runt of the litter???

Question

I have 5 day old golden puppies. There are 11 of them and we have one runt. All the other puppies have almost doubled in size and he has not. I have been bottle feeding on occasion but he seems not to like it to well. Mostly I sit there with him and make sure he is eating off of mom and I have even noticed that he has started to do this on his own, but he still is very small and doesn't ever seem to have a belly full of milk like the others. Is the anything else I can do or is there possible something wrong with him?

Answer 1

In a litter that big it is survival of the fittest. I have on more than one occasion taken the bigger pups off of the mom teat and placed the smaller ones on and sat there to make sure they get their fill. Supplemental feeding do help but I found as you that they pups really aren't really keen on it. So I did what I could and finally started to feed the bigger pups the supplemental milk so that they were filled up a bit more than the smaller ones this way they did not drink until the mom was almost dry leaving the smaller pups with not much. You can try this and see if it works for you too. I suggest that you continue to rotate the smaller pups into the feedings and placing the bigger pups off to one side and make sure hey stay there. Once they get more mobile which isn't that far away, the smaller of the group will be able to fight their way into the mix and get their fair share of mom's milk. For now keep doing what your doing and make sure the smaller of the bunch dines more often than his litter mates.
Good luck!

Answer 2

The first thing I would check is whether or not this particular puppy is nursing incorrectly. Puppies do that a lot. What is happening in that scenario is that their mouth is open and around the breast but their tongue is stuck to the roof of their mouths and they aren't getting enough that way. What I do is get a syringe and a tube feeder, in your case they are a larger breed you may be able to do this with a syringe alone. Without the needle on the syringe filed with warmed goats milk or esblac try to get the puppy to nurse off the tip of your finger what you are squeezing out of the syringe. That should help train the puppy to nurse correctly. Another thing to do is to open the puppy's mouth and make sure that tongue is down against the bottom jaw and not up gainst the roof of the mouth and slip the mother's nipple into the mouth. You will have to stay and make sure this puppy nurses correctly until it learns and grows and figures this out itself.

Of course it is possible that something else is going on like a clef pallet or any number of internal issues. But what I just told you to try, I told you because that situation is very common. Also most vets can't really do that much with 5 day old puppies.

Answer 3

When I first got my puppy he was the runt of the liter too. After a day, we noticed he had worms so bad that is why he was so little, because he didn't feel like eating. Take the puppy to the vet to be sure, its always better to be safe than sorry. Congratulations on 11 puppies!

Answer 4

Most of the time, runts grow slowly if not, not that much at all. It can be common that the runt seems shy or helpless compared to the others. Just wait it out for a week or two to see if there's any improvement in his size. If his conditions don't improve in time, just take him to the vet and get him checked out. Besides, he is only 5 days old. Good luck with him! ;-)

Answer 5

There could be something wrong with him or he could just be getting bullied by the other pups. 11 puppies is a LOT of puppies. Lots of competition. If you could separate him from the rest of the pups and let him have mom all to himself at mealtime, before the others come in, that could help. Call your vet and see if there is any special formula you can give him to fatten him up a bit.

Good luck, and thank you for caring enough to sit with him instead of just letting him get pushed aside. He'll be an awesome doggie some day.

Answer 6

What you are doing is great. Maybe he doesn't like what you are using to bottle feed him. Try changing the device and see if he eats better. Runts run a greater risk of death and malnourishment and it is great to see that you are doing everything you can. You might have to take him in a different room with mom before the other ones get a crack at her for 10 minutes and let him go first too. Hope everything works out.

Answer 7

Usually, where canines are concerned, there is ALWAYS a runt
of the litter---especially when the litter is six or more pups.
It's normal for your litter of eleven to have a runt. Actually, I'm
surprised you only have one and not more.
Just continue to encourage him to eat, make sure the other pups
accept him, and he will be fine. Because he's the runt, he will
always be smaller than the others.

Answer 8

There could be something wrong with him. There are some great homemade puppy formulas on the Internet that may help him bottle feed better. You can also put a little Karo syrup in his mouth before feeding to give him a little extra energy so that he will eat better.

Answer 9

If the runt is growing and gaining weight, then he is probably ok. He's not going to grow at the same rate as the others because he's smaller than them.

He might not be as satisfied as the others because he may have a smaller stomach.

If you are concerned, you can call a vet and ask.

I love runts! I have my 2nd runt. I think they're the best.

Answer 10

As long as he is steadily gaining weight he should be OK but you need to keep an eye on him. I'm not sure what type of bottle you are using to top him up with but I find a new born baby (human) bottle works much better than any one meant for pets. Give it a go, once he has a belly full he should start to catch up. Good Luck.