my pug had her puppies

Question
my pug had her puppies today but i do have a question she had 8 which only 5 survived it is her first litter and the vet told me to expect to lose one or so it all happened so fast there was no time between pups only less then 5 min not the 30 min or so that everyone was telling me. but my question is all 4 of the fawn pug are doing great but we lost 3 out of the 4 black is thee a flaw in the black pug and is that why there are not as many? i can't find any info anywhere about this any the pug expert is on vacation.  the other question is we my lose the last black pug due to when the mother was removing the cord she pulled to hard and we had to rush it to the vet to but "stuff" back in and stitch her up a major hernia repair but i cant get her to nurse and i am having a hard time getting her to bottle feed.  Thank you Robert

Answer
Hi Robert -- congratulations on your puppies...now the hard part begins.

There could have been any number of reasons that you lost just blacks from the placement in the birthing order, birth trauma, congenital defects or a problem with the milk supply.  Only an autopsy would tell you for sure. Thirty percent of puppies die between birth and weaning and another small percent die within the first two weeks.  

Check to make sure the pup that is having a hard time nursing does not have a cleft palate. Also large naval hernias can allow for the prolapse of abdominal organs.

The pup can be fed by a spoon, eye dropper, baby bottle or stomach tube.  The spoon and eye dropper although readily available, can cause choking. The pup has to be strong enough to suck out of a baby bottle. So we recommend the feeding tube, it really is the best way to feed immature, sick or weak pups.  It takes about 2 minutes to complete feeding and no air is swallowed.  

You can purchase a milk replacement from your vet or use a "home-made" temporary substitute. Remember that cows milk contain only half the number of calories and nutrients needed to rear pups with goats milk is only slightly higher.  Both are higher in lactose and may be harder to digest