hi

i have a shih tzu puppy who is 5 day's old she has put on 5oz since birth, the problem is the last 3 day's she has got a horrible cry mainly after feeding, i think she may suffer from wind as her stomach does feel a bit hard whilst she is crying, i was thinking of giving her a small drop of gripe water, any comments on this appreciated, the other problem is her mum is very excitable so this situation isn't good for both of them as the puppies is crying the bitch is crying too!! does any one think i should take the puppy away altogether and hand rear it or could i make a big problem worse, i was thinking of taking it to the vet in the morning, but i'm just as worried about taking it to that enviroment so young, help!!:( :(

Have you noticed if the pup is actually poo-ing? sometimes a pup can get a blockage or worse still be deformed in that area! If I were you I would take the poor little thing to the vet and get her checked out. How much weight are the rest of the litter gaining? my dogs are a bit bigger than that so I don't know what the average weight gain is.

Please take her to the vet, because if she's crying then she's in pain and if mum is getting stressed she can stop producing milk which will be a major problem for the rest of the litter.

Let us know how you get on

Hi

I have been making the pup go to the loo so i know it's fine in that dept, it's only 1oz behind the other's in weight gain, has anyone took a puppy this young to the vet before i'm so worried it will catch something worse than it may go in with, sorry i'm very cynical!:(

If you have the pup snug in a box in the car, and get the vet to examine it in the car rather than the surgery (mine will do this if asked!) the risk of infection will be minimal. The pup crying will be very distressing for the bitch, who you say isn't the most relaxed of new mums anyway.

But if gripe water is safe for human babies it seems a little should be safe for pups.....but I'm not a vet, there may be an underlying problem, as I've never had a pup behave like that. Very worrying for you. :(