Just been to see a litter of 5.5 week pups by our Albert - lovely pups, but saw something I hadn't seen before, and it's worrying me.     Two of the bitch pups were noticeably swollen around the vulva - really much more - one was out at least an inch or more.   Two of the dog pups had swollen, very obvious teats - again, more than I'm used to (and I've seen quite a few pups over the years!)

The dam is still feeding them, although of course, they are on solids as well.

The breeder feels she can't home them like this, and their vet is at a loss.   My feeling was the it might be a hormone problem, but how to sort it?     The only suggestion that I made was to completely wean the dam.

Any ideas gratefully received!

Jo

Any chance the pups might have come into contact with topical estrogen cream?

Have heard of this in human babies
[linkhttp://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/En/ResourceCentres/PregnancyBabies/NewbornBabies/YourNewbornBabysBody/Pages/What-Your-Newborn-Baby-Looks-Like.aspx]Genitals[/link]


A newborn baby's genitals may be swollen, red, inflamed, and larger than you might expect. This is due to the rush of hormones that occurs before birth. If you have a baby girl with an enlarged vulva, the swelling should go down within a couple of weeks. For baby boys, the swelling in the scrotal sac may take weeks or months to return to normal.
Newborn girls may have whitish secretions or slight menstrual bleeding up to about a week after birth. This is due to a decrease in estrogen hormones after birth.
In boys, the testes usually descend into the scrotal sac before birth. However, sometimes one or both of the testes remain undescended after birth. When this happens, the doctor will need to locate their position, and monitor them while he waits for them to move into the scrotum on their own. If the testes do not descend by the age of two, surgery is required to bring them down to the right place to ensure long-term sperm production and function.

had a Pomeranian like this once. Shrunk to what I wd. say wd. be normal size at 10 weeks. Never had a problem again and she had normal seasons.

Can't remember where I read it, but it was when reading about reproduction, and it seems to occur where there are particularly high hormone levels during pregnancy.

Sorry - only just back on my own post!

Their own vet doesn't know, so the litter is being referred to the AHT - they are , ideally, due to be homed soon, so panic reigns!    Reassuring to know that the  little  papillon  got better all by herself.

The referral chap has pointed them to a geneticist, (if in doubt, it's genetic scenario) , but my gut feeling is that it's an endocrinology or repro person that they need.     I had thought about HRT cream as well, but apparently the breeder hasn't used any for herself recently.

Two of the litter are due to be exported, one for potential breeding if all things go well.     Makes this even more complicated, although at least there is a little more time for these.

Jo

Dogsbody - you were quite right!    The breeder has taken 6 of the pups up to the AHT, and it transpires she was using oestrogen cream after all!   Probably didn't want anyone to know!   We all want to stay youg forever :-)

Problem solved, we hope!!

Jo

:)
Shame her own Vet didn't pick up on it before she spent all that time and money going to the AHT!

Just so!    I did ask her about any HRT or sheep sponges etc in the first place, but she said there was nothing.....guess when you pay your money it's different...

Jo