Hello all,

Just wondered if anyone has come across this, long shot i know but im worried sick.

I have a small breed litter born 7 days ago, all fat healthy and doing really well apart from one little girl, she has had this problem from day 2 and once a day she has a choking do like she cant breath, she throws her head back and screams and starts to gasp, her tongue comes out but around her mouth looks like thick saliva.
It takes me anywhere from one to three minutes to bring her round and now seem to do this by placing her on her back and rubbing the top of her chest in circular motions.

Vets have drawn a blank, in between these episodes she is normal, she feed great and wees/poos fine and acts like a normal puppy, some days this can happen once and other days twice, am i doing the right thing by keeping her going, is it cruel, my head is in bits and because of this we are by the whelping box 24/7 without a break so we can help her when needed.

Its so hard as them few minutes of distress clear and she then has many hours of been fine.

In all my years of breeding i have never seen anything like this and many phone calls later still drawing a blank.

Any help appreciated.

How worrying, the vet can't think of anything........nothing at all?

The high pitched noise and not being able to breathe are all signs of choking, but choking on what? I wonder if her stomach does not always hold the milk and instead of being sick it gets stuck in her throat or she panics and breathes it in.

If panic attacks they may dissipate.......

I'd continue working on her for now, unless it turns out that she has fits or a condition that stops her from breathing.

Keep in contact with your vet and as she gets older have tests done on her, I'd hold her back from her new home until this is sorted one way or the other.

Hopefully someone else will come along who may have witnessed similar symptoms.

Fingers crossed for the little one.

Are these episodes connected with just feeding or shortly after? Is she a guuzzler/gulper who is taking in too much too fast and a weakened oesophagus isn't keeping it down?

I presume her palates are intact? Does she sound chesty/rattly after these do's, you will have to watch out for aspiration pneumonia and get her back to the vets for antibiotics.

You may have to control her feeding, 2 or 3 minutes then a break with her head elevated and then feed again and so on[ most of us are with our pups 24/7 for the first few weeks whether there is a problem or not], if there is a weakness it may get better in time, does your breed have oesophageal problems.

Hope it resolves spontaneously

Thank you for your reply.

The vet said in such a young pup that it could be anything and with her being so young it would be impossible to tell until older.

I cant see any sick or milk just clear thick saliva which is very odd, its like it chokes her.

She really does gasp and yes just like choking, i have watched for hours on end and it has no connection to feeding just seems to be very random, if she does pull through then she wont be going anywhere, she will live and hopefully grow with me, just hope she makes it then when old enough the tests will begin.

Very upsetting, i sit and pray everytime it happens just longing for it stop.

I

Milk when frothed up can look like thick saliva.

She was put on a course of antibiotics just as a precaution, she sounds very rattly after the episode but soon clears so yes thats a worry.

My breed is a brachycephalic breed but not in the sense of this causes my breed any problems well very rarely and havent seen this in all my years breeding.

I stay with my puppies 24/7 with the exception of general things like making a cuppa/feeding dogs basically walking from living room to kitchen but with this little girl we are 100% by the whelping box playing tag teams so we can catch this as soon as she starts.

I will try the feeding tips thank you

what your saying does sound like what we went thru with a week old pup she would gasp for air we took her to the vets they kept her over night she stopped feeding and was pts the next day im sorry i cant give you good news i wish i could BUT your pup could be suffering something different i hope the vets could find it and called it fading puppy praying its not that....my girl had 13 pups in that litter we lost 4 at birth and this 1 at a week old that was such a draining litter and mum was poorly too x

Oh im sorry what a horrible time it must have been, I agree it takes all the life out of you thats for sure and can be soul destroying, im just at that stage where i dont know what to do for the best and just hope it stops, would hate for her to reach that bouncy puppy stage and maybe have to suffer with a life long complaint but think i will just go with my heart and see what happens.

My girl had a C-section and too was ill from day 2-4 but thank god shes on the mend now and really quite bright and cheerful, this is her second and last litter.

Thank you all for the help and kind words, means alot to hear from others and talk about this.

Just putting forward an idea that you might ask your Vet about. Partial laryngeal paralysis is thought to occur mainly in older dogs. However it can exist in new born and growing puppies. In the former it may be an idiopathic neurological condition and in older puppies the ongoing result of a knock on the head. This can cause damage leading to poor nerve function that affects the larynx. The result of this can be serious attacks of respiratory distress or be so slight that only the tone of the bark in an adult dog leads to a suspicion its laryngeal function is not normal.

> My breed is a brachycephalic breed

She may well grow out of this as she matures and her passages enlarge. Perhaps you could try to prop her up to aid her breathing. If you let her sleep upright against your shoulder it can help a little one like this. Exhausting for you I know, but if the vet can't find anything wrong, it might well resolve in a week or two. Fingers crossed for you.

Dogsbody thank you i have never even heard of that, will look into this and mention this to the vets, really do appreciate all help and ideas, feels like im getting more help here.

Its been 26 hours since her last attack as i call it, just sat watching and waiting.

Esme i do hope so and thank you for the positive words, I have been trying the short feeds and will do the propping, to be honest i will do anything, my husband has just booked another 2 weeks off work, we really do need him at home for the shifts and bless his heart hes been brill.

I will keep you all updated if interested x

could she be over heating ive read pups can throw their heads back and scream/cry and gulp ....she may of been abit dhydrated maybe??? and now shes abit older able to move away from the heat.x

You know what she could be ?? Shes on a fleece over a heat pad in a roomy whelping box, maybe so as the litter is much more mobile now and shes been so good today i really hope it lasts.

Sometimes all we need is an outsiders view, years of experience and breeding never teaches you it all thats for sure.

Thank you so much x

ive been reading this and its been in my head ...awhile ago we had a litter of pups abit dhydrated i had 1 that would cry and lift its head back and bang it on the whelping box i had heat pad and lamp only used the lamp at night the books says they will move but some didnt when too hot!! are your pups all scatterd away from each other maybe it was to hot time will show if pup does it again good luck x

It differs, sometimes they huddle sometimes the bathe, I have lowered the temp as i usually do once they reach 7 days.

So far so good, so maybe it could be the temp and she wasn't reaching a cooler spot, I have also been watching her feeds and allowing smaller ones but more regular.

Oh i do hope this is over, felt so happy today!

I wonder if its reverse sneezing? My Terrier does this sometimes. I also had a bitch that had a laryngeal tie back op for paralysis but she was an old girl at the time.

Both conditions have similar symptoms.

I am pleased to read that she has settled,you may never know the cause but any precautions can't do any harm.

Thank you all, it was very strange indeed, since i posted the news about her stopping she has settled and hasnt had another one since, maybe its luck or maybe its all the help i was given here to that i'm very very Thankful.

Thank you all so much for helping xx

so glad she is ok now ,what a worry!! x