By Dayzee
Date 24.04.11 07:27 UTC
Hi everyone,
My beautiful girl whelped 9 pups last weekend,sadly the last was stillborn :( 8 were all born at good weights,over the space of the last few days despite all my efforts (rehydration fluid & royal canin baby milk) plus extra heat lamp i have lost all but 3.They went down so quickly,i tried absolutely everything within my power to keep these little ones alive.Poor mum got so stressed with it all ( she has previously whelped and reared brilliant healthy babies) that her milk started to dissapear.I was lucky enough to find a foster mum that was willing to take on the last 5 babies that i had,sadly one died on the journey leaving 4,then another one went downhill (sucking reflex has been going on these babies) and we lost her yesterday.The remaining 3 are all feeding well and at the moment are looking good,they are now 7 days old.I have never,ever had this before,in fact i have never even over the years had a still born baby so you can imagine how i am coping with all this plus now looking after a fretting mummy wondering where her babies have gone :(
I have done so much research and calling other breeders about this and it's all pointing to the canine herpes virus,there is literally nothing you can do to save these babies.
I never in my life want to see this again :( im now looking into this vaccine and will always use it.
Now for the question ... I mated up my other bitch 9 days ago,now im absolutely petrified as you can imagine,it's just typical that it's bank holiday weekend so my vets are not open till tuesday.Is it too late to vaccinate her bearing in mind that my vet will have to order the vacc in on tuesday ?
Is there a good chance that she would have picked this virus up ? She obviously hasn't been in the same room as my whelping bitch but we do all share a house.
Sorry for such a long post,any advice would be so welcome,thankyou
http://www.southernenglish.co.uk/canine%20herpes.htm"........There is no reliable antemortem test to detect animals which are infected. ......
......the virus grows best at temperatures just below that of normal dogs, so puppies less than 3 weeks old, which generally cannot yet regulate their own temperature, are most at risk of generalised disease. This is one reason why it is important to keep young puppies warm......
....Bitches that already have the virus can still be vaccinated. The vaccination protocol is to give one dose anytime between the onset of heat and 7-10 days after the presumed date of mating. A second dose is given 1-2 weeks before the expected date of whelping. This protocol is repeated at any subsequent mating....."