NOT ADVERTISING - all pups spoken for
I had a litter of bordeaux (2 pups) on 3rd December. After previous bad experiences with a bordeaux litter I have been very conciencious throughout pregnancy and rearing. Thankfully Ella was a perfect mom and weaning started at 3 weeks old. The one pup took to it really well but the other less interested. This other pup had a very slight hernia which over the last week more or less disappeared which I was pleased about. However, yesterday morning the pup was very listless and the stomach seemed larger than normal. I also noticed her breathing to be rapid. I took her to the vets and she also had a raised temp. He did an X-ray and the stomach looked abnormal. He then gave barium meal and followed its progress with X-rays. There were no blockages in the bowel or stomach. However, the stomach was getting larger and breathing even harder.
He needed to operate. During the operation he discovered that the hernia - with NO outward signs of infection whatsoever - was severely infected and it had spread to the intestine and luckily only one kidney :-( He removed the infected part of the intestine and hernia. Due to the severity of the infection in the kidney - this kidney being the size of an ADULT bordeaux - he also had to remove the kidney.
I collected her at 12.00pm today and have to give her daily antibiotic injections. I also have to clean her scar which is from top to bottom of her little belly :-( She can only have milk until Monday when she is to have another barium meal to check things ok then if so solids again.
I was very worried that she has only one kidney but the vet says as she is young her body will adapt and her remaining kidney compensate totally. The next few days are critical as there is a chance of further infection and septicemia (sp) but we are remaining positive.
Has anyone else had a dog or know of anyone with a dog with only one kidney?? 

I don't know of a dog with only one kidney, but my best friend's brother had to have a kidney removed after a motor accident when he was 15, and he's now in his 40s and has had no problems at all.
:)

Friend of mine also had to have one kidney removed, twenty years on he's fine :D

Thanks for your replies. My mom only had one functioning kidney and she was fine, apart from becoming diabetic when she was 60 - not sure if that had any relationship to it though.
At 3am this morning when we put the pup on mom as I lifted her I noticed the wound area to be a large lump. I had a look and to my horror the intestines had come through the wound. Pup was fine in herself and eager to feed. We travelled into Valencia straight away to find the 24hour vets, it took us nearly two hours :-(
When we got there the emergency vet said the stitches had not been done strong enough to hold the amount of tissue and swelling and as the pup had been moving around it had burst :-( He reoperated removing some surpless tissue and stitched inside and out with non-disolving stitches. He allowed me and my hubby to stay with her for the operation. She is now at home recovering again. I really hope she is OK as she is such a little fighter, she has been through so much at only 4 weeks :-( We are keeping her and the other pup :-)

Pup (Rose) seemed to be doing so well but sadly yesterday morning she went off her milk and her stomach swelled up again. We took her to the vets who kept her in yesterday and last night feeding her and giving anti-biotics introveniously. The infection had spread to her stomach cavity and there was nothing they could do except sedate her and see whether the anti-biotics would kick in and save her. Sadly at 9.00am this morning she passed away :-(

Oh I am sorry for your loss, as has been said before why do all these bad things happen at a time of year when we should be celebrating? :(
Think of her playing at the bridge, sometimes these little ones are destined to be forever puppies. Thinking of you
Emily xx

Thank you Emily for your kind words.
I think it is so much sader at times when they are so young as they have had no life :-(

So sorry, you did your best.

So sorry staffie...at least shes at peace now.
Nikki

Oh thats so sad poor little thing. So sorry staffie.
Christine, Spain.

So sorry. :(

So sorry Staffie, that's very sad. You did everything possible, so perhaps it was just meant to be
K
X

So sorry Staffie, sending you our love and kisses. Little Rose is now an Angel in Heaven.
Sue & Sasha xx

Thank you all for your kind words.
The frightening thing is that there were NO signs of any infection with her cord. She had a small hernia that seemed to disappear, which is quite normal. From now on I think any pup with a slight what looks like hernia I will insist on anti-biotics for as it is impssible to know there is an infection. If only I had done this this time :-( Sometimes we all learn from a bad experience. All I can say is a course of antibiotics with any pup with a hernia "may" prevent this from happening to anyone else :-( I know antibiotics should only be given if needed but in this case by the time we knew they were needed it was too late.