Hi to All,
On the second day I noticed that 2 of the pups did not gain much weight; they were so small (less than 3 oz) that they did not even hang on to mama's nipples for more than half a minute. So we decided to bottle feed them ourselves every hour. We also arranged an incubator setting the temp a little higher than the actual rearing box. After 24 hours they seemed to be picking up but unfortunately on day 5 they faded out in a very short time. (I can still hear their murmuring cries ....)
The rest of the pups are now 10 days old, and thanks God are doing fine. We are augmenting mama's diet with 4 pills of Calcidee daily and 4 Conditioning tabs, and milk supply (Lactol) is generously given 4 times daily. Regarding food, her main diet is chicken and Hill's puppy food, sometimes adding some boiled rice. Just after whelping her waste was a bit dark (I let her have all placentas), but now is back to normal.
Well we hope that the other 4 pups will get along fine. They differ slightly in weight between themselves but are all growing constantly.
One other important thing that we are very careful about is not letting many people visit since in Malta there is an outbreak of Parvo!
Regards to all.
John |