my pitbull just had a liter, however she is ignoring one of the pups that appears to be perfectly healthy?

Answer 1

The pup may appear healthy to you but the mother can sense if there is something wrong and she will not care for it. You could care for it if you want to try to save it but usually the mother knows best.

Answer 2

Is it really being ignored? Hard to tell unless you are watching constantly. Does it have a full belly? Does it squirm when you touch it or otherwise act like the other puppies? Is it making whiny pathetic noises? If you hold it in place will the puppy nurse? Make sure it is not getting cold but if it is not healthy then it will be different from the other puppies. Healthy puppies nurse, get cleaned, and usually crawl off to sleep somewhere. Clever moms know when the puppy needs attention but if you put the puppy by her she should acknowledge it. If it will nurse you can use a warm wet cotton ball to "clean" it but if it will not nurse for more than a couple of hours then it does need to go to a vet. But should the vet gives you bad news then don't despair, you did your best and you still have lots of other puppies left to take care of.

Answer 3

A litter? How many pups? Does she have enough teats for all?

Encourage her to accept this baby - pet her, pet the puppy, talk in soft tones. Put the puppy on a teat and supervise. Continue to see that the pup is eating. Do not try to raise the pup yourself unless absolutely necessary. Then Spay your female. Half the dogs put down at our Humane Soc are pit bulls.

Answer 4

The pup may have an underlying health condition that the mother senses but you can't. Keep trying to get her involved but if she continues to refuse it then you will have to take over with bottle feeding and keeping it warm enough. As soon as possible you should also have the pup checked by the vet.

Answer 5

Listen, people keep telling you to put the pup back.However she will keep kicking it away.She senses something wrong with this pup. When my pit did this I bottle fed her and sure enough she was blind ,deaf, and she didn't form right. She looked healthy but she wasn't.Its so hard because the best thing to do is bring it to the vet. or let nature take its course.I know it sounds mean but there is a reason why the mom is doing this.Even though you don't see it , it does mean its not there.Good Luck

Answer 6

Sometimes mother dogs can sense things that we can't see. Keep trying to reintroduce the puppy -- put it back in the "pile", line it up for feeding with the rest. If she is persistently pushing it away, or you keep finding it separated from the rest of the litter, it may have a congenital problem that you can't see.

If that's the case, you will likely need to take the puppy to your vet and let them help you decide what to do.

Answer 7

it happend when they have pups she does not know what to do which one to take care of remember its a dog put just make sure to put the pup together with the others so it could be feed she will get use to him it take time

Answer 8

Usually if the mother ignores one puppy, there is something wrong with the pup, sometimes something you cannot see. You can bottle feed the baby amd hope it will be okay.

Answer 9

Maybe the seemingly healthy pup isn't so healthy after all. Call the vet to see what advice they give you. Mother dogs can sense when one of the litter isn't well & tend to ignore them so call your vet.

Answer 10

My Pit Bull just had a litter 3 days ago, too. Congrats. A mom dog dosent ignore the dog unless there is something wrong with it. As they say "Mom knows best." So I would bottle feed it. You can buy dog formula or when I had to do it I bought baby formula it works too. Good luck.