lillypilly Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Firstly, I am not a breeder - I run a rescue, and we have a crossbreed litter in our care where all the pups are doing fine and hitting all normal milestones, but one of the pups has stopped gaining any weight. She is growing in length and height (albeit not at the same rate as the others), and mum is NOT pushing her away or acting untoward about her. The pup is eating both mushy tinned Science Diet Puppy and feeding just fine off mum. She has a good appetite, and is tenacious enough to get herself into prime positions at the boobie buffet, and when snuggling with her littermates. Mum dog came to us from a pound at about 7.5 weeks pregnant. She had worms and Coccidia, and then also developed Kennel Cough - all of which have now been treated and cleared up. All of the pups have been wormed and treated prophylactically for Coccidia - a couple had mild cases of Kennel Cough, and that has cleared up also. The pup in question did not show any signs of having Kennel Cough. We have been talking to our vets about this pup, and they have come up blank as to what the problem may be - after ruling out all of the above possibilities. Has anyone here have any idea what may be going on with this pup? Seen similar before? The pup was always the smallest of the litter, but was gaining weight OK up until this last week. Here is a pic of the pup in question taken on Sunday... sorry about the squint, she was facing the sun... and here is one of one of the other pups - for a comparison... Any advice will be gratefully received... Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puglvr Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 I had a little one who appeared to stop growing at 4 weeks. She had a neurological problem something like Cerebral Palsy. She grew at her own rate and lived a pretty normal healthy life with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underfoot Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 We had a very large litter not so long ago and found that adding or giving them full fat natural yogurt in their food with some goats milk made them nice fat babies. The tinned food is very poor nutritionally and you would be better off with some fine minced meat and milk (goats if you can) mixed together with the yogurt. Even swelling up some good quality kibble would be better (adding some hot water to it so it goes soft) than the tinned stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mini girl Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Good luck with the little one - I wonder if it is possible she has a different father and is a finer built pup than the others - but should be gaining weight - poor little girl hope it works out for her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Puppies with heart defects tend to stop growing like that for days or even weeks at a time. The defect is often not detectable at that age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Puppies with heart defects tend to stop growing like that for days or even weeks at a time. The defect is often not detectable at that age. Those were my first thoughts too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bisart Dobes Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 While it could be anything like others have mentioned my first thought is that she isn't getting enough nutrition now eating food. Canned food is not enough for babies growing, below is how I feed our babies, it may or may not work for this puppy. Could be that she is been pushed away from the food by the stronger puppies as well - feeding seperatly might help. Bear in mind breed size too. Week 3 Start offering chicken necks which have been crushed slightly - not as a food source more as a development thing - they do manage to get a bit of the meat off. Week 4 Human grade beef mince mixed with warm water to make it softer and a touch of natural yoghurt Keep offering chicken necks Weaning from mum starts Week 5 As above and add chicken carcass mince (beef & chicken 50/50 by end of week) Keep offering chicken necks, add chicken carcass & meaty lamb necks (again they don't eat alot of it but its all development - mum eats the left overs Milk drink of night - honey disolved in boiled water, add milk to cool temp then mix in a raw egg & a little yoghurt (bed time drink) Week 6 As above beef / chicken carcass mince 20/80 by end of week Now eating chicken necks & carcasses - still offering lamb necks & soft lamb bones Milk drink of night - honey disolved in boiled water, add milk to cool temp then mix in a raw egg & a little yoghurt (bed time drink) Week 7 As above Chicken carcass mince 100% Now eating chicken necks & carcasses - still offering lamb necks & soft lamb bones Milk drink of night - honey disolved in boiled water, add milk to cool temp then mix in a raw egg & a little yoghurt (bed time drink) * a baby I suspect is not digesting their food properly (ie not extracting needed nutrients from food) I give colostrum powder in their mince as well - can feed separately to ensure they are getting all they need too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saffioraire Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Another problem that shows at this age (very uncommon) but who knows - pups with esophageal problems. A stricture, mal formation of the sphincters that connect the stomach to the oesophagus, etc. The problem "arises" at this age because up until now they can help themselves to food, and you may not notice that they are feeding more often than others. Once weaning begins they cannot control their own food intake and they stop growing/ go backward. No idea how it is detected, and I'd imagine it's much less common than heart problems etc but you never know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellz Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 (edited) Could also be a liver shunt. Editing to add: I had a litter about 3 years ago. Two little bitches. One was smaller initially and had a bit of trouble feeding for a few days but we put it down to delayed start (she was born some 5 or so hours after her sister and had spent a long time in the birth canal so was waterlogged and shocky). She rallied and started feeding and gaining until about 4 weeks and hit a brick wall and began to go backwards. Diagnosed as a liver shunt and was euthanased to save further distress. Edited October 3, 2012 by ellz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 (edited) I didn't notice that you said canned food. I agree with Bisart Dobes that they need a lot more than canned stuff at 4 weeks. Either all raw as outlined or if you are going to be using dry dog food they should already be eating this soaked to soften it a little along with some raw mince, chicken necks/wings, etc to chew on. By 5 weeks they should be on 4 meals a day. Canned food is ok to add flavour to other food but it is basically a very expensive way to buy water. If the rest of the litter continue to well and the little one keeps dropping behind, I would pts as finding out exactly what is wrong can be very expensive and rarely is the outcome anything you can do anything about. Failure to thrive at this age is usually a sign that the puppy has some sort of serious congenital defect. Edited to add that those puppies look wormy. They should have already been wormed twice by now and the worming syrup, if you used that, will not be enough. Get some Drontal tablets and worm them to see if that improves them. Edited October 4, 2012 by dancinbcs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillypilly Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 (edited) Thank you all for the great advice and ideas... Little pup has gained weight this week, and after a thorough checkup from the vet seems to be doing OK. It seems that this pup may have been the product of a second mating while mum was in season, and as such may be a few days behind her littermates in growth. She's a cheeky little bugger too... always the first to check out new toys offered, and she loves chasing your fingers about and biting them... lol! Oh - and her lungs are very well developed - when she wants something, she can definitely let you know about it! We and the vet think she might just be OK... T. ETA: The pups were all treated for Coccidia last weekend, we have since wormed them all too... just gave it a few days to not overload them... Edited October 6, 2012 by lillypilly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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