Hi Everyone,

I am after any experiences of eclampsia, my girl had 7 puppies 6 days ago and has been fine and a superb first time mum, has been eating well and bright as a button.
Just now i took her out for a wee, she went both and then stood and looked at me with a worried look on her face. When i called her name she didnt wag her tail and seem stiff and hesitant to walk, i immediately thought of eclampsia and then she staggered across the grass, i got her indoors and she collapsed on the floor, i picked her up and put her in the car and straight to my vet, who thinks it is most likely eclampsia and gave her a calcium shot.

I am really shocked i have never had this before and she is on a good diet of puppy kibble and raw. She is however the only bitch i have had that wont drink the whelpi, i always give this for a few weeks after the birth.
I am going to put the powder in her food later and see if she will eat it that way.

Any experiences of this would be good and as the puppies are 6 days my vet said not to take them off, will she be ok feeding them?

She is home now and can stand and walk normally, just looks a little tired. Her gums were really pale but seem to be improving slowly also, any advice would be very much appreciated, i am terrified she will get really sick :(

Oh poor Mel, she is such a good mummy.

No advice sorry but i hope she will be fine from now on. Will she drink goats milk?

Louise

Thanks louise, no she wont drink milk at all

Yes she is such a good mummy, she dotes on her babies :)

Hope Mason is much better and home soon x

Sorry to hear that you have experienced eclampsia, fortunately never experienced it myself.
Have you tried giving her gruel. My bitches absolutely love it.
It is porridge oats, honey , eggs, glucose and milk powder (whelpi) and cows milk to cool it down.
Can't remember to actual measurements but if you are interested I can look it up when i go home.

I always give calcium supplements after my bitch has whelped and continue to do so till pups are 7-8 weeks old and the milk production has slowed down.

I agree with Alison get her on gruel with the whelpi and calcium supplements.

Hope she gets her strength back quickly

thanks, yes i am happy to try anything, i gave her whelpi powder mixed in her raw chicken and she enjoyed that so i will be adding that to her food each day too.
She is much more settled and her gum colour has pinked up too.

I would be interested to hear this recipe too please :)

Ah that's brilliant, really pleased to hear that hon.

I don't give calcium unless needed, by giving it it tells the body to stop producing it's own natural calcium

she has started panting a bit again, i know that some panting is completely normal for a while after whelping but i am worried something is starting up again or it is something else?  She has panted on and off since the birth so i dont want to rush her up the vets everytime she pants!

I will give my vet a ring and see if he thinks its worth seeing her again before he closes.
Her temp is normal and her appetite is really good

Now i am getting paranoid there is a retained puppy? :(

It's so easy to let your mind run away with all kinds of thoughts.  I had checked my girl and a half hour later had to rush her to the vet with eclampsia.  When I found her the only part of her body she could move was her eyes, vet said we were very lucky she survived it.  After she was given calcium at the vets she walked out as if nothing had happened, just wanted back to her pups.  I continued to feed her normally with no extra calcium and she was fine.  Hope all goes well for your girl and her pups after this.

My litter is 8 days old today, and mum pants like a steam train when feeding, when she's finished feeding she comes out of the whelping box and sleeps on the cool floor next to the box, she soon settles down until she starts feeding again.

Gruel recipe.

Cup of Porridge
2 cups of Water
1 Egg
Tablespoon of Honey
Tablespoon of Milk powder (whelpi or similar)
Tablespoon of Glucose

Boil up everything together, stirring until porridge is thick, dilute with a cup of milk and cool. Feed lukewarm

Thank you will give that a try too, she is eating really well so that is a good sign.

Will let you know what she thinks of it x

Glad to hear she is eating well, that will keep her strength up. I always give my girls the gruel for breakfast as I feel it helps boost them for the day. They don't half look forward to it and I have had other people say the same thing.

> eclampsia

No sorry, don't have any experience of it to share but just wanted to say I hope your girl does well now. It must have been very scary for you. All the best.

if she wont drink milk you could try giving her some ice cream. being cold boost them pretty quickly.

I was also given this recipe and used it with success for a few litters now.  I generally feed just this for the first day or so - smallish amounts every 4 hours or whatever I feel they can tolerate or require.  I then gradually return to a normal diet but will often still feed it once a day for up to 2 weeks as they do love it and its not really too much hassle to prepare.

Hope things continue to improve Mandy.
Best wishes, Teri x

Hi, I have also given my bitch the gruel, she loved it. I used powdered glucose from Boots, also Complan (plain original type) mixed in. When she got mastitis a couple of weeks ago and was off her food she did actually eat the gruel, which I'm sure kept her going until she was feeling better. I used Goats milk instead of cows, but will definitely use it if we ever have another litter. Dynamite!!!

I hope your girl gets through this without another episode. I don't know if its made any difference to mine, but I've been giving her one calcium tablet daily and she's eating me out of house and home!!

I have fed my bitches with a gruel mixture also organic yoghurt with honey and a great favourite of theirs sardines ideally in tomato sauce.

Luckily all but one of my bitches liked milk. I did find they often preferred fresh milk to powdered though. I have used goats, sheep and buffalo milk, depending on what was available at the time.

I used to have a break down of what each milk had in it.... if I can find it I will post it here. I vaguely remember buffalo milk was high in fats and iron among other things.