just curious about what the problem could be with the wee fella :(

A pup with Cleft Palate would not ahve made it to two weeks oif age, and would have died or been put to sleep within the first few days inless the breeder tube fed such a pup in order to keep it alive.

Do offer him the bottle, and also some food off your hands.  Even a little will make a lot of difference.

I had a pup in my last litter that couldn't latch on properly, I had to pull the mum's teat away from his mouth so in trying to hold on he also sucked a little milk in.  But left to his own devices he just sort of smacked his lips together and didn't achieve very much.  I gave him the bottle several times a day, and he seemed to manage that much better. At 2 weeks he was less than half the size of the others. I offered him solids very early, and found that he did very well with tinned Butchers Tripe, well mashed and mixed with a little boiled water, given off my fingers, in addition to the normal food in a dish that they all had.  At 8 weeks he was exactly the same size as the others, and they were all big puppies for their age, and he was always first in the food dish and last out. 

At two weeks I wouldn't bother with bottles personally, as the pup should be able to cope with eating independantly. 

Thank You all for advice. I have tried all of these and have found that mashing up some tinned tripe with some boiled (then cooled) water and offering him it from a teaspoon seems to be working. He seems content and is actually having a lovely post dinner snooze up my jumper as I sit here, I will keep you posted on his growth in the forthcoming days. Once again, thank you all....

Great news taggartgolf :P

Can just picture you now - aren't they so amazing when this young and of course so very difficult to put back down when we lift them  ;)
My tiniest puppy in a litter of 8 was not dissimilar to yours in that he was so noticeably smaller than his siblings - literally half the weight of the largest in the litter - and I kept dragging off the bigger ones to give him extra suckling time on the fuller teats but he would just dose off to sleep :P  Worried me sick for the first 2.5 weeks!   When the *solids* (or mush <lol>) were offered he would dive into the middle of the tray and then go off and play :rolleyes: while everyone else skidded about in the food trays but at least ate at the same time.  I soon noticed though that he was fly and would lick the food direct off his brothers and sisters  :D  At 8 weeks he was still the smallest dog puppy but a chunky and robust little fellow with loads of character and by about 4 months he had caught up completely with the other boys - it was really quite amazing.

Give him a gentle hug from me - getting all broody ;)  (but definitely NOT to have another litter!)
Will look forward to updates,
Teri

Glad it is working. Ahhh , makes me think how lovely it was to have puppy's around, but I did say after the last litter "never again" and will stick to it, this time. Viv

Hi
Just an update on my mini schnauzer pups .I asked and received some excellent advice when one of my pups was not feeding/growing properly. I have fed him separately and the whole litter is now nearly completely weaned. He has grown considerably though still smaller than the rest, he is fit and healthy and eating well and was chosen by a lovely couple yesterday who adored him because he is so tiny and cute.Maybe by the time he leaves us in another three weeks he will have completely caught up and will no longer be a mini mini schnauzer! Many Thanks again for all your invaluable help and advice which was greatly received.

Hi taggartgolf,

Great News!  Bet he's going to work out just fine - but if we didn't worry about them we'd not be normal (or certainly not caring ;) )   Enjoy them while you still have them - it's amazing how quickly the time goes in.

regards,  Teri  :P