Why aren't my one-week-old puppies thriving and gaining weight?

Considering the puppy is losing weight and failing to thrive, I would bring him into your local vet for an exam to check for any physical deformities that may be affecting his ability to nurse properly and eat, and for any potential illnesses or issues that could be causing him to not do as well. If he is able to eat with a bottle, I'd also recommend increasing his feedings if he still seems hungry, to try and keep weight on him and get him back up to speed.

If the mom is not producing enough milk then you need to supplement and bottle feed them with a puppy milk replacer. You should also be weighing them daily to monitor their weight gain. If the puppies continue to have problems then they should be examined by a vet to determine the cause.

The puppy may generally be weak, have a birth defect or did not develop properly. This is actually why dogs have many puppies, as there may always be one that will not do well and possibly die. I suggest you take the whole litter and mother to your veterinarian for an exam. There are so many possible causes for this that is not possible to determine the cause from your description and without a hands-on exam.

It sounds like the smaller puppy may have ‘failure to thrive’. This is especially common with puppies from large litters and not surprising since the mother dog is refusing to feed them. It sounds like the bigger pup is doing great and you don’t need to worry about him at all. You should get a small scale (like a gram scale) so you can weigh the smaller pup everyday to ensure she is gaining weight. It is a little early but you could try to start introducing puppy food her as well. You can mix the canned food with milk replacer or moisten kibble with the milk replacer and see if she prefers this. If she is not eating much it makes sense that she is not pooping as frequently. Continue to stimulate her to defecate several times a day. You should also have the puppies dewormed at this age as well. If the puppy continues to refuse food after trying the above suggestions, you may need to take her to the vet to be examined. Your vet can also instruct you on how to safely syringe feed (or possibly tube feed) the puppy to ensure she is getting proper nutrition. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck!

Eleven puppies is a lot of puppies for a dog to have, and it could be that Pepper doesn't have the milk supply to nurse them properly. Make sure you are feeing her a puppy formulated food that will give her the extra calories, calcium, and protein she needs to feed all eight remaining puppies. Also make sure she has access to plenty of fresh water at all times. You are doing the right thing by bottle feeding the puppies, and I would take Pepper and her puppies into the vet first thing in the morning for an exam.

The length depends on how hungry they are and how much milk she has. If your puppies are not gaining weight and do not have round full bellies after nursing, she may not have enough milk for them and you may have to supplement them with puppy milk.

It can sometimes be hard to tell if puppies are getting enough milk! If you want to be sure, you can weigh the puppies each day. As long as they gain weight every day, this is a good sign that things are fine. If they aren't gaining weight, or if they look overly thin, you may need to bottle feed them with puppy milk replacer in addition to letting them nurse on their mother.