flared rib cage in puppy - Page 1

 I have a 8 day old litter of shih tzu puppies and one of the stronger ones recently went into decline.  Initially she howled all the time and stopped nursing.  At times she would turn blue and whimper a lot.  She lost a lot of weight and went back to her birth weight.  She is ghastly thin.  I have been using puppy formula as a complement to the breast milk and have tried to keep her warm as possible.  She has gained one ounce in the past 3 days (8 ounces now).  Her vet has said there is nothing to do other than what we have been doing (feeding with bottle and on mom every 2 hours, having our golden lick her to stimulate her, and keeping her warm).  My major concern is the flared ribcage.  Because she is so thin, I don't want to deny her extra feedings.  I have put warmed soft toys in the cage so that she is not flat on her tummy all the time.  Is there any thing else I can do?   What is her prognosis?  

That puppy sounds like what is called a SWIMMER. The ribs don't curve in the normal way but curve back outwards again. They don't often live long, but I know one who is about 6 years old. Poor dog is a whole bucket of genetic faults: monorchid, LC, and swimmer.

Maybe the term would help your vet look some stuff up about these puppies. But don't get all attached because the puppy will most likely die. SORRY. 

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its usually not a good sign when they have issues that young, there is usually something internal that is possibly  fatal. you could try giving it sub q fluids and supplement with a little dyne, its very upsetting ,I can empathize

Swimmers are more often found in overweight, rather than uberthin pups.  The combo of too much weight, and poor footing causes them to remain on their chest most of the time, and it will flatten out causing the front legs not to reach downward. In these cases reducing the food intake, improving the footing and even taping the front legs so that they are correctly under the body and the pup can't lay on it's chest as easily will often improve or even eliminate the issue. (I've done so on one Akita litter of my own, and an OES litter of 2 pups for a friend with 100% success and no after effects)

These pups don't really sound like swimmers though, it seems more like an  unthrfty puppy.  Either there is some birth defect that you can't detect or another issue.  All you can do is offer as much support as you are able and wait. You said the pups are only a bit over a week old. if it was a 6-7 week old pup, your chances are a lot better.  I wish you luck, but as others have said you may have to face the loss of the pup.  Did the vet check for a cleft pallet?  I know it's a genetic issue in  Shih Tsu's in some lines....

Shoot, the swimmer dog I know is GSD and was a swimmer at BIRTH. Never developed it.