Dismiss Notice
Hello Guest, Welcome to the new version of Sheltieforums.com. If you have any questions regarding the new software, please post in the following section: Forum Upgrade

Heaviest birth weight?

Discussion in 'The Sheltie Standard' started by Samba, Dec 18, 2011.

  1. Samba

    Samba Forums Regular

    39
    5
    0
    Oct 27, 2011
    MO
    What is the heaviest any of you have expierenced or know for certain for a newborn sheltie?
     
  2. ClantyreSheltie

    ClantyreSheltie Forums Sage

    2,876
    20
    130
    Feb 24, 2010
    Baltimore
    I have never personally had a puppy weight more than 5.5 oz. I seem to specialize in little ones. But we bout a puppy from a breeder who was a singleton "pound puppy". Born by c-section at 16 ounces.
     
  3. Justicemom

    Justicemom Forums Celebrity

    6,225
    37
    175
    Oct 2, 2009
    Minnesota
    1lb 1oz- male bi black. Nemo/Kent lines son x Armani daugther. He was a bruiser born naturally believe or not. He was so nice, of course. His breeder kept him to grow out went over at 7 months. I think he is about 17" now. He didn't grow as much as one would have thought.

    Racheal, we have not had 1 under 5.5oz here. Our smallest was 5.7oz and she needed to be tube feed, very sickly. Looking to be around 13.5-14 now. I know Diva was 6.4 oz herself and Ember was 5.9 oz. Our avg is about 8oz. biggest one we have is 10.2 oz. Fat fat puppies.
     
  4. ClantyreSheltie

    ClantyreSheltie Forums Sage

    2,876
    20
    130
    Feb 24, 2010
    Baltimore
    I have had two 3.5 oz girl puppies. Both lived. I refuse to tube feed, either eat or die. I spent three days teaching the first one little one (Evie) to nurse, the other one nursed right off once we got and kept her warm.
     
  5. granite

    granite Forums Sage

    3,082
    3
    0
    Apr 6, 2008
    earth
    Our smallest pup at birth was Emma's firstborn "Mercy" who was 6.7 ounces; the largest was a pup named "MacTavish" from her second litter who was 10.7 ounces.

    Zoey was not small at birth, coming into the world at 7.4 ounces. She was the smallest at birth in her litter, followed closely by her sister Josey at 7.7 ounces. Of course, now Zoey is 6.5 lbs and Josie is 22 lbs! There's not much of a way to predict at birth the size that they are going to grow to; too many variables.
     
  6. danisgoat

    danisgoat Moderator

    7,388
    849
    260
    Jul 23, 2009
    NJ
    Dr. Shelli-

    Are your bitches fed raw through their pregnancy?

    This was something my mom was discussing with her friend with the same line of setters. My mom did not feed raw through the pregnancy and the mom had 11 puppies all over 1lb. Her friend fed her bitch raw and the bitch had 6 puppies, half the weight as our pups and 2 died. This is a common occurance for this breeder.

    I was just curious if it was a nutrition issue or not?
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2011
  7. Justicemom

    Justicemom Forums Celebrity

    6,225
    37
    175
    Oct 2, 2009
    Minnesota
    With Diva's first litter, she was being raw fed 100%, before, during and after pregnancy. We focused on 80/10/10 and the last 1-2 weeks really cut the bone down. Fed to condition, light rib covering of fat. She had 4 and her pups were between 8.5-9.25 oz. 2nd litter she is kibble fed with some raw. 5 pups 1 5.9oz ,other between 8.5-0.2 oz. Increase to 2x maintance week 1 of lactation, and 2x 2 week and 3 x week 3 and then to maintain weight. pups start on ground raw at 3.5-4 weeks or so.

    With Cassi, she was 50/50 raw and life abundance kibble. 3 pups 1 5.7oz and 2 around 9 oz. Fed to condition. Her first litter (not with us) she also had 3 but they were 4-5 oz.

    Ada, Birch's mom, was also 50/50 Raw/kibble- 7 puppies between 7 7/8 and 9 1/4 oz.

    All of the puppies very very fat, mom's maintained weight really well. I think Diva and Ada were incredible moms. Never wanted to leave their babies and took great care of them,tons of milk. Cassi was less milk and care but did an ok job. We didn't do raw 100% because prices are crazy right now and we don't have the energry or time to look for deals.

    I wonder about mothering ability and husbandary more than nutrion but if she is doesn't have her ratio right that could be the problem too.
     
  8. HopeShelties

    HopeShelties Forums Enthusiast

    1,945
    1
    85
    Dec 2, 2008
    Kentucky
    The largest I've whelped was 9oz delivered naturally from a 13.25" bitch.
    The smallest was 2oz. The whole litter was awfully small at birth, ranging from 2-3.5oz. There was also one stillborn. It was the most bizarre litter. All were attached to the same placenta and one, the stillborn, had 2 sacks around it. I tubefed them until they were strong enough to get enough nourishment on their own. They did show a desire to nurse, but with such low birth weights, felt supplementing what they were getting was a good idea... They were just tiny. I'm sure it was from the strange circumstances. Including the stillborn, it was a 4 puppy litter.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2011
  9. JessicaR

    JessicaR Forums Enthusiast

    1,216
    1
    95
    Sep 8, 2008
    Tiffin Ohio
    Belle's pups ranged in size from 8oz for the smallest to 11oz for the largest
     
  10. ClantyreSheltie

    ClantyreSheltie Forums Sage

    2,876
    20
    130
    Feb 24, 2010
    Baltimore
    The dam of my first litter ate Purina One and did fine. Her sister, the dam of the second litter ate raw, and also did fine. I saw no difference in birth weights or milk levels or anything. Both spat their puppies out quickly (under two hours each), and were good mamas. Nice thing about little babies is that they get them out fast.
     

Share This Page