Our family dog gave birth to a litter of 8 puppies yesterday (6/05) tragically the bitch suffered a heart attack and we are seeking any advice on how to rear/look after the litter. If there is a bitch out there with a similar aged litter and you would consider surrogacy of one or two of our puppies I would be very keen to hear from you. We live near Saffron Walden, around 20miles south of Cambridge.

Have you contacted your vets to put out an appeal?  Has your breed a face-book group, another way of getting word out to many people quickly

If you use Facebook do a search orphaned puppies and there is a group set up to help find foster mothers. Good luck and hope you get things sorted .

Hi have already contacted the vets, hadn't thought of Facebook but have joined orphaned dogs now. Very grateful for the advice.

Thanks every so much for this, really good idea. Hadn't thought about using Facebook, have joined orphaned dogs so fingers crossed.

Let us all know how it goes.

In the meantime are you managing to bottle feed htem OK?

Thanks every so much for all your replies, some really useful tips and advice there. We are looking to get as much information as possible before deciding on the best course of action for the upcoming weeks.

The puppies have been doing well, we have heat matts and a lamp set up at the right temperature and have a good routine in place for the 'frequent feeds'. Luckily we have several family members staying at the moment, and a detailed rota is making the night shifts easier to cope with. The puppies are responding well and are becoming quite animated which is encouraging.

The orphaned dogs Facebook page has been a great suggestion. We have been put in touch with a local breeder with experience of hand rearing and the vet is visiting today, will be good to have piece of mind that we are doing all we can to ensure the pups stay healthy and on track.

Thanks again for all your suggestions, will keep you updated on their progress.

All this while grieving for your bitch, this must be so hard.

I am so sorry to read this thread :( I have no experience of breeding what-so-ever, but I cannot imagine how hard this must be on you. Good luck in finding a surrogate.

Yeah it has been really tough on everyone. Although the puppies are doing well, the vet came to check them yesterday and although there are two that are a bit of a concern as they are quite small and weak, they are all doing well considering, so fingers crossed that will continue!

Hats off to you....well done.

good luck, its hard work but worth it, I successfully reared 3 toy breed pups along with my own pups (thanks to jj, one of our bitches)  end of last year and orphan pups have just reached 6 months old and doing great. few bad moments and loads of worry but its so worth it, and orphan page on facebook gives you plenty of help and support and some great friends