Quote:
Originally Posted by ajabj5  Late yesterday evening I received an email from a breeder. She went to school with my mother many years ago and we emailed each other. She said she had a proposition for me if I would consider it.
She had a litter of puppies and the mother decided to wean them at 4 weeks. The girls were eating puppy food but the two boys were not. One of the boys faded away and passed. After 2 weeks of dropper feeding the second male her husband that was the stand in mom started a new job and the baby would not have anyone to take care of him during the day and asked if I would try to take care of him to help him make it. She said the vet called it fading puppy syndrome. He would eat small amounts and then throw it back up. She said he did not have diarrhea.
I picked him up and he was tiny. She said she had not wormed him in 3 weeks because shortly after the last worming he began going down hill. We started home and as we drove it got dark outside. He started to whine. I turned on the interior light and he was better he would just stare at me.
When I got him home I weighed him he was only 4 oz at 6 weeks. Yes 4 oz. He had been being fed infant formula and we got some puppy milk replacer for him. I gave him the tube of bene-bac that came with the milk as it suggested. I held him all night he did not want to be alone and had to see me. I hoped if I could get him to keep some of the puppy replacer in his stomach. He had a bowl movement and it was diarrhea. I kept him wrapped in a heating blanket that is used in vet office after sugery. I became exhausted and finally got him to lay down I closed my eyes for 2 hours and when I got up he was gone.
My husband said he was to far gone when she asked me to try. That it was to late to pull him out of it. He was a beauty. The breeder asked if I would let her know how he done. She almost cried when we took him last evening and I was hopeful when I got 2 teaspoons of food in him and it had been 30 minutes and he had not thrown up. But it started later. I would give him a little milk every hour. Kept him warm, kept him clean. He became stiff on me a couple of times and after massaging him and giving him a little milk it would help.
I feel as though I failed this little puppy. He wasn't with me even 12 hours before he passed.
It boggles my mind why this mother pushed the babies away and at that age why he wasn't eating something unless he felt rejected and became depressed. He refused to open his mouth to be fed I had to gently open it. His gums were white. I don't know I just feel so bad that I could not have done more. |
Several reasons mother could have pushed the pups away. Mother Nature works in mysterious ways. The dam may have known that something was wrong with these pups. Another thing is that about 4 or 5 weeks milk teeth come in and mothers are a bit reluctant to nurse. At this time the mother's milk consistancy changes too. This is when we start to introduce pups to food and start the weaning process.
In the future, for supplementing or feeding pups; the closest thing to mother's milk is Goat's Milk. Canned milk with equal parts of distilled water and a bit of Karo. As other replacement forumulas have problems with them. Esbilac has trace minerals. Just Born contributes to premature cataracs.
With a pup this small and fading puppy syndrome.....one should have NutriDrops on hand. And fading puppy recipe that is a sticky in the breeder's section.
There been anything else you could have done differently; it just may be something may have been physically wrong with this pup.