I have a litter of 9 big fat healthy babies and one that is the smallest. I've been bottling feeding her from day one because she could never quite latch on to mom, she would go on and off and get pushed out of the way. She is not sickly or weak. She is just smaller and she doesn't seem to be as coordinated, she's a little more wobbly than the rest and just a little slower. She's a good eater, she's not "sickly" I guess is what I'm trying to say and she's with mom and the other pups full time, she can keep up with them and stay warm and stay cuddled up. I'm not finding her paddling in the corner alone.

My question is, do pups like this grow up to be normal? Ed's video says that he tube feeds all the time but he doesn't mention what happens to these pups as they get older. Should I have concerns about selling her? Should I keep her? Should I make sure she's spayed? Or can she grow up to be the smartest, strongest pup in the litter? I'm probably jumping the gun here and I should probably just wait and see. BUt I'm curious and I'm going to be accepting deposits in the next few weeks. But I could probably just wait on her in paticular.

I'm just wondering if some experienced breeders have seen this before and what normally happens.

Thanks!

Im not an experienced breeder but while I was researching on care for orphaned pups I did run across several different stories from breeders who said that they had experience raising orphans or runts from the bottle and that these dogs turned out to be just as big and strong as the others.



Edited by Mary Velazquez (02/25/2008 11:40 AM)
Edit reason: I cant tell from my computer but, is my sig. pic as huge as I think it is?

Good. That's what I'm hoping for!

QUOTE: ...I cant tell from my computer but, is my sig. pic as huge as I think it is? END

No, it isn't. Try refreshing (reloading) your page.


And back to 6-day-old pup.......

My experience with the runts in the litter is that they end up being the most outgoing and energetic of the bunch. I would suspect that your little pup would be fine with mom if she didn't have so many other bodies to contend with. She might be a preemie (last egg fertilized), which could put her a bit behind the others.
I prefere the runts of litters because of their great temperament, vigor and smaller size. My husband has always liked the runts for his hunting dogs (Beagles, Foxhounds, Coonhounds).

Even though they start out smaller and more wobbly, over time runts very rarely develop any differently than the rest of the litter as long as health is good and the pup is eating. We've had some end up the biggest in the litter and some end up the smallest; but most of the time they've ended up somewhere in the middle size-wise and temperamentally. The most important thing is to keep this pup with mum and the rest of the litter, which you're already doing. Sounds like you're doing a great job!

Good! That makes me feel better! We've grown quite attached to her since we've been feeding her every 2 hours and she normally eats for 1/2 hour, so really it's every hour and a half.

You guys always have the answers!

Thanks!

 Quote: Debbie Bruce

My experience with the runts in the litter is that they end up being the most outgoing and energetic of the bunch.

My family picked the runt of the litter for our fist dog (Pomeranian... I know, don't laugh) and while he stayed quite petit, he developed into one of the prettiest, healthiest Poms and outlived all his siblings! We put him to sleep at 17 y/o - he was suffering a number of simply old-age related problems - though with his stubborn, bad a$$ attitude, he may well have staggered on a bit longer...

This pup sounds like all she needs is a little personal attention sometimes, but she'll likely mature just as smart and healthy as all her siblings. If she doesn't show any obvious signs of physical problems, I don't see why her new owners shouldn't treat her just the same as any other bouncing new baby (by the time they're all old enough to go to their new homes, the only thing setting her apart will probably be her smaller size).

~Natalya

The runt of our cocker spaniel litter grew up to be given the name "Tank" if that tells you anything. We did not do any additional feedings but made sure he had dibs on the best teat. He turned out to be the biggest one.

Sandy

I came home today and tried to feed her and she didn't seem interested in the food. She seemed "drunk" and her belly seemed quite full. I'm hoping that she finally started nursing from mom and was just sleepy...I'm scared though, we'll see how she does in the next few hours. I put her back with mom and I'll try to feed her again in a little bit. She's not nursing now, all the pups are sleeping.