I have a litter of 9 that is two weeks old tomorrow. They were all around 1lb. each when born. They are now just over 2 pounds. Bellies are full, mom is nursing regularly, puppies are content and happy, just little. Mom is eating well and is maintaining her weight. Mom is eating Royal Canin large breed puppy as well as 6% yogurt.
Stange to see eyes opening when they still just fit in my hand. All other development appears normal, starting to get up on their feet etc.. This is the first litter I have raised feeing RC so wondering if it the food. Use to feed Eukenuba and puppies were going home at 8 weeks weighing 16-20 lbs which to me is huge! Any thoughts?

I would begin them on food as soon as possible. Give them a nutrious gruel by around 2.5 weeks starting off slowly.

I bet they start to gain much better once on food. Perhaps Mum's milk just isn't as nutrious for an unknown reason.

If it were 1 or 2 pups, I would be worried about those but it's your entire litter. 1 lb. is a good size at birth. Have you discussed the situation with your vet or a repro vet?

That's my suggestions, a mushy, healthy gruel as soon as they get up on those little feet.

What do you feel their weights should be by now? Were you other litters much larger by this age, were there as many pups, same mom?

I wonder if the food you are feeding the bitch is proper to make nutritious milk for the puppies. I don't think Large Breed food is nutrient dense enough for a pregnant or nursing bitch.

Maybe consider changing foods to a performance diet, or an all-breed puppy food???

I would add something like puppy or performance also but by the time she switches her over completely, they'll be doing some good eating. Better some better milk than what she's prolly producing right now. It has to be the bitches milk, you're right Wag the Dog 1.

OP, how much did they gain at a week? I've found my litters double weight by 6 to 9 days depending on birth weight. The bigger they are, the longer it takes sometimes.

I would never feed large breed puppy food to a pregnant or nursing mom, or small puppies! I doesn't have the necessary fat for little babies. I would switch her over immediately and deal with her icky poop. Or switch her over a few days, but supplement with lots of good, high-protein, high fat foods.

Went onto the Royal Canin website and see what they write about the large breed puppy food, which is definitely not appropriate for a nursing mom or small puppies:

"MAXI Large Breed Puppy 32
Puppy Food for Large-Breed Puppies (56 to 100 lbs. at adulthood) from 5 to 15 Months of Age"

Most people recommend the MAXI Baby Puppy until 5 months of age.

I agree that most large-breed puppy foods are low in minerals necessary for good milk, along with lower fat and protein. Many manufacturers have somewhere in small print that it is not for nursing dams. OTH, puppies that grow slowly are at lower risk for hip dysplasia. I would agree that adding a performance, all life stages or a baby puppy type food would be better. Supplements of eggs, chicken and yogurt plus tums (Calcium) added to your food to make up for its deficiencies can get you through until you get what you need at the store.

You may also need to consider worming them for roundworms once they have been on the better food and better milk for a few days, at least by a month of age.

Enjoy the babies!

Large breed puppy is for large breed puppies. She should be on her regular food, but at this stage probably 1 1/2- 2 times the amount of food. Do not give her calcium unless she were to show signs of eclampsia. Do not supplement the pups with calcium at all. When it is time to start feeding give THEM the large breed puppy in gruel format.

*OTH, puppies that grow slowly are at lower risk for hip dysplasia.*

Charlotte, I agree but not at this age of 2 weeks. I try to keep my pups on lower protein after fully weaned so they don't grow too fast. I am against the grain-free food b/c of the high protein and feel they are not healthy for pups especially. Very hi-protein is hard for the body and skeleton to handle. Some breeders will argue that their pups rate OFA Excellent but their entire litters are not OFA x-rayed.

This growth is too slow & can be fixed with food changes plus adding food for the babies that is nutrional.

I don't use puppy food at 5 mo. I switch my pups at 4.5 months to adult food under 30% protein and it seems to work well in lots of ways including healthy skeletons. I advise my puppy buyers to do the same although their vets push Eukanuba small breed or Science Diet puppy until 12 mo. doG knows why except when they sell a SD product. Checking fat & protein on the label for growing pups is important to me but that is just my humble opinion.

I hope these pups start to gain better. They will catch up to where they should be. Wag The Dog was right, it has to be the food Mum is on. I hope others learn from this breeders experience.

I am sure some of you won't agree with me. I said JMHO for that reason. I don't fix what isn't broken for my breedings.

Good luck to the OP and her pupsters. They will grow better soon.

What is gruel???

Last year I had a litter of 13 (ten living) and they were very small. I was concerned about their small size even up until the time that they left. I fed them PP performance and started a gruel by 3 weeks. They were still smaller than my typical 7 week old puppies, but now at 10 months, they are just as big as any of my pups. Don't let it worry you!

I work for Royal Canin and can tell you that we DO NOT recommend Maxi Large Breed Puppy food for lactation!!!!

IMMEDIATELY switch to either Maxi Babydog, Small Breed Puppy or Medium Breed Puppy. Large breed puppy food is designed to slow down growth, thus has reduced calorie and fat content. Lactation is a HIGH energy time and to produce good milk mom needs high calories and fat in her diet.

Feel free to contact me directly.

Furrball. This is a web definition..........Gruel is a type of porridge that is made with a higher water to grain ratio than is regular porridge. The result is a rather soupy end product.

For puppies.......In beginning, young puppy food, it is for the 1st mealsof pups without teeth. It usually means a mushy, beginning food for pups with none or just breaking in teeth. The pups can't chew plain softened dog kibble yet so adding some ingredients like rice cereal with fluids like puppy formula and warm water to soften the puppy kibble, jarred baby meats, yogurt and zillions of other healthy recipes, it can make it more nutrious. Some breeders make gruel kind of foods for younger pups like these pups that need extra nutrition so they start growing a little faster.

Ok, thanks! And they should be started on gruel when? About 2 weeks???

"I work for Royal Canin and can tell you that we DO NOT recommend Maxi Large Breed Puppy food for lactation!!!!"
Odd, as this link off the Royal Canin website, the link off Maxi Large Breed Puppy
http://products.royalcanin.us/products/dog-food/maxi-large-breed-puppy-32.aspx

to their feeding guidelines and nutritional info:
http://products.royalcanin.us/media/625/maxi_large_breed_puppy_32_info.pdf
Royal Canin specifically mentions that it is formulated to meet AAFCO guidelines for "growth, gestation, and lactation. "
So you may want to bring that up internally at Royal Canin. I am pleased to see that the protein is a good 32% and fat is 15%.

I have to wonder if, in warm weather, the litter in question is settling in to nurse for a good long time, as the foremilk is more like skim milk whereas the hind milk is like a rich milkshake. They need both.

Also, did the dam have any mastitis? The milk seemed thinner in one of my dams after a bout of mastitis and antibiotics, which was good at first to keep things flowing. Normally I feel that nothing can beat the dam's milk, but I did start supplementing with mushy solids early, at a little over a month of age. Worming with pyrantel pamoate also helped them.

Yes, the bag states the product meets AFCO requirements for growth, gestation and lactation. However, those requirements are very minimal and it does not say RC recommends the product for all those periods. If you look at the age brackets you will see it says from 1-2 months and 3-4 months - Feed MaxiBabydog. There is a big difference between minimum requirements of nutrients versus optimal feeding. Any questions please feel free to contact the customer service number 800-592-6687 the veterinarians will be happy to explain further.

okay WOW, I could swear that is what I was told to feed, crazy me for not thinking about that.
I am switching right away and once eyes are all open will start on some gruel as well. Thanks guys funny how the answer is right in front of you but doesn't occur to some. Now I feel horrible

No mastitis and like I said pups are nursing regularly so obviously it is the food.

Thank you again