Hello all and thank you for your many kindenesses and well wishes for Tiny Tim. Yes, I am in love with this little fellow and will definitely keep him should he make it through. I took much advice and then added a bunch of common sense as well.
1. His mom is feeding him and not pushing him away so...I am leaving him with her as much as possible and monitoring the competition for nipple time when he is feeding.
2. He does not like the feel of the bottle nipple and I am afraid to force the issue and cause him to inhale the fluids and really get into a serious situation because of my inexperience. I will offer and if he refuses, try the eye dropper or syringe only as a supplement at this time.
3. If I remove all the other pups from the mom so that he can have her all to himself, the mother dog is so concerned about where her other pups are, she won't concentrate on the needy little runt. Better to micromanage the brood together.
4. I know warmth is ultra important, so I have added a heat pad under the bedding and am coddling the runt on my bare skin when he is sleeping. I will monitor him through the night every hour.
5. He is 2.6 and I have purchase a little scale and will stay on top of that.
6. The vet NEVER offered fluids. I will be back there tomorrow!
Will keep you posted. Off to the store for a liver to boil and some goats milk just in case. I live in the Great Smoky Mountains of western NC. We are a Native American family (Cherokee). No breeders in our area. I know this because I went through that trying to find a stud and did the research then. |