[Saleswman]

Originally Posted by Lacy's Mom

This is what I meant by glucose water:

5% glucose solution by mixing one teaspoon white corn syrup with a few grains each of sodium chloride (table salt) and potassium chloride (salt substitute) with four tablespoons boiled water. This resembles a Ringer’s glucose-sale fluid but, of course, cannot be used for subcutaneous or intravenous injection because it is not sterile. We put the solution into a dropper bottle. As soon as a whelp is dry and breathing normally, it is weighed on a gram scale and given five or six drops of the solution on its tongue. Even the weakest puppy is able to accept each drop before the next is given. Then the puppy is put with its dam for stimulation and warmth.

Every 4 hours we weigh the puppy, record the weight, and administer the glucose solution, giving it as much as a dropper full if it will take it, until it shows signs of gaining weight--Then every 8 hours until it is 48 hours old. Usually even the weakest or smallest puppy in a litter will begin to take hold and nurse strongly with good suction at the end of 24 hours if not before.

No supplementary food is introduced into the puppy’s system except the 5% glucose for the first 48 hours. Energy and a reserve supply of glycogen is what is needed at this point in the tentative life.

After this time, each puppy which has lost 10% or more of its birth weight, is supplemented every 4 hours with the standard mixture of Esbilac (one part Esbilac to three parts boiled water plus one teaspoon corn syrup to each 8 tablespoons of the mixture (½ cup). This reduces the glucose content by 50%. The puppy’s weight is recorded at 8 hour intervals. After 72 hours if a puppy is still not showing a consistent weight gain on supplementation and its dam’s milk we add one egg yolk per cup of Esbilac-corn syrup mixture and, at the end of one week, should a puppy still need supplementation, we omit the corn syrup entirely and substitute protein to the Esbilac-egg mixture in the form of two teaspoons scraped raw beef. The time has now come when it is necessary for a puppy to be able to manufacture its own glycogen without depending on sugar to stimulate the pancreatic production of insulin. If sugar is continued, the pancreas can become trigger-happy and whether the blood sugar rises sharply (HyPERglycemia) or drops drastically (HyPOglycemia), the results are the same--stress and possible unconsciousness or even death.

When we begin the Esbilac supplemental feedings, we give up the dropper bottle in favor of a nurser bottle and prefer a kitten nurser, which can be purchased through Animal Specialties. Bottle feeding is just as fast as tube feeding and is much more satisfying to both the puppy and the breeder. The puppy’s suckling instinct is preserved and encouraged. It can be completely lost if a puppy is constantly tube feed.

Kudos to you for helping in this dire time..........good job!