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yorkiegirl67 · 10-31-2010, 08:20 PM

My little girl whelped 4 puppies on 10/25 and all went text book perfect. It was her first time, and mine as well. I researched all I could get my hands on, and thankfully so as she developed Eclampsia. Lucy is a bigger girl, weighing 9-1/2# and the sire was 5#. The puppies were 7oz., 6.4oz, 6.7 oz. and the last baby was 5.8 ounces. She was on Wellness puppy kibble & Wellness wet food and I fed her 4-5 smaller meals per day as she didn't have a huge appetite but especially not in the few days prior to whelp. All placenta's came out, except one. Feeling like I wanted to be proactive to avoid a uterine infection, as well as inquire re: her calcium levels, I took her to the vet the next day. They gave her an injection of ptocin or oxytocin.. and upon my insistence, they agreed to check her calcium level. It came back at 11, apparently at the high end of normal. I was told if eclampsia were to happen, generally it happens in 2-3 days post whelp when the milk demand is higher.

Lucy was an amazing first time Momma... only left her babies to eat, drink or relieve herself. Within 72 hours of having this calcium level done, and it being fine, she was in an emergency situation with having eclampsia. Thank God I knew the signs, and thank God I woke up & decided to check on them at 2:30 a.m. and found her panting & looking strange. When she refused water, I picked her up from nursing her babies to encourage her to drink outside the whelping box and she couldn't stand.. started shivering, etc. Off to the ER went my husband.

We were told she could no longer nurse and we needed to hand raise them. The vet did a follow-up calcium blood test and it showed within normal limits but on the lower end of normal. He instructed me to give her 1/4 of a caltrate 2x / day and put her on critical care food. She had become sad and wouldn't eat or drink due to not being able to nurse her babies and I'm thinking the hormones were probably a factor. Her tears caused me to cry, more than once. How sad.... We do put her in the whelping box with a baby sleeper, with the legs / arms cut out so she can interact with them, but they cant nurse. This seems to help her.

We have been feeding, burping, pooping & peeing the babies for the past 3 days. I have a digital scale and watching their intakes / outputs very closely, etc. I switched them to using a dr. brown human bottle and that is going much better than the vet puppy bottles. They are 1 week old today, and slowly gaining weight, but not as rapidly as while they were nursing. They were gaining an ounce each day with Lucy. At 1 week, they are each between 10 and 11 oz.

The every 4 hour feeding schedule is difficult, and wondered if you could give me advice in terms of when we can consider increasing their formula and go to a 6 hour feeding schedule ? I don't want to overwhelm their tummies and have a set back. Also, a vet tech told me as soon as their eyes are open I can start them on a good canned puppy food and mix formula in it. Is that true ? I'm thinking their digestive tract may not be able to handle that at 10 days or 2 weeks ?? The thing that has me very concerned is they have the strong desire to suckle, just like a human baby, even though they have full bellies of food. They are sucking on each other's genitals, and toes... The vet said to separate them which I plan to do tomorrow. Do you have any ideas on how to best do this ? Without their Momma around them, they rely on each other to comfort and lay on each other for warmth and companionship. I have placed "safe" small stuffed animals in the whelping box for them to crawl on and help keep them separated, but they are moving a lot more at 1 week !!

I was wondering about getting some preemie human pacifiers and wondered if this would satisfy their need to suckle. What do you think about the Leesburg (sp) formula ? Right now I am feeding the canned puppy formula from my vet.

I am not a full time breeder, and these puppies were planned for other family members, who also have yorkies. My background is in human medicine, and I know you all are experts in yorkie breeding, so I really look forward and welcome whatever advice you can give me. I am so glad I took the time to evaluate all the "what if's" before the whelp as I could have easily lost my Lucy. I even had discussions with the vet re: the potential for eclampsia during her pregnancy. I never ever gave her any supplements or anything during her pregnancy as I knew this could bring on eclampsia. They advised me re: that as well. Thank you again for your kind help. I really appreciate this board.

10-31-2010, 08:20 PM	#1
yorkiegirl67 Yorkie Talker Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Lambertville, Michigan, USA Posts: 15	Advice Please / Hand feeding New Litter My little girl whelped 4 puppies on 10/25 and all went text book perfect. It was her first time, and mine as well. I researched all I could get my hands on, and thankfully so as she developed Eclampsia. Lucy is a bigger girl, weighing 9-1/2# and the sire was 5#. The puppies were 7oz., 6.4oz, 6.7 oz. and the last baby was 5.8 ounces. She was on Wellness puppy kibble & Wellness wet food and I fed her 4-5 smaller meals per day as she didn't have a huge appetite but especially not in the few days prior to whelp. All placenta's came out, except one. Feeling like I wanted to be proactive to avoid a uterine infection, as well as inquire re: her calcium levels, I took her to the vet the next day. They gave her an injection of ptocin or oxytocin.. and upon my insistence, they agreed to check her calcium level. It came back at 11, apparently at the high end of normal. I was told if eclampsia were to happen, generally it happens in 2-3 days post whelp when the milk demand is higher. Lucy was an amazing first time Momma... only left her babies to eat, drink or relieve herself. Within 72 hours of having this calcium level done, and it being fine, she was in an emergency situation with having eclampsia. Thank God I knew the signs, and thank God I woke up & decided to check on them at 2:30 a.m. and found her panting & looking strange. When she refused water, I picked her up from nursing her babies to encourage her to drink outside the whelping box and she couldn't stand.. started shivering, etc. Off to the ER went my husband. We were told she could no longer nurse and we needed to hand raise them. The vet did a follow-up calcium blood test and it showed within normal limits but on the lower end of normal. He instructed me to give her 1/4 of a caltrate 2x / day and put her on critical care food. She had become sad and wouldn't eat or drink due to not being able to nurse her babies and I'm thinking the hormones were probably a factor. Her tears caused me to cry, more than once. How sad.... We do put her in the whelping box with a baby sleeper, with the legs / arms cut out so she can interact with them, but they cant nurse. This seems to help her. We have been feeding, burping, pooping & peeing the babies for the past 3 days. I have a digital scale and watching their intakes / outputs very closely, etc. I switched them to using a dr. brown human bottle and that is going much better than the vet puppy bottles. They are 1 week old today, and slowly gaining weight, but not as rapidly as while they were nursing. They were gaining an ounce each day with Lucy. At 1 week, they are each between 10 and 11 oz. The every 4 hour feeding schedule is difficult, and wondered if you could give me advice in terms of when we can consider increasing their formula and go to a 6 hour feeding schedule ? I don't want to overwhelm their tummies and have a set back. Also, a vet tech told me as soon as their eyes are open I can start them on a good canned puppy food and mix formula in it. Is that true ? I'm thinking their digestive tract may not be able to handle that at 10 days or 2 weeks ?? The thing that has me very concerned is they have the strong desire to suckle, just like a human baby, even though they have full bellies of food. They are sucking on each other's genitals, and toes... The vet said to separate them which I plan to do tomorrow. Do you have any ideas on how to best do this ? Without their Momma around them, they rely on each other to comfort and lay on each other for warmth and companionship. I have placed "safe" small stuffed animals in the whelping box for them to crawl on and help keep them separated, but they are moving a lot more at 1 week !! I was wondering about getting some preemie human pacifiers and wondered if this would satisfy their need to suckle. What do you think about the Leesburg (sp) formula ? Right now I am feeding the canned puppy formula from my vet. I am not a full time breeder, and these puppies were planned for other family members, who also have yorkies. My background is in human medicine, and I know you all are experts in yorkie breeding, so I really look forward and welcome whatever advice you can give me. I am so glad I took the time to evaluate all the "what if's" before the whelp as I could have easily lost my Lucy. I even had discussions with the vet re: the potential for eclampsia during her pregnancy. I never ever gave her any supplements or anything during her pregnancy as I knew this could bring on eclampsia. They advised me re: that as well. Thank you again for your kind help. I really appreciate this board.