raunt of the litter

Question
basset hound  puppy inside puppy chow  Are there any disadvantages to getting the raunt of a litter?

Answer
Yes, Reenie. Puppies can be runts for many reasons. It could be simply that this puppy was attached to a "bad" spot in the mother's uterus and did not receive the same amount of nutrition due to less blood flow than the other puppies were getting. Another reason a puppy could be a runt is that since dogs are capable of breeding/conceiving on different days of their cycle, the puppy that was conceived last didn't have the same amount of growing time as the rest of the puppies. Neither of these reasons cause permanent damage to the puppy, but without having a vet run tests, you have no way of knowing if the puppy is a runt because of one or both of these reasons.

However, there are slso a lot of genetic problems that can lead to small puppy size. Such as heart defects or liver shunts. A liver shunt, or a portosystemic shunt, is a normal fetal blood vessel that in the womb bypasses liver tissue, allowing the mother's system to filter out toxins for the developing baby. In some puppies, however, the shunt remains open after birth, compromising its liver function, slowing growth, and eventually resulting in death if not treated by surgery. A puppy with a liver shunt may appear close to the same size as its littermates when it is born, but it will not grow as rapidly as the rest.

Being a runt can also affect other parts of the pup's body, like its immune system. As the runt, its immune system may be slow to develop or may not ever fully develop. This can cause allergies later in life, and put the puppy at a bigger risk of contracting parvo, bordetella, distemper, or any number of diseases. Vaccines may fail, because the puppy may not be able to make enough antibodies to protect it. Being the runt can also affect lung development, causing asthma, or just making it difficult for the puppy to play or exert himself for long periods of time. Your vet can better inform you of other problems that can result from being the runt of the litter.

Sometimes runts can be just as healthy as the rest of the litter, although they may not get as big as the rest. If you are thinking of getting, or have already gotten, a runt puppy you should have it looked at by the vet to determine whether or not it has health problems.

Kristen