Singleton Birth
 

Hi everyone!

I posted a little while ago about having my first litter and needing advice about traveling.

I also wanted to post and see if anyone else out there has been in a situation where only one pup was born?

In my other post, I explained that this is my and Sadie's first litter. We were told, after xrays, that she wasn't pregnant and this past Thursday at 58 days pregnant, she went into labor and to our surprised delivered a little boy! Both mom and pup have been checked out by vet and are both happy, healthy and thriving.

I wanted to see if anyone else has been through where there was only one pup and if so, if you have any advice, suggestions, and/or concerns that I should be looking out for?

This is our first litter, so I'm a nervous wreck to begin with. :-) Since I found this forum, I thought I might reach out and hopefully calm my nerves a little bit. I'm keeping a close eye on body temperature and the temperature of the whelping box. He seems to be quite content and has a nice well rounded tummy. :-)

I just wanted to see if there was anything that I should be paying close attention to with him being the only pup!

Thanks so much!

My Halle had a singleton puppy her first litter in 2009. Halle is in the 6lb range and I wondered for the longest time if she was pregnant or not.....even though I knew she was from an early ultrasound. Even after the x-ray...some days she looked PG and other days she didn't. It wasn't until I saw movement that I was finally convinced. When we had the xray done, the vet came in & told me "we have one very large puppy in there"..........................scared me to death! Very large puppy??? Was she going to need a c-section......should we try to free whelp????? Well yes, they did indeed say to try having it the natural way and thankfully she did whelp him on her own. He was fairly big and she did let out a yelp when his head popped out; he weighed 6 3/4 ounces at birth!! :eek:

Anyway, once the singletons are born, there's not much difference in caring for them compared to a litter of more. The singleton's usually gain a bit quicker since they've got mom's milk all to themselves. My only concern....not really a concern, but more of feeling sorry for him.....was when he got a bit older & mom doesn't spend every single moment with him anymore. I wondered if he was lonely or cold. We kept a snuggly soft stuffed animal/toy or two in there with him and of course spent as much of my free time with him as I could. He was a very well socialized little boy by the time he went to his forever family.

Good luck with your little guy!!

Thank you so much for your post! "Peanut" was a big boy too, weighing in at 6 ounces on the dot. Sadie didn't make a sound at all during the delivery and he popped out just fine (Thank God!). I was just thinking the same thing last night about once she starts to leave him more, he's gonna be all alone. Thank you for the tip on the stuffed animal. The vet gave us a rice sock that we wrap deep down under the bedding and he snuggles right up to that when Sadie is taking a break. Sounds like I have a good excuse to snuggle with this puppy every chance I get! :)

I havent had a singleton, so have no experienced advise- but have always been told and read that it helps them integrate better with other dogs and children etc if you 'bother' him like a sibling does every now and again; for example, push him off his teat when he is feeding, nudge him while he is sleeping, take toys off him and when weaning stjk your hand in his food bowl, or push it away from him a bit etc. But I do that with all my pups anyway!!

My girl, Jewel, had a surprise litter earlier this year ( I had no idea she was pg) Sadly, of the 3 pups only 1 survived. This has been her only litter at the age of 4 and I was very happy to see that she was a great mom. This was not my first time at having puppies, so I was worried about how it would go with just one, but it was fine, puppy thrived and he was easy to wean and potty train. The biggest problem was how attached we are to him, we could never give him up, lol :D

I also used a heating pad and stuffed toys for him to snuggle with, keeping him warm the first weeks is essential.