My puppies are 3 weeks old, mum is a very large bitch just born to have puppies. She only has 4 but they are so fat I am starting to worry. As yet I have not offered them anything extra and I have no intension of doing so at this time.
I have been allowing mum free time away from them but they are still way to fat.

I had a lab years back that had 11 pups one litter and then the next litter only 2 pups, she had enough milk for 10 pups, so one of those pups would cry cause he ate so much and had a belly ache, my daughter would rock him to sleep, never thought you could have too much of a good thing...

Their weight will level off....

i had a pup once in a litter that looked too fat.
i had her wormed and that took care of the problem.
check for worms.
if they look like they have  bellys like a horse, that is worms.

I agree with that it could be worms. I start worming my pups at 10 days with nemex and do it every ten till they are gone. The reason they get hoooks and roundworms from the mothers milk. I really think this helps the pups in their development because they can absorb everything. My pups look sometimes 7weeks old and they are only 6 weeks..no joke.. because they are absorbing everything plus what I supplement their food with when they start eatting. When you start feeding the pups I introduce them to only hamburger and gerber rice for about a week. I ccok up the hamburger and then add the rice. Then at about 5 weeks I add just a handful of dog food then start increasing it out during the week but blending the food ,I feel this cuts back on the diarreha and gives the stomach time to adjust.Then by six weeks they are fully adjusted and then it is mainly cooked hamburger on the kibble softened by that. This has worked years for me and just thought I would share this with you. Also if you over feed the pups they can get diarreha also so it ca be a juggling act.
Good luck,

Thanks for the replies, they have already had their first worming at 2 weeks next will be due friday. While they are doing so well on mum I won't offer them anything extra for the moment and yes hamburger is most definately the best way to go when I start I also add goat milk at first and soaked blended kibble after a week.

This bitch had 7 pups in her last litter with only 1 that was too fat but with 4 there is no competion at the milk bar (she also has 10 nipples) my other bitches only have 8.

My previous litters are alway climbing out of the whelping box by now, I don't think these will be out by 5  weeks the way they are going, Just very lazy, contented puppies at 3 weeks old.




  

They look fine to me...they are babies..babies look plump because they are not fully proportioned..you are worrying for nothing...be glad they are fat and not underweight and mum has no milk...quit worrying..they look great...I love fat puppies....healthy .......
doing the goats milk is perfect..

YR

I wanna smell their puppy breath!!!  They're so cute!

luvdemdogs,

I can tell you that they smell beautiful, I just can't help picking them up just to smell their breath then I annoy them just to see those little tails wag and hear their little pretend barks of annoyance.
I can't wait until they are up and around so that we can go outside and play games.

Sending you PUPPY, PUPPY BREATH waves    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your Pups look fantasic and not over fat at all just great and healthy, do not worry here are Two Fat Puppies, Izzy on the Right Panting, and she has turned out fine, and so will yours
Steve

Steve, that is just the reason I was so worried, my puppies are always panting, not moving around that much but panting I was stressing out thinking that there might be a problem because of their expanding girth and lack of movement within their whelping area. I just cannot wait until we have a fine day so that I can take them outside and let them explore.

Today has been better I have seen them climbing over each other and moving more, actually standing without the wobbles.

Every litter we breed is different and each one gives us a reason to worry about what is normal (is there such a thing as normal). Thankfully we have sites such as this where we can talk to each other and learn that normal can be a great many things.

Thanks, I am following Izzy's adventures and alway look forward to her photos.