My newborn puppy has a hole in its mouth and struggles to breathe.

Unfortunately that is a birth deformity and there may not be much you can do without surgery. She may also have a cleft palpate which can be very serious and lead to aspiration. I recommend to have Lalasa examined by the veterinarian to figure out to what extend she may be abnormal. She likely cannot nurse well because it sounds like she can’t breath out of her nose. Some of the puppies can be tub fed but the veterinarian will need to show you how and if that will work. Best of luck and I hope this is helpful. Please feel free to post any additional questions.

It really depends on how severe the defects are. The larger the cleft palate the more risk to the puppy for failure to thrive from lack of nutrition and aspiration pneumonia. These puppies can require a lot of care to try to give them time to mature to see if the defects will close a little. Ultimately surgery is typically required to address the defects. These surgeries are best performed by a boarded surgeon for maximal success. I have attached a link below with more information. I would recommend that your puppy be seen by your family vet to assess the extent of the defects. If tube feeding is indicated he/she can show you how to do this. This puppy should also be weighed daily, be monitored for dehydration, and be monitored for signs of pneumonia. These puppies and parents of high risk breeds ideally should not be bred as genetics are the main cause of this issue. I hope this helps and thank you for using PetCoach! https://www.acvs.org/small-animal/cleft-palate

Most vets recommend waiting to fix cleft palates until they are nearly full grown, around 6-8 months. Keep going on, but know that they are at an increased risk of getting aspiration pneumonia. If they start having issues, you may need to have a vet teach you how to do tube feeding instead.

It looks like this puppy has a cleft palate. This is a genetic abnormality, and can only be corrected by surgery when he is older. You need to take him into a vet immediately as he cannot feed with this, and will need to be fed in a special manner if he's to survive long enough to get the surgery. Please take him, his mother, and her other puppies into a vet immediately. Best of luck.

Poor puppy. Yes open mouth breathing and raspy breaths indicates that puppy is not getting enough oxygen, which can be due to either fluid in the lungs, congestion in the upper nasal passage or some other birth defect. I would recommend having this puppy examined by your vet soon! I do hope that your pup has a mild issue that can be treated for. Best of luck and take care.

Poor pup! If he is unable to keep down any food at all and isn't interested in it, it is best to seek veterinary care immediately. It is possible he has become dehydrated from not keeping anything down, or may have aspirated some of the milk and is now ill. Your vet may need to insert a tube to make feeding Steve possible, or an IV line to give him nutrition until the deformity has more time to close, or surgery can be done to close it.

I would be concerned that this puppy may have a cleft palate, hence why it is effected when suckling. You can look at the roof of the mouth for a defect, but I would suggest going to your vet regardless as this is not normal.