Puppy question

I would hope that they are supplementing them. I would rotate say 5 in and out and make sure all were gaining. You have to catch a failure to gain or thrive quickly with newborns, perhaps they are supplementing off camera? Quite a few bitches would need a helping paw...er hand with that many...if only to make sure their less than 10 nipple arrangement is used to the best of it's ability!

Gina - that's what I thought and what I'd read but when I mentioned it, someone said "nah, they just take turns at the milk bar". These babies are sooo tiny and I haven't seen anyone supplementing since they were born. Hopefully I've just missed it.

I would think it depends on the dog and the people.  When I was a kid, our Norwegian Elkhound had a litter of 10.  Mom was all set to do the supplement/rotate bit, but Helga (the Elkhound) did it herself.

The largest litter I've seen personally (grew up with them) was a litter of 12 Lab puppies, and all grew up to be healthy, happy puppies. However the breeder may need to help out if there are not enough nipples or if the pups simply need help finding all the available nipples - although the larger bitches are generally great at producing enough milk to suit the pup's needs.

The largest Schnauzer litter we had was 9 pups. That was a huge litter for a small breed, but once again all turned out to be extremely healthy pups with little need for intervention. It really depends on the female and how much help may be needed.

I agree with what everyone has said - it depends on the dog/breed. Milk production is generally increased with demand and in some breeds having 8+ puppies is pretty normal. With GSDs, litters of 8-10 are fairly common - both of mine came from litters of 10 which required no special help.

Thanks all for easing my mind. The dog is a beautiful Gordon Setter, so if large matters, she's got that going for her. I noticed that compared to other litters of 4 or 5, her crew seems to eat constantly but she is managing to sleep while they're doing that, so at least she's getting rest. I noticed one of the little ones was lost yesterday and screaming it's lungs out and mom just used her rear foot to nudge it back in the right direction without disturbing the rest of the litter. Too sweet. :)

AgileGSD

I agree with what everyone has said - it depends on the dog/breed. Milk production is generally increased with demand and in some breeds having 8+ puppies is pretty normal. With GSDs, litters of 8-10 are fairly common - both of mine came from litters of 10 which required no special help.

Ditto - Gracie was part of a litter of 11 born on a shelter floor two days after mom & dad were relinquished, and they didn't need any special help despite that kind of stress because her mom was fantastic. 

Nikon was from a litter of ten.  All but one survived.  The one that didn't grew normally until she was about 3 weeks and then stopped growing.  The vet was not sure what was wrong and euthanasia was considered, but a friend wanted to give her a chance and took care of her (she was removed from the litter early b/c she was so small she'd never push her way to the milk bar).  She ended up dying at two months because she had a heart defect, something she was born with and not related to being in a large litter.  All of the other nine pups were and are fine and healthy.

Kim_MacMillan

The largest litter I've seen personally (grew up with them) was a litter of 12 Lab puppies, and all grew up to be healthy, happy puppies.

My first Lab was 1 out of 12, too, and all grew up happy, healthy, sweet-as-pie dogs.

Underlying health issues aside, mammals can always make enough milk for their young.  The ,more the little one(s) suckle, the more milk the body makes.  If there's a problem, it's usually with logistics.  I know a couple of dogs who had large litter and coped just fine.  I think needing help is more the exception than the norm

Our friends golden had 11 puppies and they didn't supplement and all pups survived and were healthy.  I would think in most cases mother nature provides ample milk.  I do know that they started on solid foods after a few weeks and that helped I am sure.

Chuffy

Underlying health issues aside, mammals can always make enough milk for their young.  The ,more the little one(s) suckle, the more milk the body makes.  If there's a problem, it's usually with logistics.  I know a couple of dogs who had large litter and coped just fine.  I think needing help is more the exception than the norm

Yep, like Agile said GSDs often have litters of 8-10, sometimes even 12 or 14.  As long as the mother is healthy and the pups can get to the milk, it's not a problem.  Nikon's sister had to be removed because she was so small and weaker, she could not compete for the milk.  My Kenya was tube fed because she was the runt and her mother did not produce milk.  The others were brought to a surrogate but since Kenya was so small, again she would have had trouble getting to the milk so the breeder basically hand raised her from birth and everyone survived.  The dam was spayed once the condition was obvious.  When we visited Nikon at 4 weeks, the puppies were already getting some other stuff (cottage cheese, goats milk) and soft treats.  I've heard people say not to buy a puppy before 8 weeks because the puppy "needs the mother" but really it's because the puppy needs to be socialized with the litter mates.