I have 3 week old boxer pups who I have to hand rear, they aspirated and are on synolux antibiotics, 5 days ago one was really bad so was given an injection and put on different antibiotics, my vet said if no improvement she would put the rest in the different antibiotics but when I seen her in fri she said I should think about putting them down instead, I’ve come away furious, all have improved and are running around except 2, if I feed them milk it looks like they are choking and pull their heads back and look like they arnt breathing then snort back, I’m going to demand to see a different vet tomorrow, any suggestions what will help as sometimes I don’t think they know what’s best and give easy out options, any advice is welcomed, thanks x

That a bit soon to be advising they be put down I'd suggest, without seeing exactly what's going on!!   I'd expect my vet to 'fight' for these puppies!!  Did she check for cleft palates?  Are you tube feeding - it's all too easy to get the tube into the wrong place.

My best advice is to see another vet!!

They could have cleft palates or even just a small hole in the palate which could be very difficult to see.

Vets checked no issue with palate or hole,  is what the bottles as it took days to get Royal Canin bottles which are really slow flow

I asked for one to be tube fed, and the reply was she will need an anestetic, which I didn’t understand

I’ve rang the vets this morning and demanded an antibiotics injection for 3 of them which I’m now concerned with as pts is so not an option x

Hello. I’m not sure why you have so few responses to your post. I’ve been holding off hoping a boxer person or someone with experience of a similar situation would help.
How are your puppies now?
Are they lapping the milk themselves or are you syringing them? Which might mean they are taking in too much and so choking on the milk.
  Are they on any solid food yet? It might be a bit early for boxers -?- but may be  helpful in this situation.
May I ask why you’re having to hand rear them? What happened to mum?
Does no one else have experience of this on the forum??

You do NOT need an anaesthetic to tube feed.   Look it up on Google, there must be tons of information if you search.

I have had boxers for almost 40 years and bred many litters of my own and assisted with many litters bred by a boxer friend who was in the breed for over 50 years.  I too would be interested to know a bit more.  First is why mum couldn't feed them and what are you using to feed them?  I have never had to feed a litter from day one but have topped up and helped many, many puppies over the years.  I have always used an ordinary babies bottle and teat and goat's milk.  At three weeks and in this situation I would be weaning ASAP.  I never start puppies off with lapping milk.  I use high quality, finely minced steak and let it down with a tiny amount of hot water, roll into tiny balls and feed each one individually.  They will try sucking at first but once they taste it properly, will soon eat it.  I wait until the pups are fairly stable on their feet before introducing milky food and even then they all fall in, get covered (usually in Ambrosia Semolina pud) but then lick it off each other.  At three weeks your pups have come a long way. I hope they continue to thrive.

Thank you jacksgirl for your excellent, informative post.

Mum had 3 placentas left inside her and even with oxytocin she wasn’t looking well so on day 4 they gave her a strong dose of antibiotics, pups fed for 3 days,  then I had to hand rear, vet said the pups couldn’t feed off mum due to the strength of the antibiotics.

I had them on goats milk and used Royal Canin milk & bottles in the end, boxers have such a forcefulness in their suckle it’s needed to be as slow as possible this was the only bottle suitable after buying every prem bottle going.

The vets had scared me off the tube feeding, but now I think I’ll learn this for future ref as had this of been done when I asked maybe antibiotics might not of been needed

The pups were by this time aspirated so went on a course of antibiotics Synolux, but one was so week we went onto Metronidazole, but was advised that it would better for me to pts.  One by one I could see them deteriorating as they were getting a secondary infection on the chest , I was in the vets every day and was told yet again I’m not being fair on them, last week I demanded more go on a stronger antibiotic and I’m pleased to say they are now all thriving and weaned on the Royal Canin Mouse, and the red one from the begging has found her way to be top dog. Never give up hope and go on your gut is my feeling now, this is my 5th litter and first major problem so pleased I had some experience otherwise I may of listened to the vets. Mum goes in and cleans them up now but has no milk as it dried up x I’ll try put a video up later for you all, & Thankyou xxx

I think the title does not show the urgency of the issue, so experienced puppy rearers have not looked at it.

I would avoid bottles and get pups lapping.  I have started pups on thickened puppy milk (using soaked puppy food to make a gruel) as early as two weeks when pups weight gain was levelling off. So it should be easy enough to get 3 week olds started as I normally start giving tssters at 18 days to all litters, so that they have by 21 days a little 4 times a day. 

I use a flat plate and first tastes are given off a plastic baby spoon. Once they have gotten the taste then they are all put around some flat dishes.

From then depending on how the bitches milk is hodling out pups will feed to appetite, the mixrure gradually getting less liquid as more pupy food is added to the formula.

Barbara I made the same mistake myself on first reading but think the poster means 3 in number 1 week old puppies

all have improved and are running around except 2

Quote from opening post
Don't think 1 week old would be 'running around'?

You are probably  right so I still ended up miss understanding however why would it be suggested to tube feed 3 week old pups. If they are now taking puppy mousse they are being weaned.