One of the problems can be FADING PUPPY SYNDROME.  There is no one reason for this condition.  We will try to cover a few of the reasons here and some things that may help FPS.  regardless of what you do, you can not save all of them, you can only try.  One is always better than none.

  A number of reasons.

      a.  too hot
      b.  too cold
      c.  swimmer
      d.  low energy
      e.  premature birth
      f.  low birth weight
      g.  dehydration
      h.  congenital anomalies
      i.  cleft palate

A.  Too Hot:                 <back to top>
        1.  One way to determine if a puppy is too hot is to check the color of its paw pads.  If they are cherry red, you are cooking your puppy.  Remove the heat source to a more acceptable range.
        2.  Another way to check the puppy's body for being to hot or cold is to place your lips on the top of the puppy's head.  This is called a 'lip test'.  Your lips are 98.8 degrees.  When you place the top of the puppy's head against your lips you can tell if they feel too warm or too cold.  You can practice this on puppies that are doing okay until you get a feel for this method.

B.  Too Cold:                 <back to top>
       1.  Mom tends to push puppies that are too cool out of the nest.
       2.  Another sign of a cold puppy is the inability to attach to a nipple.
        3.  Do the 'lip test' to verify that the puppy is too cold.
       4.  You must raise the body temperature by:
                a.  removing puppy to a heated container (box or basket, etc.)
                b.  if the puppy is extremely cold you can place the puppy in a sink of very warm water, 105 to 110 degrees, keeping the head out of the water.  Massage the body to stimulate blood flow.  Maintain the temperature of the water by adding more hot water when needed.  Continue doing this until the body temperature is back up to normal.  Towel dry and keep warm until the whole coat is dry before placing back in with mom.  You don't want him to chill again.
                c.  Give hydrolyzed sugar solution before putting back with mom regardless of method of raising the body temperature. ( Two tablespoons of boiled water to one teaspoon of white corn syrup)
                d.  Once the puppy has been chilled, he must be monitored for the next week or so because they will have more of a tendency to chill again because they can not maintain their body temperature.
                e.  Puppies with low temperatures can not assimilate milk and should be given hydrolyzed sugar solution.  They can stay on this for ten days if need be.

C. Swimmer puppies:  This is a link to the information and pictures of a swimmer puppy and his recovery.

D.  Low energy:                 <back to top>
         1.  inability to attach to nipple and nurse
         2.  very small
         3.  dehydration
         4.  inability to right themselves when on their side or placed on their side and crawl
         5.  extremely wobbly head
                a.  for all of these symptoms give hydrolyzed sugar solution

E.  Premature birth:                 <back to top>
        When the puppies are born premature, the major concern is to keep the temperature and humidity right.  They can not maintain their own body heat.  The higher humidity will help keep the temperature more even.
        They sometimes have a problem with nursing.  It seems that those who are premature do not have the instinct to nurse.  These will have to be tube fed.  With tube feeding the example is as follows:
           1.  Lay the puppy on its side - measure from the last rib to the puppy's mouth making sure that the puppy's neck is stretched outward.
            2.  Mark on the tube where the puppy's mouth starts.  You can use a permanent marker or tape.
            3.  Using a syringe, fill it with whatever liquid you are going to give the puppy.  Attach the feeding tube to the syringe and push the plunger until a few drops of liquid comes out of the end of the feeding tube.  This makes sure there is no air in the tube.
            4.  At this point, insert the tube into the puppy's mouth.  Sometimes it helps if you squeeze a few drops into its mouth so it will swallow.
            5.  Gently push the tube down its throat.  If the tube does not go in all the way to the mark or tape, pull it out and start again.  The reason it does not go all the way down is because it went into the lungs instead of the stomach.  Pull it back out and try again.  Just keep doing this until it goes to the mark or the tube.  Don't ever push to hard, when you meet resistance STOP.
            6.  At this point you can start pushing the plunger down slowly.  To give more you, unattached the syringe from the feeding tube, keeping the tube in the puppy, fill the syringe and squirt a little out so there is no air bubble and reattach it to the feeding tube.  Repeat as necessary.  This will take practice to hold the puppy in one hand to keep the tube in place and with the other hand fill the syringe.
            7.  When done with feeding the puppy, gently remove the tube.
            8.  Next you take a warm wet cloth and massage the genitalia so the puppy can relieve itself.  It is the stimulation that makes the waste expel. We recommend having a vet or someone experienced show you how to do this the first time

F.  Low Birth Weight:                 <back to top>
        Low birth weight can be caused by a number of things, some you will know some you can only guess at.  It does not matter the why only what to do about it once the problem is there.
            1.  Whatever the reason it will result in you taking care of one or more puppies because of low birth weight.
                a.  treat them almost as orphans except that they might be able to nurse.  The one major problem here will be that they can not fight for the right to nurse.  Even if they do manage to get on a nipple, a larger stronger puppy can and usually does push them off.
                b.  Try to get them to nurse on mom.  This can be a challenge because you have to keep the other puppies from pushing the puppy off.  If this can not be accomplished, you will have to feed the puppy either with a feeding tube or a bottle Or in my opinion the easiest way.
The Glove
                c.  You will have to keep this up until the puppy gets strong enough to nurse on its own and hang on.

G.  Dehydration                 <back to top>
            1.  Check the puppy by picking the skin up at the back of the neck (by the shoulder blades) and releasing it.  If the skin stays up in the air or returns to normal very slowly, the puppy is dehydrated.  Compare with normal puppy's, whose skin should feel fat, resilient, and return to a normal position immediately.
                a.  You must rehydrate the puppy.  Either by taking it to the vet's and having fluid put under the puppy's skin or putting it there yourself.  You can have your vet show you how to do this.

H.  Congenital Anomalies                 <back to top>
        When you can not figure out what is wrong and everything checks out normal it may be congenital anomalies (defects at birth)
            1.  There can be a number of problems associated with hormones.  Certain hormones have to be released at intervals and if they do not the puppy dies.
            2.  Sometimes the tube connecting the kidneys to the bladder does not properly form and results in a failure.  This is more male oriented and usually the puppy does not survive past three weeks.  There are no outward visible sign.

I.  Cleft Palates  This is a link to an article on cleft palates, with a description and some preventative information.
        With cleft palates, you can not always tell this is a problem just by looking at the puppy.
        Sometimes the cleft, also, is accompanied by a hair lip.  These are obvious.  It is the cleft that effects the soft palate at the back of the mouth.
        This prevents the puppy from attaching to the nipple properly and the milk comes out of it's nose.  If this happens, take a bright light and look into the puppy's mouth.  Another person here would be a great help to you.  If the puppy has a cleft you will be able to see the incomplete roof of it's mouth. euthanasia is recommended