My puppy is weak after birth. How can I increase its survival chances?

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.

You will need to bottle feed or tube feed the puppy if she is not nursing from the mom enough. You also want to weigh the puppy every day to make sure is getting enough milk to grow. She does not need medications, she needs milk. Puppy milk replacer (not just cow or goat milk) will have all of the necessary vitamins, protein, fat, and sugar that her body needs.

I'm so sorry to hear about your pup. First step is to warm him up. A Heating pad set on low with the cloth cover on will work. Other types of warm packs are ok too as long as there is a towel/cloth between the heat source and the pup. Keep heating until a rectal temp of 99 is achieved. Meanwhile, rub a small amount of white karo syrup or honey on his gums to help with low blood sugar. Between these two things he will hopefully perk up within 10-20 minutes enough to take the bottle/teat. Then feed as often as he cries. DO NOT try to syringe or force food until you are sure he is swallowing well as this can cause pneumonia if he accidentally inhales a little. Side note: I know it's silly, but be sure that you have poked a hole in the nipple of the bottle (many come with no opening which is weird). Sometimes, despite these efforts, a puppy will not respond and you will need to see the emergency vet for IV bloodsugar and fluids, etc. Even then, we sometimes cannot save them and they do pass. Many times these are the runts of the liver or we suspect there is something else going on (born with a congenital organ problem). Hope this helps and best of luck to you and the baby!

There could be several reasons for that, the most likely being that their mother may not have enough milk. You may have to supplement them with puppy milk and bottle feed them in addition to mummy taking care of them. It is also a good idea to take mum and the litter to the vet for an exam to rule out fading puppy syndrome, which can be a cause for the puppies not thriving.

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.

You can try supplemental feeding with dog milk replacer and keep him warm and next to the mother and others if possible. Sometimes there is an underlying medical problem with the runt and in spite of your best efforts they do not survive. Dogs and other animals have litters with several pups because there is often one or two that don’t live. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Lucky.

In many cases those orphans unfortunately do not survive. You need to make sure to feed him puppy milk replacer only, anything else and he doesn't have a chance of survival. You also need to make sure he is pooping, if he isn't you need to stimulate his anal area with a warm wet cotton several times a day .