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Originally Posted by Janisowl  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. |
Sounds like you have a great plan going on. You may be able to try to feed a few of the others just so Tiny Tim has plenty of space. My Baby Grace had a hard time with the nipple on the bottle at first. Her suction was not strong so we had to make the hole in the nipple bigger so she had very little work to do to get the milk to come out. Had to use the dropper several times and she did learn how to suck the milk out of that. After a few days she was able to feed without problems and started getting strength. As they get bigger, the nipple can be too small for them and we are now using an infant bottle. Started out with a preemie nipple and now are on a newborn one. Bottle looks like it is too big for them but they suck it and it works like a charm. A crying puppy means it is either hungry, cold, hot or needs to potty or burp. A weak puppy sometimes won't make any noise so you just have to feel and check on them. I always, and still do feel for some firmness in their tummies after they nurse. Mine are 3 weeks old today and I still feed 2 bottles a day to mine since mom needs help feeding them. Hope all continues to go good and still have you and your bunch in my prayers. Keep us updated on how it is going.