Puppy problems

Question
My german shepherd is now 1, his mom had a litter of 8.5  3 had been dead for a while, 1 drowned and there was half of one in the sack with another one, the remaining 4 came out good. but one has floppy ears and my main concern is the male who since birth would "regurgitate" - i think - the milk, it would come out through his nose as well, and has always had a strange noise coming from his throat. now he can only eat softened kibble in an upright position any clues on wat this could be?   sry its so long

Answer
Hi Rosa:

Without an actual physical exam it's impossible to say with 100% certainty what the problem could be. My best guess about the puppy that regurgitates is that he may have some degree of a cleft palate. I would strongly urge you to take all the puppies & the mother to your vet as soon as possible for a thorough examination. If the puppy does have a cleft palate, it's very easy for the puppy to aspirate liquid into its lungs which could easily lead to pneumonia or a massive upper respiratory infection and/or a sinus infection to develop since there's an opening in the roof of the mouth & into sinus cavity. There are varying degrees of cleft palates & if his is smaller, it could likely be corrected surgically but if left untreated it's also highly likely such problems could develop. The mother should be examined to ensure there's no remaining tissue in her uterus -- since she gave birth to only a partial fetus I would definitely want to be certain nothing has been retained. I personally routinely administer all bitches an oxytocin injection within a day of whelping -- this is a drug which causes the uterus to contract & expel anything that may have been retained. If any tissue, fetus or placenta has been retained it can easily lead to an extremely serious condition known as pyometra, which is essentially a massive uterine infection & is life-threatening. Symptoms of pyometra include excessive thirst & a foul odor emitting from her vaginal region. I'm unclear as to the actual age of the puppy -- do you mean he's now one year old? Or was he just born recently, perhaps one month? Either way, he really needs to be seen by a professional & have his condition properly diagnosed. There are other possibilities but as I stated, without more information & a hands-on, comprehensive exam I wouldn't want to merely guess as this sounds far too serious.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions. I'll be hoping for the very best!