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Dealing with a Premature Litter
I got a call from a breeder who was asking for my help. She had a litter of preemie puppies and only one was still alive. She had admitted that the pup had the best chance of survival with myself and my co-breeder and asked that we please help. We agreed and did everything we could to try and save this puppy.
Preemie babies, rarely survive. In this case, the first 2 were still born, and 1/3 of the average birth weight. The next 2 puppies had come out and faded very fast, again they were both 1/3 the normal birth weight, approximately 2 oz. They were about the size of your thumb with very little hair. Then this little mouse was born at 85 grams, (3 oz.), average pups for this breed, are 160 to 180 grams (6 to 7 oz.). We named him Mousey.
My Co-breeder and I, were hopeful that we could likely save this puppy, so I flew over and picked the preemie puppy and the dam up. Preemie puppies are weak, chill easy, and usually do not know how to swallow as the sucking reflex is not ready.
He would not nurse, and needed to be tube fed (canine milk replacer and a little bit of glucose, karo, honey, or nutrical). Make sure you add in some of the dam's colostrum, retrieved by hand.
He also needed to be kept at approximately 95-100 degrees F., much warmer than newborn babies. But be careful not to burn him. He will need to be hydrated more, because of the heat. It is ok to leave the preemie puppy in a warm box with the dam, but ONLY if she tucks him in close, otherwise, he should be in a separate incubator box. The reason you need to keep the puppy warmer is, the puppy is supposed to be inside the dam for another week. The dam's temperature is 99 to 101 degrees F. However, with the warmer temperature you risk the chance of dehydration.
To keep a puppy warm an incubator is best, however if you do not have one you can also use other warm draft free spots. Such as a heating pad wrapped around a soft sided crate. Inside are warm bean bags, to hold in the heat.
Taking care of a preemie puppy is a 24 hour job, feeding and pottying every 2 hours non-stop. Therefore my co-breeder and I were rotating the puppy.
On the third night the caregiver reports: Still hanging in there. Didn't look good at 3 a.m., sounded like it was hard for him to breathe. I have been giving nutrical. He has been in a very warm box by himself.
This is what I had done for him:
-I turned him regularly in his warm box
-I poo and peed him (massaging his voiding area, till I got him to void)
-when it was time for him to eat, I took him to mom.
-she cleaned him up well.
-I tried him on a teat, and he had attempted to nurse which told me he was hungry.
-then I tube fed him the nutrical
-I massaged him, & if he was acting "alert" (wiggling around) I tried putting him back with his mom again.
-then back into his warm box.
He seemed better at 5 a.m.
Day 1 he was 87 grams (3 oz.) and very dehydrated.
Day 2 he was 97 grams
Day 3 he was 107 grams
A very good scale, that weighs to the gram, or less than an ounce is very important and a MUST.
Unfortunately this story does not have a happy ending. Mousey did not make it. He had a bad night and died in my hands. As breeders we do what we can to save the puppies. Sometimes things are beyond our, and our vet's control. The vet feels this boy was 8 to 10 days preemie, and he had very low odds to survive.
All you can do is throw everything at him, and hope for the best. The lungs were not developed.
A pup up to 5 days early has a great chance to survive.
A pup 5 to 7 days early needs TLC and has a good chance to survive.
A pup 8 to 10 days early needs EVERYTHING done and more, and has a poor chance to survive.
A pup over 10 days early will not survive.
Courtesy of MistyTrails and Seantiago Havanese.
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Although this section is based on a
whelping of an English Mastiff, it also contains good general whelping
information in large breed dogs. You can find more whelping information in the links above. The links below
tell a story about Sassy, an English Mastiff. Sassy has a wonderful temperament.
She loves humans and Adores human children. An all around mild mannered,
wonderful Mastiff. Sassy however is not the best mother towards her puppies, she
is not rejecting them, she will nurse them when a human places them on her to
feed, however she will not clean the pups or pay any attention to them. It is as
if, they are not her puppies. This litter is getting moms milk, with major human
interaction, manually giving each and every pup what they need. In return, the
pups will be super socialized and will make remarkable pets, however the work
involved is astounding. It takes one dedicated breeder to keep this situation
healthy. Thankfully this litter has just that, a dedicated breeder. Read the
links below to get the full story. There is a wealth of info that everyone can
appreciate and benefit from.
C-Section in a Large Breed Dog
Newborn Puppies... What you need
Whelping Mastiff Puppies One to Three Days Old
Things do
not always go as planned (imperforate anus)
Orphaned Litter (not the plan)
10
Days Old Plus ++
3 Week Old Puppies
Puppies 3 Weeks - time to start
potty training
Puppies 4 weeks old
Puppies 5 weeks old
Puppies 6 weeks old
Puppies 7 weeks old
Socializing the Puppies
Mastitis in Dogs
Whelping Large Breed Dogs Main
Whelping, a new
found respect |
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