I just wanted to let all you lovely people who gave me so much advice, support and good wishes, that I tragically lost Darcy last night at 2 weeks and 1 day old.
I thought we were over the worst, but sadly it wasnt to be. My heart is breaking as I write this, she was such a little fighter, and I will miss her so much.

Hi, hope someone can give me some tips here....Some of you will already be familiar with Darcy, the last pup in a litter that i am hand rearing..Well she may have a problem with dairy/lactose!
The reason im thinking this, is she was born fine, fed heartily from mum for first 2 days then went downhill rapidly. If you see my other post (can anybody help me!!) you will know the history, anyway, after tube feeding her with life-aid, she had nearly doubled her weight in 5 days, and so i introduced the evaporated milk very gradually, working up to nearly half/half with life-aid, and the last 2 days she went from 10.7oz to 9.4oz in 24 hours...ive taken her off the evaporated milk, just on the life-aid again, and she has gone up to 9.8 in 12 hours....
Im my opinion, there is a dairy/lactose problem here, and i dont want to play around with her nutrition while she is still so young and vulnerable, so i would love to hear from anyone who knows of any alternative feed regimes for a pup this age, where she will meet all her nutritional requirements, if poss without dairy etc.
Im not here for negative comments, as after feeding every 3 hours, pooping and generally being there for her constantly for the last 12 days, (and doing a thorough and precise job of it too i might add!) I would hope ive earnt the tiniest ammount of respect here!
I am just here in the hope that someone will have some ideas, or recipes for Darcy and myself to move forward with...Thanks in advance...and if anyone wants, my number is 07903359273 xx

I think it's more likely to be related to what happened to the other pups, Dairy/lactose intolerance usually kicks in after Breastfeeding is finished but it's not impossible ;)

Have you contacted the lovely lady who helped you with the pups?  she would have more experience in this area than most I would have thought, and just might know how to get around the problem ;)

Has the pup had any colostrum?  It can be bought online and might prove useful in this case, if mum has a problem, maybe the pup didn't get any useful colostrum when it suckled?  

Do you make up the milk with water or with life-aid? 

I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with Life Aid - is it a food or is it just for rehydration? 

I have missed your other thread so I may have completely the wrong idea, but have you tried the pup with bitch's replacement milk - Welpi or the like?  I know that some people have their own recipes for making puppy milk, but I've used Welpi and the Royal Canin puppy milk with success.

Best of luck

Hi, Yes she had some colostrum as she suckled off mum for first 48 hours or so. The colostrum bought on line isnt really much help, as it is mainly for the antibodies, and its after around 12 hours the pup cant really absorb them anymore, so really thats only for newborns and Darcy is 12 days old now.
Im trying her on half life-aid, and a splash of lactol to introduce her to it, while keeping a very close eye on her weight.
She suckles half of her feed from a bottle now, is very strong and active, hunts out my hand to suckle on my fingers and cuddle up, and EVERYTHING has a good old twitch when she is sleeping (she has even started having a little growl now when dreaming but god alone knows what she dreams about, as her eyes arent open yet, bless her!) mind you, my sister took a photo of her last night and she jumped at the flash, so any day now i would have thought!
Anyway, what im getting at, is she seems normal and healthy in every other way, so the only thing im really wanting to find is a dairy-free alternative just for the next week or two as i plan to start to wean her as soon as she gets her eyes open and adjusted.
Thanks, Tracey

Hi Tracey

I'm sorry but I'm still confused - why can't you just keep her on Lactol (or the like) while you wean her? That is what I would do. 

Are you going to wean her onto a complete food?  If so, then all you need to do is to follow the manufacturers instructions to make it into a porridge - but I always offer water (in a shallow bowl) once I start giving complete food. 

Hi Tracey have you only tried her with eveporated milk mix or have you used one of the propiety replacement milks?
I would maybe give one of the ones that are based on goats milk such asNutralac orLitterlac a try as they are slightly easier for them to digest. Sorry can't be of more help.
Best Wishes Gill

hi tracey i used nutralac on my litter when mum wasnt well and couldnt feed them ,like satincollie says its easier to digest and maybe it will be better for her than the eveporated !! just like babys carnt take some milks but can have others ,sorry not much help ,hope u can get this sorted ,good luck xx

hi

dont know if this will help but a friend has a litter that cant take milk of any kind, at the age of 2 1/2 weeks she mixed up pedigree puppy food with boiling water so it was really runny and offered it to the pups through a syringe (when it had cooled down ). the pups took to it right away and started to lap water the same day which was great as we were concerned about them dehydrating.    the food was given every 3 hours for a week then every 4 hours,  they are now 4 weeks and very healthy happy pups.

keep up the good work ! !

Nutrolac is a puppy milk formulated from Goats milk.

((((((cyber hugs))))))))
So very sorry......
Karen

Oh no i'm really sorry to hear that.  You did everything you could for the little one x

Sorry, so sorry to hear about little Darcy.

So very sorry to hear this sad news {{{{HUGS}}}}

You did your very best and you couldn't have tried harder for her.
Big hugs and thoughts for you
XXX

so sorry to hear this.  (((((hugs)))))

I am so sorry to hear that ((((((((((((( big hug)))))))))))))

That is heartbreaking, I'm so sorry :-(

oh im so so sorry, you did your very best, god bless.

I am so sorry.

So, so sorry to here this it is so heartbreaking, god bless, thinking of you,

Denese

I'm so sorry.  You did all that you could for her and that's all anyone can do.

Tracey so sorry to read this...you must be heart broken...RIP Darcy...

Oh dear, I'm so sorry. x

Very sorry to hear your news :-(

Sorry to hear the news about Darcy.

sorry to hear that, my thoughts are with you :(

Loosing a life is never easy but to have lost her so young and after so much hard work on your part must be heatbreaking.
Our love and thoughts are with you. You did all you could but it just was not to be.
Run free Darcy, your struggle is over rest in peace.
Aileen

Sorry to read your very sad news, after all you did for her you must be devastated. :(

tracey im sooo sorry to hear this ,{{{hugs}}} :( xxx

Im so very sorry x

So sorry to hear your sad news, I know only too well how you are feeling I have previously lost one at 4wks old.  (((((((hugs)))))) to you.

so sorry, you seemed to be over the worst. RIP Darcy :0(

I am so, so sorry.  You must have tried so hard for little Darcy.

I lost a little girl at 5 days old. It broke my heart and i think about her everyday.

RIP Darcy x

i am so sorry to read this! now i know the name of my first pup!

Thats a very kind thought indapendant1

That is a lovely thing to say indapendant....hope your Darcy makes you as happy as mine did...you've made me cry again, but in a nice way x

So sorry for your loss.  We lost Gizmo @ 2 days old.  We had to have him PTS, he had a cleft palate.  I miss him everyday, and say good morning to him every morning.  We buried him in a special wooden box under our apple tree.  xxx