Need to Care for Puppies w/o Mom

[NanaDtreasures]

I am so sorry that you lost Sadie
I like others on here so far have had to feed one or 2 newborn puppies.
Never a whole litter. My prayers are with you and the 5 little ones.
You can do it ...keep your chin up...get help if you can

I found that as days go on...you get more tired.
You may think you'll wake up for the feeding.
Dont trust yourself to do that. Set the alarm.
And make sure you rest when you're able.

[manolos mom]

Best of luck to you and those babies. Im so sorry you lost their Momma. I know everything will work out great for you....

[manolos mom]

How are you doing with those babies...Just thinking about you....Lissette

[Micah my love]

Do you know someone that has a new litter maybe the mom would take some of yours.
on feb/11/09 I took my very healthy girl in for a c-section she never woke up and i had 3 beautiful little girls left behind i found someone that had a new litter of 3 and she took my babies like they were hers they are almost 4 wks now and doing good. the lady that took them said she would give me 1 back
I went through trying to feed some one time and lost them 1 by 1 so i didn't want to try that again, wishing you good luck with yours

Betty & Micah my love

[xxmxaxrxyxx]

Originally Posted by Micah my love

Do you know someone that has a new litter maybe the mom would take some of yours.
on feb/11/09 I took my very healthy girl in for a c-section she never woke up and i had 3 beautiful little girls left behind i found someone that had a new litter of 3 and she took my babies like they were hers they are almost 4 wks now and doing good. the lady that took them said she would give me 1 back
I went through trying to feed some one time and lost them 1 by 1 so i didn't want to try that again, wishing you good luck with yours

Betty & Micah my love

wow that was nice of her...but is that the going fee of helping out? she keep 2 and you get 1...

[Micah my love]

I don't know i guess for her it is the rate i never knew anyone that had this happen so i thought if i got one that this would be better than nothing
if she can live with it i won't worry about it. but if i could have helped someone in a case like this i would not have asked for anything and would have felt good for doing it.


Betty & Micah my love

[luckylady]

I am just now seeing this thread and would like to offer the OP my sincere condolences on the loss of Sadie.
I hope the babies continue to thrive in your care. You came to the right place for help and am happy to see the offers of help from those that have been through this. Please keep us updated on their progress

[FlDebra]

Just wanted to post an update. So far all of the puppies are doing well. They are already showing their individualism. One eats like a little pig and I have to stop him. One doesn't seem to latch on to the bottle nipple so I have to feed him by either squeezing gently on the bottle or resorting to the tiny syringe the vet gave me. The 3 girls eat well but usually stop on their own. One way or another though, they are all getting at least the suggested feeding amount. They are giving me about 3 hours between feedings now and went 4 hours last night! I got nervous and started petting on them til they roused ready to eat. Here they were giving me a break and I couldn't be patient.

I don't think I will get too tired as I never sleep through the night anyway. But it does seem like I don't get anything else done. By the time you get all five fed, pee'd and pooped; spend some time rubbing on them and loving them; clean their bed and them, it is about time to start over again. I have an offer for a surrogate for a couple, but right now I feel like it would be best to keep them together. At least they make a nice warm pile. If anything changes, I may reach out to someone with a nursing momma.

This was the first place I thought to go for help when we lost Sadie. I knew there was a wealth of knowledge and experience here as well as people who would understand the devastating loss felt when Sadie did not make it. I haven't been visiting any forums for a long time but I am glad to know you all are still here! Thanks again.

[yorkiegirl2]

I just wanted to say I'm very sorry for the loss of your girl Sadie.
I hope all goes well with the pups.

[Rosiegirl]

WONDERFUL! I have been following this thread and was getting a little anxious to hear how you were doing by yesterday. Keep up the good work, you must be doing a good job because that is a lot of work to help 5 pups. You should be proud of yourself.

[Sugar's Mom]

Originally Posted by Micah my love

I don't know i guess for her it is the rate i never knew anyone that had this happen so i thought if i got one that this would be better than nothing
if she can live with it i won't worry about it. but if i could have helped someone in a case like this i would not have asked for anything and would have felt good for doing it.


Betty & Micah my love

betty, it is riduculouss that she is even charging a fee and two pups at that. NO WAY!!!! She is cheating you. i hope you don't call this person your friend. friends help friends in situations like this.

[Sugar's Mom]

Glad your babies are doing well and eating for you. i don't think you should let them go four hours even if they want to. it is so hard. i have had to set my clock every hour for several days, then every two hours for a day or two then i start stretching it out but never let them go over three hours. keep updating us and again, I am sorry you lost Sadie.

[peanut]

Originally Posted by Sugar's Mom

betty, it is riduculouss that she is even charging a fee and two pups at that. NO WAY!!!! She is cheating you. i hope you don't call this person your friend. friends help friends in situations like this.

I felt the same way Dee, if someone needed help and I had a bitch nursing or almost done nursing that could help, I wouldn't take any of your puppies, but maybe thats just me. You never know when you may need help yourself.

I am glad your puppies are doing good, I have been thinking about you, sounds like your doing a great job, just make sure you get some ME time for yourself in between the feedings & poop clean up.

[FlDebra]

Thanks, for your advice. I had read not to wake them to feed them, but I was getting nervous at the 4 hour point and just petted on them til they woke ready to eat. They haven't gone that long since. All are doing great except my little non-suckler. He seems weaker than the others. I decided to give him a couple drops of corn syrup this morning in case his blood sugar is low. He has been giving a half-hearted attempt at the sucking response, but not latching on enough to really get anything from the bottle. So, I am still using the syringe for him. I have to go really slow, because he does not swallow fast. I may take him by the vet's later today if he is not acting perkier. The vet told me if I have any problems I can come by without an appointment.

I bought some "Just Born" ready-to-feed formula and a couple of them now have runny poop when stimulated with the cotton ball. Not sure if it is the change in formula or if I am over-feeding.

Originally Posted by Sugar's Mom

Glad your babies are doing well and eating for you. i don't think you should let them go four hours even if they want to. it is so hard. i have had to set my clock every hour for several days, then every two hours for a day or two then i start stretching it out but never let them go over three hours. keep updating us and again, I am sorry you lost Sadie.

[Mardelin]

Originally Posted by FlDebra

The worst that could happen to a new Yorkie mom, did. I lost my sweet Sadie 3 days after she had 5 beautiful puppies. I knew something was not right and tried to tell the vet's office that in several phone calls. They gave me an appointment for Wednesday when I called on Monday. I called back Tuesday morning and said she could not wait another day, they had to see her. My complaints of her being lethargic were met with the explanation of her just having a very large litter and of course she is exhausted. I expressed my worry over the abundant discharge that was brown, green, watery. They said that was normal up to 10 days and unless it was bright red not to worry. Something kept telling me all was not right, even though I could not relate specific symptoms that caught their attention. Still, I knew my girl. They finally agreed to see her after their last appt. that day instead of waiting til my Wednesday appointment. As I was getting her cleaned up and ready to go, she seemed to fade even faster. By the time we got to the vet, she was very sick. I told them that and they said have a seat and we will call you. When Sadie could no longer raise her head in response, I went to the counter crying, "please something is terribly wrong!" Then they brought us back to see the vet. He knew immediately it was bad and took her for an xray and put her in the oxygen chamber. They got IV's started and were getting her prepped for surgery, but she did not make it. She did not retain a pup, but had an infection and had gone toxic very quickly. Vet said she could have retained a small part of the placenta, had a tear in her uterus, or just got an infection during the birthing process. I should have been more agressive to get her seen. I just could not put into words what made me know that all was not well until it was too late. Others saw her Monday and thought she seemed fine. I just had a bad feeling. But it wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that she really showed how sick she was.

I feel horrible about this. But I have little time to mourn as these 5 puppies need a LOT of care. I am bottle feeding them and that seems to be going well so far. They were 5 days old today and are acting very healthy, eating well, peeing and pooping with just a little rubbing with a cotton ball and sleeping 3 hours at a whack. I have a clip-on lamp with a 100 watt bulb above them for extra warmth. They all had their tails docked and dew claws removed this morning and that went smoothly too. I think they are about on track for the recommended feeding of 1 cc per oz. of body weight, every 3 hours for now. Weights this morning were 2.5, 2.5, 3.0, 4.0 and 4.0.

Anyone with first hand experience raising a litter from 3 days old?

How do the puppies do as they are grown, emotionally, personality, etc.? I know I can substitute for feeding and stimulating the waste but how does the loss of mom show in their psychology?

Any and all advice will be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

This happened to me on my Go-Go's last litter. Out come was more favorable. They managed to save her, lots of heavy duty antibiotics and IVs However, when she was spayed in Feb they found that one of her horns had ripped. It had happened during delivery. My vet is a reproduction Specialist......and did extensive tests during her critical care. Complete Blood Tests (no infection evident) Ultra sounds, Coagulation tests, etc.

But, when she first went down it was on a Sunday, so, I took her to Emergency, their blood tests said she had low calcium levels, so they administered calcium (Go-Go had an alergic reaction), because her levels weren't low enough to warrant calcium.

Puppies were a week old when Go-Go went down. I had begun the bottle feeding right away. Was doing the Just Born. Vet said take them off of it because it causes premature catiracs. To put them on Goats Milk with equal parts of Distilled Water (Goats Milk is the closest thing to Mother's Milk). After that they thrived.

Kept the pups in 80 degree monitored area, bottle fed every 3 hours, until they began to increase their intake and the feeding times began to spread.
Diapered them every 4-6 hours. Weighed them and took their temp twice a day.

Since I pretty much leave my puppies alone with their mother (that is other than weighing and temp taking) the first 8 weeks of their life. This situation was a bit different, they had human interaction from the get go.

I'll tell you this litter did very well, as far as being well-adjusted. I could really tell the differance when they got older. Their acceptance of human touch, wanting to be held, being very cuddly and kissy was just more pronounced. More easily piddle pad trained.

My situation was a bit different than yours, since I still had mother, and I put a onsie on her 3 or 4 times a day and put her in with the pups, so they could get mothers warmth and she could satisfy her motherly instincts.

So, your puppies will do very well. If you have another female and she'll accept them, as far as the cuddling. Allow her to do so, that is with your supervision.

By week 3 they were up to 64cc of milk....about every 5 hours and at times went 7 hours with out a bottle. By week 3 1/2 they were lapping on their own.....Week 4 I added Gerbers Rice Ceral to their Milk.....By week 5 they were eating puppy kibbles