I just read about your Bonnie's new babies. Congratulations! I know you've been very busy with their care, I just wanted to let you know how great Bonnie looks in the pictures.

Hope the vet visit goes well tomorrow.

Everything was going well until about 9:30 last night when I noticed one of the pups was getting kind of flacid and weak. She was still eating, though, and I fed her every 2 hours through the night. I came in to check on her at 6:30 this morning and she was getting cold. I rubbed her to stimulate her and started wrapping her in warm cloths to get her temp up. It worked and I fed her after warming her. I called the vet and delayed my appointment until noon. I didn't trust leaving her with the litter so I took a nap with her cupped in my hand. She passed while I was napping. I fed the other pups twice more before going to the vet's. He didn't dock any tails, saying they were all too premature. He said they were 'minimumally dehydrated' and sub-qued the 3 smallest ones there. He said not to be surprised if I lose one or two more. I'm supposed to check in with him and bring them back Thursday. Since I've been home from there, I'm still feeding every 2 hours and made some beef liver broth for them. There's 2 of them that are really worrying me but they're hanging in there. I truly don't know what else I can do for them other than what I'm doing. Yesterday, I thought things were looking up and now...I just don't know. The babies were obviously more premature than I thought. The only preemies I had ever seen before was some that a member posted pictures of back in June with a litter she had. Bonnie's babies were more developed than those were so I didn't worry so much, just thinking they were tiny. Right now, I'm just kind of shell-shocked and numb. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. Jim P.S. I couldn't bury the little one without naming her so I called her my "Little Dreamer" as I put her to rest.

Thank you..I do appreciate that. I'm just trying to keep going. That every 2 hours around the clock schedule is hard to keep up with. I tried getting a nap this afternoon but the worry won't let me sleep. At least I got to rest my eyes.

So sorry to hear about "Little Dreamer" prayers and positive thoughts are being sent to you and the pups...

Thank you, Kerrianne. It really helps knowing others that understand are pulling for them. I don't feel nearly so alone in this and it really gives me strength. Thanks so much. Jim

I'll say a pray for them

What a pretty name Jim...
I'm so sorry you lost Little Dreamer :(
It sounds like you're doing everything possible.
Its exhausting work to keep these little ones alive sometimes
Rest when you can...Puppy prayers that the other wee ones start doing better :(

Thanks, Debbi and Brady's Mom. I have them here in the computer room with me so I'm keeping a constant eye on them. The pups are getting good at being hand fed. I think they must think I'm their second Mom. Right now, I'm feeding them one hour, then doing the beef liver broth the next hour, then feeding the next hour, then the broth...and on and on. Oh, well, whatever it takes. They're such little sweeties; I only wish I could do more for them.

I want to say conrats on the babies! And my heart goes out to you on the baby that you lost, I have been there I am so sorry, breeding is a very hard job, we loose babies sometimes I still cry everytime I loose one so sorry, good luck with the rest, and your Mommy is beautiful by the way!

A BREEDERS LIFE A BREEDER LIFE IS FULL OF WOE , WITH LOTS OF HEARTAKES THAT COME AND GO. THE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS START AT WELPING TIME, AND DO NOT END UNTIL ALL PUPPIES AND MOMMY ARE FINE . HOURS ON END OF CLEANING , GROOMING AND CARE, ARE GIVIN LOVINGLY EACH , DAY LONG WITH LOTS OF PRAYER. AFTER ALL, THESE BABIES ARE COUNTING ON ME, TO HELP GET THEM HERE SAFELY YOU SEE. THE WORRIES ARE ENDLESS THE REGRETS NEVER STOP , WHAT MORE COULD I HAVE DONE TO SAVE THIS LITTLE PUP? THE HAPPINESS OF OUR BABIES COMES FIRST, NO MATTER THE COST OR HOW IT MAY HURT. SO WHY DO I DO THIS YOUR ASKING ME? BECAUSE OF THE SMILES ON THE FACES I SEE , WHEN YOU COME TO MY HOME TO GET YOUR NEW PUPPY! DO IT FOR MONEY , THAT A BIG JOKE , MORE TIMES THAN NOT A BREEDER STAYS BROKE. IT THE LOVE OF THE BREED THAT DRIVES US SO HARD, AND SEEING YOUR HAPPINESS IS OUR GREATEST REWARD! MONEY CAN'T BUY THAT MY FRIENDS , ONLY BY BEING A BREEDER COULD YOU UNDERSTAND. WE ARE NOT LIKE YOUR AVAERAGE JOE, THERE IS ALL SO MUCH YOU STILL DON'T KNOW . EACH DAY OF OUR LIVES THERES MORE TO LEARN , TO STRENGHTEN OUR PROGAM AND BETTER OUR LINES. SO I HOPE YOU AT LEAST KEEP THIS IN MIND (IF NOT WHAT A LOSS) WHEN GETTING YOUR PRESIOUS ANGLE AS FAR AS THE COST , THE ONE WHO BRED IT PUT IN 24/7 OF THEIR TIME. AND WORRIED AND PRAYED FOR DAYS AND WEEKS NONSTOP, TO BRING THAT BUNDLE OF JOY YOU GOT, AND OUR HOPE IS A LIFETIME OF JOY FOR YOU , THAT IS THE REASON WE DO WHAT WE DO. by Denise Rucker this is a poem I wrote after I lost 3 puppies and a Mom hope you like it, I hope it's ok to post it

Thanks, Denise. You're right, this is so hard. I'm grieving but, at the same time, I have to stay focused on the babies I still have. Thanks for the compliment on Bonnie. She is beautiful but certainly isn't at her best in the pictures I posted (she would be SO mad if she knew I posted them). She is a good Mommy and is my partner while I'm feeding the babies. I'll get a few drops in them and then she licks off their 'milk mouth' and then I feed a bit more. Jim

Oh, my, Denise, that poem is beautiful and all so true! It is so satisfying though, when someone comes over and falls in love with one of your puppies. And to hear updates from the new parents is always a joy. They're never really 100% someone else's dog....we always keep a piece of them in our heart. For me though, the greatest joy is the privelege of having all that Yorkie love around. There's nothing quite like it. I love all dogs but, to me, Yorkies are little angels from heaven. I'm so sorry to hear of your loss; it must have been devastating. I've been told in the past I need to 'toughen up' as a breeder. I just can't bring myself to do that. I love them freely in the good times and grieve totally in the bad. I can't help but have an emotional commitment to all these babies. To me, anything less is short changing them. Thanks again for the wonderful poem.

Do you have nutridrops? and nurse mate? these will help you a lot you cansame day order them from revivial animal.com they do help. I have a tinnie maltese male I am bottle feeding now he is 2 weeks now I used these and goats milk you can get it at the supermarket but revival has bitches milk with coleston in it so I mixed it he is still doing well so far he won't nrse of mom but eats his bottle well he is only 2.5 oz but I think he is going to make it, this is only my second litter of malts I havealways done yorkies I am finding they are about the same, you will get these tinies fro time to time, look into these things on google, and I will pray for your babies good luck I have to wrk tommrrow I have a babysitter for him I only have to work for 2 12 hrs days and 6 on wens. oh and if you have a suckion ball like they ues to suck a human babys nose out after I bottle feed I always use it on his nose to help keep his lungs cleared out, and I hold his head between my fingers and tapp his back to insure no milk gets in the lungs I hope I helped out, you can email me if you need anything but I won't be home till after 7pm rareyorkies@hotmail.com good luck Jim. I woud loveto get one of you pups out of you beautiful girl someday. she really is a beauty.

you don't need to change a thing, I am the same way, I keep up with all my babies after they leave and I always feel like their Mom I have done this for 12 yrs and I still cry every time I loose one, you stay just like you are, you are a good breeder, you love and care for your babies all breeders should be that way. their not things they are our babies, your doing everything right! gotta goto bed now 5 am comes early but I have gotten use to no sleep lately with the little malt boy his name is miracale because he is. Blessings Jim if you need me go to my website it has my email and # on it on my profile. good night

Thanks, Denise, for the suggestions. I have the Nutri-drops and was using it but stopped once I had made the beef liver broth. I'm afraid if I used both they would get too much iron. Right now, the supplement I'm using is called Just Born. It's a ready to use liquid. Do you really think the bitch's milk from Revival is really better? Do they still need the colostrum? They were born Wed. night so they're now 5 days old. If it works really better, I could call Revival tomorrow and get it over-nighted. I'm feeding them with a tapered eye dropper so I can meter their intake really well and so far don't seem to have a problem with it getting up their noses and such. They're so small, I can't really burp them but do massage their sides and bellies when they're done eating. I then hold them up and Bonnie diapers them before I place them back with her. Is the Nurse Mate some type of bottle? These babies don't really open their mouths wide while eating and are so small I'm not sure I could use a bottle of any type just yet but may well need one as they grow. The whelping pudding I made for Bonnie has vanilla pudding, yogurt, evaporated milk, egg yolks and canned pumpkin in it. Do you think using goat's milk in that instead of the evaporated would be better?

my little malt boy has done well with the mix of just born and goats milk with a little karo in each bottle I give the nutridros on a qutip and just put it in his mouth once a day easy on the karo thats to help loosen his stool if they will nuse off mom that best and just giving them the nutridrops once a day bu if they won't nurse from Mom I use the gaot milk add water and add just born with water in a juce container keep it in the firg, make a bottle at a time heat it just alittle warmer than your temp feed every 3 hrs and encouge them to nurse on Mom as much as you can. I have never tryed the liver thing so I don't know about it, but you don't need nurse mate if you have just born , good luck , I will check on you tommorrow,blessings

Okay, I checked my Revival catalog and found the Nurse Mate. They also sell the Just Born that I'm now using and it says it has colostrum in it. They also have something called Milkade which is supposed to help in producing more milk. I'll call tomorrow and see about getting these things.

Jim, my heart goes out to you. This is such a trying time. I'm sorry you lost your little girl, it can be devastating.

It sounds like between the supplement and the liver remedy you are doing the best you can right now. I'm glad they got a little sub-Q, that should help. I know it is exhausting, do you have anyone who could watch over them for a short time for you?

I gave my moms the whelping pudding (as much as they wanted at first) and a little cottage cheese a few times a day. Anything to get extra calcium into mom. Karo in her water also seemed to make her more interested in drinking liquids and gave her a little energy. Does she seem to be producing enough milk now?

My very best wishes to you for the strength to see this through, and to your babies for the tenacity to keep going. Hoping for a great outcome here.

Katelin, unfortunately we lost a second girl this morning. She was like a twin in size to the first one we lost and was oh so tiny. My wife took an extra day off work yesterday to help me. I showed her how to feed them and she was going to feed them for their 6 AM feeding while I napped. She got me up because the pup was gasping and in distress. I was surprised at this because she was doing well at her 4 o'clock feeding but I could tell she wouldn't make it and all I could do was comfort her. I did get her to relax and stop gasping and she passed quietly around 8 o'clock. We're terribly upset and completely frazzled but have to maintain for the others. As for the others, we now have 4. Of the 4, 3 of them have 'plumped' and are doing well. Two of those are eating off Mom entirely and we're not supplementing. The third plump girl I'm still supplementing but she doesn't look like she needs it anymore. I may back off on her if she continues to progress. There's still one girl that is doing better but is still very frail. She is eating well when I feed her but still looks a bit dehydrated even though I've been sub-Qing her every 12 hours (1cc) since yesterday. Hopefully, she'll turn the corner but isn't out of the woods yet. For some reason, Bonnie hasn't wanted to eat today but I finally just got her to eat something a while ago. She wouldn't even drink water today until she finally ate. I think she's upset about her babies too. She seems well, no temp or anything and is producing a good amount of milk. I'll keep trying to coax her into eating more now that her gut is going again. I just hope the worst is over and the little one keeps getting stronger. I don't feel 'guilty' but it's impossible to not feel like I've failed with these babies. Experience is not a gentle teacher.

You have done all you possibly can to help these babies so don't feel like you've failed them. This is an emotional rollercoaster you are on, I've been there also and know the heartbreak and how this takes it's toll on you. Hang in there and hopefully they will all be nursing on mom soon and be fat and happy and you can get a breather.
You are doing a great job!!

Thanks, ladies, for the moral support. My hat is off to anyone that's ever been through this before. I've had tinies before but never a pup that didn't thrive from day one. I just finished a feeding and my littlest one took in a bit more than she has before. I'm using a 1cc eyedropper to feed them and her intake up til now has been between 1.5 to 2 cc plus a few drops of beef liver broth. This time she took in about 2.5 cc plus the broth. I'm afraid to up the volume too quickly on her but if she does well, I'll try to slowly increase the amount. One question about the beef liver broth. Everything I've read says to feed about 4 drops per feeding but the recipe is not very specific about making the broth. I'm sure the strength of it determines the amount to feed. What I made has about the color of chicken broth. Would this be considered weak, strong or just about right? If it's weak, I could increase the amount I give them but I don't want to overdo it. I'd appreciate any input about this. Jim

Jim, I've made the recipe, but never had to use it. Like you, I would be cautious of overwhelming the system with too strong a dose. I hope someone else has more experience with this for you.

So sorry for your loss. I'm keeping the faith for the rest of them and for you.

I never did use the liver recipe either. Nutridrops are great though, I really feel like they helped my tiny ones to keep up strength. A drop in the morning and in the evening.

[I ALMOST LOST BELLE. THE RUNT OF LOLAS FIRST LITTER. I HAD TO FEED HER EVERY COUPLE OF HOURS GOAT MILK WITH A DROPPER...YOU SHOWED SEE THIS GAL..GOOD LUCK AND PLEASE SEND PICSQUOTE=Woogie Man;2282257]Katelin, unfortunately we lost a second girl this morning. She was like a twin in size to the first one we lost and was oh so tiny. My wife took an extra day off work yesterday to help me. I showed her how to feed them and she was going to feed them for their 6 AM feeding while I napped. She got me up because the pup was gasping and in distress. I was surprised at this because she was doing well at her 4 o'clock feeding but I could tell she wouldn't make it and all I could do was comfort her. I did get her to relax and stop gasping and she passed quietly around 8 o'clock. We're terribly upset and completely frazzled but have to maintain for the others. As for the others, we now have 4. Of the 4, 3 of them have 'plumped' and are doing well. Two of those are eating off Mom entirely and we're not supplementing. The third plump girl I'm still supplementing but she doesn't look like she needs it anymore. I may back off on her if she continues to progress. There's still one girl that is doing better but is still very frail. She is eating well when I feed her but still looks a bit dehydrated even though I've been sub-Qing her every 12 hours (1cc) since yesterday. Hopefully, she'll turn the corner but isn't out of the woods yet. For some reason, Bonnie hasn't wanted to eat today but I finally just got her to eat something a while ago. She wouldn't even drink water today until she finally ate. I think she's upset about her babies too. She seems well, no temp or anything and is producing a good amount of milk. I'll keep trying to coax her into eating more now that her gut is going again. I just hope the worst is over and the little one keeps getting stronger. I don't feel 'guilty' but it's impossible to not feel like I've failed with these babies. Experience is not a gentle teacher.[/QUOTE]

Jim sub- cu her 21/2 cc my vet told me that you can't drown them like people say, the trick is the water needs to e as warm as her temp around 98-100 degrees and do it in the neck when the pocket of water goes away do it again repeat with feeding untill she rehydrates, I did my malt boy for the first week this way he is still doing well 2 weeks old now gained 1/2 oz but with tinies you may not see wieght gain untill 3 weeks, hope this helps sorry about the little girl, I have been there so many times, it still hurts the same every time, I could still lose my little boy but I have to keep trying thats all we can do, I also take my finger nd wet Mom,s nipple and try to get them to nurse off mom as well even just a few minutes while the others sleep. good luck I will be here untill 11 am tommorrow I will check back on you in the morning, blessings your in my prayers!

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Warm pups....I keeped a heating pad UNDER the whelping box clean towels and warm tummys...feed the baby that may not eat as much in a worm towel while you feed her. Those nipples that you buy did not work for me at first. I used a medicine dropper..then afer 2 weeks I used the nipples...just make sure their tums look full not skinny, If I can do this so can you.....

I posted earlier that I had gotten about 2.5 cc formula in the smallest girl. She handled it fine but at the last feeding she was still kind of full and would only take about 1.5 cc but her belly was nice and tight. Think I'll back off just a hair from the 2.5cc on her next feeding. The other girl is definitely getting a good share of Mom's milk and had a firm tummy but I got 1 cc down her anyway. I'm still giving both the broth. I have the Nutri-drops but for now will stick with the broth instead. I can give them that with every feeding so it's a more continuous source of nutrients it seems. The bigger one that I'm feeding has good spring action on her skin so I'll stop the sub-q on her but the other one still needs it. Her skin seems more elastic and not so thin as before but still doesn't spring back like I'd like it be. Denise, the 1cc every 12 hours for the sub-q is my vet's recommendation but it does seem like they've been slow to re-hydrate. Thanks for the advice. I may up the volume and go a little more often. I have never done it before so have just been following what he said but, given the results I'm seeing, what you say makes sense. Good luck with your little boy. If he's made it to 2 weeks and is gaining, sounds like he'll make it. I do have a heating pad for the babies but the bigger ones seem to stay off it during the day. It's been in the mid 80's here in the day and around 70 at night. When they're off the pad, they're kind of sprawled out and not bunching up together so they're not getting cold. The little one I keep on the pad unless she's nestled in with Mom. Thanks for all the advice, y'all. I'll post again later after a couple more feedings. Jim

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let me know if you need us....i know what you are going thru. But in a week or 2 they will be good..i like puppy goat milk from petsmart..it about 7 bucks a can but it already mixed and it makes them healthy fast...good luck and just keep an eye on them cause they can loose weight fast if they are not eating properly