Quote:
Originally Posted by gracielove  I'm just wondering if the vet put the pups in with the mom after she woke up from surgery. I'm not a dog breeder but I have experience with animals that have had c-sections. I have taken care of a lot of strays and feral animals and I used to breed purebred cats. Usually once they come around they will start letting the babies nurse. If the vet lets your little girl come home the day after the c-section she may start to nurse them but if they wait too long it may be too late for her to take any interest. She may even dry up and not be able to nurse. If you can get them to nurse a little bit her milk may come in and then she will naturally want to feed those pups. The sooner the better. I hope so for your sake and for the puppies sakes. It is best for them to get the natural protection that they get from the mothers milk.
You have learned a valuable lesson. Breeding any kind of animal is risky business but small breed dogs is asking for double trouble. Any kind of dog or cat make wonderful pets that we can love and enjoy. It's best just to leave the breeding to the real professionals that have the time, knowledge, money and experience to do it the right way. There is so much more to it than letting two dogs mate. Personally, I would rather just reap the rewards of the knowledge and hard work of a good, reputable breeder. |
I don't think the vet put them in with mom until after she recovered and up and about. They then tried to get her to nurse them and she wanted no part of it. They didn't want her to hurt herself by struggling to get away so they started bottle feeding the pups and kept her and pups separate. Her milk hasn't come it, you can't get anything from her teats. The vet sent the puppies home with me at 5 am and had me come back for Allie at 8:30. They were born around 2:15, and they spayed her after the c-section.
Had I known more about c-sections, I would have known to ask for a placenta or 2 to take home to make the transition easier.
We are putting the 2 stronger pups to teats to suck and try and get the hormones going.
I can say overall I am not pleased with the emergency vet because they didn't see the "need" for an oxytocin shot after pups were born and also my vet basically told me he didn't think it would do any good at this point. He also strongly suggested I bottle feed and not tube feed because he said pups really need to learn to suck, even after I presented him with several breeders statements that tube feeding was better for several reasons.
I called 4 other vets in my area and none of them would teach me to tube feed and all "strongly discouraged" it. I have emailed a breeder in Dallas to see if she can refer me to her vet or one she may know that will teach me. Right now pups are doing okay, but I'd rather them do better than okay. The 2 smaller ones have a poor latch and it's harder for them to feed on the bottles-we're really having to work with them, and it's a slow process.