i have a puppy who is four weeks old now she is the runt but litterally half the size of all the others she is so tiny she can curl up in your one hand i have never seen one this small but she seems well behind all the others they are now starting to play and bite each other but she just sleeps and eats and gets trampled by the others is this normal for a runt to be slower at things i would say she is about four days behind all the others im just worried there may be something wrong with her

How many times was the dam mated ??  it could be she is from a later mating ;)  does she get enough milk?  If the others are bigger and more robust it could be she hasn't had a fair go at the milk bar and keeps getting pushed off ;)  you could try putting her on before the others wake up and letting her at the better teats ;)

Thank you yes i do that and bottle feed her aswell, its amazing she is still alive i did think that she may be behind because we mated the mom twice, but there was a five day gap in between the two matings. As when we 1st took her they mated only once then the male didnt seem interested, she had had a funny season on this particular occasion so we took her back for a second mating to make sure. She is so tiny compared to the others, do you think she will catch up eventually? she is such a worry, because she is the way she is i am going to keep her. They are yorkshire terriers by the way thank you for your advise

hi cheryll,
a friend of mine bred yorkshire terriers,a little girl out of a litter was like yours rearly small and seamed behind.she ended up handrearing the pup,because she wasnt feeding properly she grew up fine but has always remained smaller than her siblings. im sure shele be fine but if your rearly concernd you could take her the vets to get her a checked over to put your mind at rest!
keep us updated on her progress,and gooduck!
sarah

I  had a small puppy like this in a litter. He was only 5oz when born all his litter mates were around the 14oz mark. He went to live with some friends of mine and when I saw him at 2 years old he was huge! As in gigantic! The biggest flatcoat I had ever seen, no idea where such size came from. So she might not be small once she has grown up.

One of my breeding books suggests removing the other pups for short times to let a smaller puppy have some uninterrupted time at the teats.

Thank you to all of you who replied. I just hope she doesnt grow gigantic now after reading some of your comments i do give her added time on the teats and my god has she got a strong suck for a little one. she has been to the vets twice to be checked but this was before they started to be more alert, i will keep an eye on her and hope that she catches up thanks again to all of you chez.

Cheryl,

You would find that she would put on more weight if she has all her milk from mum ;)  Make sure that she gets her fill from mum before the others have a chance ;)   Basically this will mean keeping an eye on how often they feed and waking her up to put her on mum (on the best milky teats ;) ) and not letting the others near until she's satisfied.  This shouldn't be too difficult now if the others are on solid foods ;) as they can be given their solid meal while she's suckling and then play somewhere else until she's finished, puppy pens are great for this :)   Once she starts on solid foods (when she's ready) you'll find she'll grow a bit faster :)

she is on solids now rice pudding lactol milk and weetbix i havent given any off them meat yet, its the way she behaves she is slower somehow it is hard to explain, the others are alert there heads pop up when you go by them but when you wake her up her head goes down and she curls up in a ball its so weired and she is constantly looking for food even though i know shes had loads and then shes asleep again and even though i do feed her up she is still boney where as the others are really plump she is just a strange little puppy that worries me silly. she is walking now just but is very unsteady on her feet and rolls over often. maybe im just looking into it too much but she isnt like any other puppy ive ever had she just dont behave the same thats why im keeping her in case she has something wrong with her thanks again to all of you who have responded. would you say that this is normal? it just dont seem right to me.

yes i know why she does that now curl up in a ball she is protecting herself. its finally dawned on me, if i was in a crowd of bullies i would do the same thanks everyone i now know she will be ok. how silly of me to wonder why she did that. many thanks again to all of you i will let you all no in a few weeks when the others have gone how she is thanx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

HELLO ALL ,IVE STILL GOT THE LITTLE PUPPY WHO WAS SLOW AT 1ST. ALL HER BROTHERS AND SISTERS HAVE NOW GONE AND SINCE THEN SHE HAS COME ON IN LEAPS AND BOUNDS. SHE HAS A FUNNY LITTLE CHARACTER, ALTHOUGH I DID SAY SHE WAS DIFFERENT TO THE OTHERS, I FOUND OUT AFTER A VISIT TO THE VETS THAT HER SKULL HASNT FORMED PROPERLY. SHE HAS A TRIANGULAR SHAPE IN HER SKULL THAT IS OPEN LEAVING HER BRAIN UNPROTECTED, I WAS DEVASTATED WHEN I HEARD THIS NEWS AFTER ALL I HAVE DONE TO KEEP HER ALIVE. THE VET HAS TOLD ME THAT HER SKULL WILL NEVER FUSE TOGETHER SO ANY KNOCKS OR BUMPS COULD BE REAL BAD FOR HER. I KEEP HER IN A PLAY PEN FOR NOW BUT I WONT BE ABLE TO DO THIS FOREVER, THE VET HAS ALSO TOLD ME THAT A DOG WITH THIS CONDITION CAN LEAD A RELATIVELY NORMAL LIFE BUT DONT LIVE AS LONG AS THEY WOULD NORMALLY. I WOULD LIKE TO NOW NOW IF SHE COULD HAVE ANY FORM OF TREATMENT TO HELP HER, IF ANYONE KNOWS OF A SPECIALIST WHO COULD HELP I WOULD BE FOREVER GREATFULL THANK YOU CHERYLL XX