I had to have Truffles into the vets today as last night she was throwing up and really didnt seem herself, it turned out she has a uterine infection :( She is on antibiotics and seems to have perked up a little although she isnt really eating much at all. Tonight when i weighed the puppies though 2 of them have hardly put any weight on, it is the biggest one who put on 45 grams yesterday and today only put on 1 and the smallest one who yesterday put on 29 grams and today has only put on 2 :( The bigger one seems alright in himself but the smaller one seems a bit weak and seems to be having trouble suckling properly. Truffles was only out for about 45 minutes and the puppies were kept warm while she was gone. Could the antibiotics she has be having an effect on them? She had an injection of antibiotics and anti inflammatory at 2pm today and i weighed the pups at about 6pm, or is she losing milk because of the infection and because she wont eat? She has had a very small bowl of puppy eukanuba with a splash of milk in it and 2 beef medalions today but is turning her nose up at everything else. The other puppies have put on a little weight but not as much as usual one put on 23 grams 2 put on 21 grams and the other put on 11 grams. Any advice? :(

hi kim ,how old are the pups ? is mum drinking planty ? food is importent but water or puppy milk for mum is what she needs alot of , didnt your vet tell you about the anti bios ? he/she should of given your girl meds that will be ok for her milk ,but sometime when mum is ill there milk can dry up , may be you are going to have to feed them your self ? have you got milk in for them and feeding bottles? hope all goes well for you and your litter

jo

My newly whelped bitch had to go to the vet last night.  I normally take pups in a heated box, but didn't bother this time.  They were just fine on the heat pad (5 days old.)  My girl had one extremely swollen red teat, and the vet said that it had not reached full blown mastitis.  She has  enough milk for 10 Rotties, and her 3 little 4 oz pups can't use it all up!  So I've stopped giving her what I normally do to help them make milk.  She was given antibiotics, and as it wasn't my normal vet, I asked what repercussions there were for the pups.  He assured me that antibiotics are fine, but he would never give anti inflammatories to a bitch suckling young.  You might like to query this with your vet Kim, it is worth checking out. 

The vet didnt give me much info as usual, i didnt know which questions to ask as my main concern at the time was making sure mum was alright,i just assumed she would be given safe meds. i only noticed the pups hadnt put on weight a few hours later :( I think i will be back into the vets tomorow as the little pup is sounding a bit snorty when it is suckling now,the pups are 9 days old. the vet hasnt given me any milk substitute or anything but i think i will push for some tomorrow even if it is just for mum to drink. Mum is drinking fine but has been really fussy about food lately. if i try to give her the same thing twice she just refuses it, i have left puppy food down constantly but she rarely touches it,  she went through a phase of eating eggs but now wont touch them, she wont eat chicken anymore either. she had some pasta in tomato sauce about an hour ago that was left over from supper and really tucked into it but i dont know if i am doing the wrong thing letting her pick and choose foods that might not be the best for her or if she just thinks there is something better so is holding out. up until today the puppies weight was going up steadily,especially the biggest one who was rocketing up so im sure something must have gone wrong in the last 24 hours since mum was sick :( The vet gave her the anti inflammatory because she said her uterus was swollen and causing her discomfort and might be putting her off her food, i think i am going to lose my mind if anything happens to these puppies or my girl because the vet gave her another inappropriate medication :(

Just gone into the whelping box with mum to help get all the pups onto a teet and make sure they were getting thier share and the all pups have really bad diahorea :( its like water almost and smells terrible. im going to ring the vets now.

Kim.. try to get some boiled but cooled water syringed into the pups. around 2/3mls every hour or so.. even if they are drinking from mum.. this is food.. they need liquids to stop them becoming dehydrated. which can happen all to quickly with diahorea..  The antibiotics may have this affect on the pups.. sometimes you can be stuck between the devil and the deep blue.. mum has to be treated, but also needs to keep feeding the pups..

Have you managed to speak to vet yet?

yes have spoken to her but she wants me to wait till the morning, have weighed them again and the little one has put on 14 grams and is eating frantically so maybe was just an upset tummy. The other one has put on 2 grams since he was last weighed and isnt eating quite as much. They are having another feed just now from mum so maybe i was just over reacting, they can come in at 8.30 tomorow morning so im going to stay up and keep a very close eye on them all. I will have to search around for a syringe for the boiled water as im not sure i have one, i guess a pippette would work the same kind of at least till the morning. Mum seems to be feeling ill again aswell, she is panting alot and seems really restless. Hope they are alright till the morning :(

Hi,

I use a eye dropper to feed very young pups, you can easily squeeze a drop at a time on to their tongues. much easier I find.  Hope pups will be o.k.

Pups are on antibiotics now for the diahorea but its very difficult to give it to them we have to put 3 drops from an eye dropper on each of thier tongues but they just spit it out, think it must taste horrible as they really pull a face when it first goes in :( The vet told us that the amount of anti inflammatory(metacam) that truffles had wasnt enough to really effect the puppies but im not sure. She gave us a big tub of whelpi and said the pups could have that if things go down hill over the weekend. Mum can have it a few times a day also. Mum has actually been eating today, she has had four helping of puppy buscuits with chicken soup mixed in and really seems alot better today. The littlest puppy has put on 45 grams over night so it was a big relief, the biggest puppy has only put on 11 though so not quite back to normal yet. Hope things settle down again soon with them, its so worrying when they seem ill :(

hi kim the pups diarria (sorry carnt spell) could be because of the meds your girl is taking ,remember everything she eats and drinks will go to her milk and pups will be getting it too ,my pups had it bad and i had to give water to pups every hour jsut make sure you give the water very very slow as it could go to there lungs if its given fast ,sorry i dont meen to sound like i know it all but before pups arrive ive always got milk and syringes in ,p lease dont think im getting at you ,im not :) x

No i dont think you are having a go or being mad, i really appreciate the advice, i am a novice to all of this so any advice is greatly appreciated even if it might be something obvious to someone who knows what they are doing :) , i have the syringes and puppy milk now and will give water if the diahorea continues. The vet didnt think they were at all dehydrated but i wont take any chances if suspect they are.

hi again :) ok your pups are 9days? so youve got at least another 6 1/2 weeks before they start going ,you got the worming of mum and pups and then the weaning lol (great fun ) if i was you go and get a book called ....the book of bitch ... its a brill book and it will help you ,i got a new one a few months ago from pets at home ,i think i payed about £10 for it but its the best money spent ,good luck ...my mum-in-law has a litter at the mo ,there 4weeks old today and im there most days helping her now its weaning time ,great fun and loads of mess :) x