When is a runt puppy considered safe and past the critical stage?

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.

Hello there! I'm sorry to hear about your runty puppy. If the mother won't feed him and you can't get him to nurse, it's unlikely that he's going to survive for very long. Sometimes, small or runty puppies have internal abnormalities that prevent them from being able to nurse properly, and these pups generally don't make it without aggressive care. I highly recommend that you bring this pup in to the vet first thing in the morning for evaluation and treatment - even if that treatment may mean humane euthanasia. Keep him warm and try to feed him warmed milk replacer at least every few hours. If he appears to be very lethargic or is having breathing difficulty, you may need to bring him to an emergency vet tonight. There is a 24-hour hospital near you - here is their information: Animal Emergency

I would recommend taking him away from the others for feeding and hand feed a calorie rich food such as royal canin recovery or hills a/d through a syringe if he won't eat voluntarily. Try to get an earlier appointment for full health check if possible

It is impossible to give you a definite answer to this question. Certainly the poor start in life could have had a detrimental effect to the pups development especially its immune system. However, a lot of puppies that have had a bad start dont look back once they get into a good routine. My advice would be to keep the pup well up to date on vaccines, worming, external parasite control and feed a good quality puppy food such as royal canin/hills. You could have the puppies bloods checked when it is 6 months just to make sure its organs are doing well.

Hello. There always seems to be one puppy that just seems to struggle, but this does not mean anything is wrong. As long as you see the mother dog nursing her, cleaning her, & not ignoring or pushing this puppy to the side, then she will be fine. Often these slow starters will easily catch up to their littermates in time. Just keep a close eye on everyone. Buying a small digital kitchen scale & taking weights 2 times a week will make sure everyone is growing. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

If she drinks her milk properly and is otherwise in good shape i would say it may be normal, keep on feeding her (or is she fed by her mom?) and see how she goes, she will have a full vet exam when she is 6-8 months before her first vaccination.

Provide additional heat support as needed. Be careful to not cause burns though. You can pick up some Esbilac or Pet-Lac at the local Petco and supplement the runt. Keep track of his weight to confirms adequate gains.