KoKo almost Died

[irvin927]

My female yorkie almost died on friday. Here's the story, i took my mom to a doctor's visit on friday afternoon which was a hot day in S.F. We came back around 4pm and i took Bebe a male yorkie and Jayjay (shar pei) for a shower while koko was still in the house nursing 3 new born puppies (1 week old). After i'm done, i went back up to my room for some gamming, 30 mins laster i went downstairs my mom told me Koko is shaking, she might be cold so my mom put her back in the crate with the puppies.

Here's the scary part.

As i open the crate, the puppies were drinking milk from Koko as Koko tries to come out of the crate she felt number of times before making her way out. She was also panting and shaking. I though she was dehydrated due to the hot weather, so i gave her some water. koko didn't want to drink and she try to walk but could barely walk straight. She was panting all the time with both her ears up. So i quicky did a temp check on her and she was 102.5 the first time and 102 the 2nd time. I check her heart rate which was super fast so i think it's time to take her to the vet.
On my way to the ER, Koko was on my lap and she was panting and shaking non stop and my sleeve was wet from her panting. I keep on saying, please Koko hang in there, we are almost there, we all love you, stay with us. Finally got to the ER and the vet took her in, but didn't allow me to go in with her. I though i would never see her again. I went out to have a stressful smoke. Minutes later, the nurse came out and said Koko is having a 106 degree fever and asked if it is okay for them to draw her blood and put IVs in her. I said do whatever you have to do to save her life.
One hour later, her fever went down to 102 and she was in stable condition and would need to stay overnight for monitoring purpose. The vet talk to me and told me it was some kind of lack of calcuim because Koko just had puppies a week ago and the puppies suck her dry. Therefore, Koko was low on calcium and her mussles,heart maulfunction, which made her panic and went into a fever. She said i was lucky that i got her in time, if Koko's fever went to 107 degrees for 10 mins, she would be brain fry/dead.
After a night at the ER, i took Koko out the next day and she looks perfect. The vet instructed me not to let Koko nurse the puppies anymore but to supplement the puppies with bottle puppy milk.

Long story short, now Koko seems to be fine, but i'm in deep trouble because i have to feed the puppies every 3-4 hours and make them pee/poo. That's not the major problem, becasue Koko is such a good mom, she run around crys, barks, and begs me to let her be with the babies. I know Koko will die if i let her do that, so i try to take her out as much as possible to get away from the puppies.

Finally, the Bill.
The bill for the ER cost $700, that is sooooo rip off. It's kinda BS beacuse it's more expensive than a human. Anyways, i think i would consider insurance for her in the future.

[Chrissy0277]

Im so sorry this happened to Koko.
Unfortuantly this is one of the many many risks one takes when breeding their girls. Hopefully the breeders on this group can help you help Koko though this emotionally

[YorkieRose]

Unfortunately, breeders can face that problem sometimes. Bitches diets must be closely watched...
Insurance prices are sky high for a breeding female...best wishes

[abbey lee]

I'm glad your baby is OK. Sorry you had to go through that.

And, yeah sometimes I feel vets take advantages of you and tack on things the dogs don't really need in order to up the bill. I'm not saying that's true in this case, but it's happened to me.

But atleast the dog is better.

[bjh]

Your female had eclampsia. That same thing happened to my first Yorkie about 10 years ago and they had to give her calcium through an IV. The vet said just not to let her nurse the pups for a few hours and give the momma dog plenty of calcium. Dixie weighted 5 lbs and she was nursing 4 puppies. She did just fine after that and I gave her calcium pills twice a day. Now I am not going to dispute what your vet said but in most cases I think it is okay to let the pups nurse but you have to absolutely make sure the momma dog gets plenty of calcium. You also have to make sure the momma get 3 or 4 good meals a day. The last meal right before bedtime. That is essential for nursing mommas. I am sorry you had to experience this. Eclampsia is deadly if not caught in time. There is a product called Cal-sorb that you can order from Revival Animal Health Products and that little tube of fast acting calcium could have saved you $700 today. Most all breeders always keep it on hand. Anyway, I am sorry for what happened and I hope momma, babies and you will be okay.

[chimicole]

Thank the good Lord above that Koko is ok now.
I know $700 seems like alot, but I have spent that and more on my babies. Had to make payments quite a few times... but we made it!
God bless Koko and the pups!

[Rae Rae]

OMG how scary! I'm happy that she got better and everything is o.k now.

[a2luckygirl]

I am glad she is better! Poor momma wants her puppies, though- that is sad!

[For My Coby]

I'm so glad your story has a happy ending. That was so close. I hope that the experienced ones here that have lived through this can help you support KoKo and her pups until this is behind you.

[mojo]

I am so glad your dog made it. I am not being mean, but $700 to save your dogs life?? Well worth it.

[Little Bit]

I am so sorry you had such trouble, but so glad that you were able to save Koko! Yes, Cal-Sorb is great. I always keep it handy.

If you aren't going to let her nurse her puppies then I would still let her be with them for everything else. Maybe you could put a sock on her middle section or a close fitting sweater or something so the pups couldn't nurse, but she could still potty them, etc.

[xmasbaby75]

I had a feeling what you were going to say just from reading your title. This is the exact same thing that happened to me back in November. My Gellica had 4 puppies, and after just 2 weeks of nursing them, we almost lost her. We then did as the vets recommended and bottle fed the pups around the clock for the next 4 weeks. It was very difficult, and we hardly slept for a month, but I consider it a great success since we were able to save the Mommy, and all 4 babies. I wish you good luck!!!

[Jeri Cunningham]

I think this is more common than people think. My Krissy had six puppies and was taking calcium supplements and getting a cup of cottage cheese everyday but when the puppies were 5 weeks Krissy started shaking and collapsed.

She stayed over night at the vets and was no longer allowed to nurse the puppies. The vet said six was just to much of a drain on her. I dressed her to prevent nursing after she got home. THe puppies tried to get to her and she was very upset but it stopped after she dried up and they couldn't get milk.
My vet bill was over 1200.00.


If she were to have puppies again I would dress her after the puppies were 5 weeks old to prevent nursing. They can eat on their own then.

I know it was scary for you and expensive!