Need help with sickly pup
 

One of my girls delivered 4 pups yesterday. The first one weighs only 2 and 7/8oz, the second was a stillborn, and the last two are a good healthy 4oz. What methods do most of you recommend for such a tiny pup, bottle feeding or tube feeding? Also, what would be the recommended amount and frequency of feeding? I have some Pro-biolac that I got from Revival Animal, but is there anything better I need to be giving her? I am about to take her to the vet but I also want some professional breeder's opinions who have been through this before.

First of all, congratulations on your new litter. I am sorry you lost one little one. I have never done tube feeding. I know many recommend using a premmie nipple attached to a syringe. As for formula, many recommend the canned goats milk mixed one part goat milk to one part water and a little corn syrup. Is the little one latching on and nursing okay? There is nothing better than mothers milk. You need to try to assist the puppy every two hours to insure it is getting plenty of mommas milk.

I am not familiar with the Pro-biolac so I can't say how well it would work.

Please keep us posted on how things are going. I pray momma and babies do well.

The puppy did latch on at first and I have not seen it latch on anymore since. Mama keeps pushing it away. It is not suckling very much at all even when I bottle feed it. It has been crying a lot too. I gave it some Karo Syrup but it has not helped.

Is the pup warm? Your pup could very well be dehydrated. Please get the pup to the vet if you want to save her. When little ones like this are having problems time is of the essence or you could lose her. Here is a very interesting article that can give you some insight as to what is happening with her.

http://www.showpapillons.com/formula.htm

I just got back from the vet and he was not much help at all. He said to just keep doing everything I am doing and charged me for his advice. He acted as if he had never seen such a small puppy. I thought 3 ounce pups were pretty common? He said he could not give it an iv or anything. Should I get a second opinion?

Did he say if the pup was dehydrated? Is the pup still crying? Is she nursing? Please read the article I posted earlier. I would make the glucose solution mentioned in the article and give her a little of that with a eye dropper. It is hard for anyone to give accurate advice over the internet without actually seeing the pup and knowing her condition. Did the vet check her for a cleft palate? I would be looking for a new vet that is good with small breeds.

The most important thing is to keep the pup warm and to make sure she is eating frequently. Never feed a chilled pup formula but you can give the glucose solution. Do you know of any experienced breeders in your area?

There really isn't much a vet can do for a small puppy except show you how to tube feed... or put fluid under the pup's skin... As mentioned, the best thing for the pup is mom's milk... but bottle feeding is easier than tube feeding (for most). You may have to sit with mom and the little one every few hours if you want her to nurse on mom... hold her on to mom... it's alot of work but worth it!

I have a really small puppy that was 2.1 oz at birth (her sister was 4.5).... but she never had a problem with nursing on mom.

Check out the difference at 3 1/2 weeks.... GEEZ! Little one is 7 oz., big sis is 1 pound, 8 ounces!!!

Best of luck with your little one.

OMG, how adorable. I have never seen such a huge difference in size at that age. I hope the little one continues to do well. The little ones really make me nervous.

Thanks! The little one is doing great... the big one is actually the biggest pup I've ever had. She is the weight of most of my pups at 8 weeks!! :eek:

I get a monster puppy occasionally too. It will be fun watching them to grow up together. Have you had puppies that tiny in the past? I have had some pups get really big and fat where I thought they would be huge and they would just end up being around 5 or 6 lbs grown. You never know.

My female was the same size as your little puppy and she nursed fine. However, I would be concerned if she doesn't latch on and cries a lot. I did spend the first couple of days actually holding her on to the nipple because she wasn't that strong and would fall right off. After the first 3 or 4 days of that she got the idea and was strong enough to stay on the nipple without help. She is a fat little piggy now and turned out to be the bigger of the two pups. Good luck. :)

Too cute!!

Should I try the beef liver remedy or the solution that you posted? I am willing to try anything and I am not giving up on her. The vet did not even look at her or try to see if she was dehydrated. He just told me I was doing everything right and to keep doing everything I was already doing. I could have paid myself for that advice! I have mama and the pups on the bed with me and I am letting the pup rest on mama in the most natural position possible while I bottle feed it. She cries when she eats, any idea why? She is not nearly as warm as the other pups even though I am doing everything to keep her warm. I have her on a heating pad, and up next to mama. I wonder if something is just wrong with her :(

Is momma licking her to stimulate her. Have you seen the pup pee and poop? Sometimes they are born with internal problems and there is nothing you can do. I wish I could be more help. I have never done the beef liver remedy. Do you happen to have Nutri-drops?

I had a little one that was 2.4oz when he was born. I was concerned the first couple of weeks as well. He's still tiny, but he is thriving. I used the beef liver remedy, and we bottle fed the litter due to eclampsia. He wouldn't eat much, always got gas, and until he went on solid food whined constantly. My advice is make sure the puppy is warm, try the beef liver, and keep bottle feeding. If she is pushing the puppy away, she might sense that something is wrong with it. Keep doing all that you can. You are doing a good job.

Had to put puppy down :(
 

Well I just got back from taking the puppy back to the vet once again and she did not make it out this time :( I was bottle feeding her and rubbing her belly with my finger and felt something underneath her hair. It appeared to be a teeny tiny scratch or bite mark on her side under her ribs. There was fluid or pus oozing out and she was fading very quickly. I rushed her back to the vet and he agreed that it was a bite mark and found another one on her belly, it was almost naked to the eye. Apparently the mama was trying to move them (although I have no idea when because they slept next to me and I checked on them all throughout the night) and was too rough or either she knew that she was fading and had tried to kill her. She was dying in my arms and there was nothing more I could do for her so I had to let her go. I checked the other two pups when I got back and the boy seems to have the same type marks in the same exact place, so tiny you can barely see them, but he appears to be doing fine and it doesn't appear to be punctured like the other puppy was. Now I am debating on whether to leave them with mama or take them away and bottle feed them. I am so afraid she is going to hurt the last two accidentally. She is feeding them well, and they are gaining weight. What would be your opinion on this?

I am so sorry you lost the little one. Did the mom deliver these pups herself, break the sac and cut the cord or did you do that? If the momma delivered them it is possible that the punctures occurred then.

I feel the momma and her babies have no business sleeping in the bed with you. I know she is in her own little bed but they will soon outgrow that. She should be confined in a exercise pen or in a gated room where she will be close to her babies. Sooner or later you will have to do this because the pups will start crawling around. If you try to put them on the floor then momma will try to pick them up and carry them back to your bed if there is nothing to stop her. I do pray the other two pups do okay. Mother's milk is the best thing for them.

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. :( I hope that the other pups will be okay.

They are not in the bed with me at all. Sorry I made it sound like that. They are in a rubbermaid container BESIDE my bed lol :p But I do keep them right by my bed in the box so that I can hear and see everything that is going on.

I am so sorry for the loss of your little one. :(

That's good to know. I think I had you confused with someone else that posted recently they put the momma, her puppies and her bed in the bed with them.

I doubt the momma is intentionally hurting the pups but they can get hurt accidentally if momma tries to move them.

The reason I asked if the momma broke the sack is because I have heard a number of stories where the momma would chew off a puppies foot, ear or tear the belly open while trying to get them out of the sack.

I understand what your going through. We had a litter of 6 on Dec. 28. We now have 3. My girls and I fought for the other 3 lives. We took shifts in the night to take care of them. In the end we lost them. I wondered about taking the 3 remaining pups from the mom but, in the end we chose to leave them with her. It is now almost 3 weeks later and they weigh over 1 pound. I still worry about them and check on them constant. Just hang in there and we will keep you in our prayers.