Give the smaller ones more nursing time by removing the larger ones from the box. With that many babies, you will have "milk bullies" that push the smaller ones off. I had a litter of six papillon puppies this summer, and there were two puppies that were constantly being pushed out of the way. For these two puppies I would hold their mother and let them nurse by themselves four times a day. On the smallest, the only boy, this went on for several weeks. We ended up keeping the boy, and at the age of 5 mos now, he is the cuddliest, most people oriented puppy I have ever known-- sometimes I wonder if it was all that extra time that I spent holding him while he nursed LOL. |