by Chris Dixon

Created on: December 29, 2009

Some say survival of the fittest is nature's way, but I just cant help but try to do what I can when I see an animal in need. Recently I found myself in the predicament of having to bottle feed a runt puppy. He was born two hours after the rest of the litter and was much smaller than the rest. From the start he seemed to have some developmental issues. I began to research runt puppy problems and began to hope he was simply undercooked and therefore underdeveloped. Within 10 hrs of being born the pup began fading. He was cold and listless. I could not get him to eat from his momma's tit. He did not seem able to latch on for some reason. I placed some Karo syrup on his tongue to help give him some energy, but this did not give him the strength to latch on either. From there I had to make the serious decision of just how involved I was going to be. Bottle feeding an animal is nothing to take lightly. I knew that if I made this commitment it meant a few months of sleepless nights, or at least nights when I would no longer get uninterrupted sleep! I couldn't let him die just so I could have normal sleep. But I never dreamed how attached I would become to the little guy either, despite knowing the odds were stacked against him.

Any living creature that doesn't get the colostrum from its momma's milk within the first few days of life will have a much weaker immune system and a lesser chance of survival right out of the starting gate. A runt puppy really needs this, and there chances of survival are not very good without it. You should always try to get the puppy to latch on to momma's nipple if you can, even if they only get a few drops of colostrum, its powerful stuff. You may wish to take your puppy to a vet if it absolutely can not latch on properly. One reason could be that some pups are born with a cleft palette. It is not as apparent as when it afflicts humans. In dogs it can mean they have an underdeveloped esophagus, sometimes with a hole in it. They can not eat or drink properly and will aspirate their food., This will in turn cause pneumonia, which will most likely kill the puppy. Most vets will counsel you on putting a dog in this condition to sleep. If you do attempt to bottle feed a dog in this condition please feed very little at a time, very slowly. It may be best to feed this pup with an eye dropper a drop or two at a time. sometimes this hole can close up or heal on its own, but

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