Who here weighs their puppies from birth? - Page 1

I have never had to weigh my puppies BUT at the moment I have a litter of 3  >>>>  2 females and 1 Male, they are now 10 days old, at 3 days I felt they were not gaining weight as I thought they should so I went out and bought kitchen scales. The male is what I believe as normal he now weighs 1170 grams but the females I have been worried about they now only weigh in at just under 700 grams.

From the age of 3 days I have offered the females Goat milk to top them up (this is the first time I have ever done this) and they were happy to take the milk from the bottle after feeding from Mum. They are now refusing the goat milk so I believe the have passed a hurdle but I would like for them to be heavier.
All of my litters upto now have all been much heavier and chunkier looking puppies, these little females are atleast putting on weight every day but my question is
" At 10 days what do your puppies usually weigh" ?

What did the puppies weigh at birth??

 I dont think you can compare them to other people's puppies.  If you know what they weighed at birth and they are growing and appear nice and plump you dont need to worry.

For example I had one at birth weigh 350g, another 420 and one a wopping 630 - so their weight gain has been proportionate to their birth weight.  I wouldnt expect the small one to weigh the same at 10 days as the big fella.

Firstly, weighing pups at birth in my opinion is vital to keep track of who is doing well, and if there are any that appear not to be, if you re-weigh every three days for two weeks you will pick them out right away.   I agree with Leibe that you cant compare them with others pups in weight etc.,

Firstly, I would not be looking at your pups re feeding them goats milk if they feel light and appear not to be thriving  If your bitch has only three pups to feed, they should be very full and very content and heavy.  If not, dont look at them, look at her... feed her plenty of good fresh meat.  Chicken, wings and mince - heart, chopped, kidney and liver - and plenty of it - she will flourish and if she is well - her lactation should be excellent.  If its not, let your vet have a look at her to make sure she hasnt an underlying infection that is causing her body to be weak and not lactate.......  I always shy away from feeding puppies too young to eat, you will lower their immune system from them taking their mothers milk, which is full of antibodies, and then they may get secondary problems like infections or pneumonia from inhalation of small amounts of milk.  I know sometimes it has to be done, but for me, its always a live or die situation before I resort to that way of feeding, and if I do, its with specially prepared puppy milk - not mik specially prepared for goats - give that to the mum.
Good luck with them, let us know.

Mo - Mascani

We weigh all pups at birth then mark then so that they can be accurately reweighed every day for at least the first two weeks. After that I weigh any pups that are a concern as often as necessary and all pups are weighed weekly and their weights recorded in my litter book.

I will supplement any puppies that I feel are not doing well enough with a specialised supplement, but only after they have had their fill from their mum (unless they are too weak to suckle and that's a whole different issue of course). I also give them Nutripet to give them concentrated energy and I focus on making sure that the little guys get their fair share of time on mum without being pushed off by their bigger siblings.

A puppy should double his/her birth weight in the first 10-14 days, so your pups should be getting close to that and if not, you may have a problem. Have they (and their mum) been checked by your vet since birth? With only 3 pups, your bitch should have surplus milk and they should all be thriving.

Good luck with the litter.

These female puppies are now doing well and have started to gain atleast 50 - 60 grams each day they are now weigh 808 & 805 gms and I have not supplemented at all since 2 days before my original post, the male is averaging 90 - 100 grams weight gain daily, he is now 1280 gms.

My female had not been eating well even though she was given farm fresh goat milk, free range eggs, chicken cages, beef  and chicken liver, heart etc. she was checked post whelping just to make sure that she was empty and was fine and had an abundance of milk, she is now eating well. My only concern was that the females were smaller than normal and still wanted to suckle even though they had just been fed,(even now they will suck on my finger after feeding off mum)  The male puppy was very normal in size and substance so I knew that mum's milk was fine even though her appetite was not as good as it could be.

In the future all of my puppies will be weighed at birth.

We weigh all puppies at birth and on a weekly bases to make sure they are gaining at a uniform rate. Any puppies gaining slower we pay special attention too and supliment as needed.
It is a good way to keep up with indeviduals and hopefully prevent any problems before they get serious.

It's just another helpfull  tool to use as a gauge if one slows down on gains or is maybe gaining much faster then the others in the litter.

juat my thoughts, mahon

Its amazing how fast they grow!

1lb 3oz at birth and 7lb 6 oz just a month later........almost fast enough to see.......

Hi dogshome9,

I have a litter of 4  at the moment 1 boy & 3 girls, today they are 7 days old today,

the boy weighs a little over 3 pounds & the girls weigh 2 1/2 pounds each, I weigh them on an ancient scale, it looks rediculous,

but it's quite accurate!!  The scale only goes up to 24 pounds, and yes, I compensate for the plastic bowl...

Good Luck with your little ones, I love playing with them everyday!   A man called me today for my all black girl, he is thrilled, he is a corrections officer.....
that's just what he wanted was all black, sometimes people tell me they don't want the all black, I love them!!! 

             Paula

Hi again,

I will feed the source, the mom, & feed her all her favorites, as much as she wants, I would not feed the pups cause

it is all supply & demand, the more the pups nurse, the more milk the mom produces

I really don't weigh my pups at birth, I listen to the pups and see what they are saying, a pup that is content will settle
he will become quiet after nursing, and if he doesn't, than he has a problem, also, you can hear them gugging down the milk while they are nursing.

Just thought I'd throw that in....