I"M SO UPSET! PLEASE HELP ME!
 

It's 3 AM here and I just got back from taking BItsy to the hospital. I don't know if you all remember me or not, but Bitsy and my male yorkie Bentley had a litter of pups about two weeks ago. Bitsy was staggering and could hardly walk and panting really really hard and her mouth was pouring with salavia and I think she was having seizures. She looked like she would die at any moment and I am still shaking from it. Turns out she has eclampsia. I had to leave her at the hospital but thank God she was looking better by the time I had to leave her. I've never been to this emergency clinic before and just recently switched Bitsy to a new vet that I'm not yet sure of and haven't built up a trust with them yet. The emergency clinic said I'll have to take the pups (6) away from Mom and hand feed them. From the little bit I know about eclampsia I know this is crutial for Bitsy's health but at the same time it absolutely breaks my heart. Bitsy is not going to understand where and why her babies are gone. They said not to let her see them at all for a couple weeks because it would be stressful for her, but she's going to freak out when she comes back home tomorrow and goes to that bassinete where her puppies are. I don't know how I'm going to do this. She is not going to understand and my heart is just torn to pieces at the thought of it. I thought I was going to lose Bitsy tonight. It was one of the most helpless feelings I've ever had. We had trouble finding the the emergency hospital, a car was driving on the wrong side of the median and we almost hit it head on, and I got into a terrible arguement with my husband who is very unsympathetic in a crisis situation. I am just in pieces. I know it's late and most people won't read this til morning. I'm going to try and go back to bed and sleep a little cause I'll have to feed the pups a bottle soon. Please, any of you experienced breeders who have dealt with this before tell me what to do. The vet said to give Bitsy tums for calcium. Is that better than goats milk and cottage cheese? All I know is what I found out when I typed in eclampsia and there were only a couple threads and it didn't go into detail. I have never had puppies before nor have I ever loved a dog so much and i want to do what is best for both. For those who don't know, I didn't plan on breeding my two yorkies nor do I ever plan to breed again. My ignorance is how it happened. Any advice is welcome and I know there are some educated breeders on here. I don't mean to sound ugly but I don't trust everything a vet says. I'll check back in a few hours. It felt good just to let it all out. Thanks for listening.

I"M SO UPSET! PLEASE HELP ME!
 

I don't know anything about eclampsia but I just wanted you to know that you are not alone & how sorry I am that you, Bitsy & those babies are going through that.
:sad: How sad that her babies wont be there. As a mom, I couldn't imagine. You & her will be on my mind. I hope everything works out. This is probably going to be harder for you cuz you will probably put yourself in her shoes. How could a person NOT.
I agree with you about not totally trusting your vet. Several years ago my female yorkie Suzy jumped from my sons arms and broke her front leg. After taking the cast off, we went home & she jumped again & rebroke it in the same spot. The doctor never made sure the bones were touching so they would mend & she had to have major surgery. I'm a little leary too.
Good Luck

Im glad u took her to the vet in time, im not a breeder so i dont know much at all, i wish i could help u more... i feel sorry for Bitsy and u for having to go through this, but im happy that she was looking better when u had to leave her, i know there are a few good breeders on this forum and im sure they will give u all the help they can give...
Please keep us updated on Bitsy and the babies, ur in my thoughts!

Good luck ;)

I don't know much about eclampsia either, but i, too, want to say that you're not alone in this. I can only imagine how terrify you must be. From what I know, eclampsia can be very serious, so at least it's good that you caught it and brought Bitsey to the hospital in time. I did a little search on the Internet, and all sources I found suggest oral calcium and vitamin D supplements for home care. Here are a couple of webpages that might be helpful:

http://www.drwhitedvm.com/showpracfa...=181&Private=0
http://www.petplace.com/articles/artShow.asp?artID=999

I'm sorry I can't be much of a help in this. Hope Bitsey feels better soon. Best wishes..

I am so sorry, Michelle! I don't know anything at all about eclampsia either. I wish it weren't this hour or I would call our Dr. Lucy. Hopefully our breeders here on the forum will have some advice on it. We will certainly keep Bitsy in our prayers as well as you an your family! Please keep us updated.

Thanks everyone! Little did I know how thankful and appreciative I would be of my Yorkie family (you all!). I am waiting on a phone call from the vet to tell me I can come pick up Bitsy. The puppies ate this morning from the bottle and we did what they said to make them pea and poop, but none of them pooped. I asked the ER vet if I could hold the puppies while Bitsy licked them and made them pea and poop but they said no. I had been doing this already to make sure Bitsy was getting to every pup and Bitsy seemed to appreicate the help (there are six of them). As a mother who nursed I cannot imagine my nursing child being totally removed from me. I know Bitsy is a dog but she has such love and concern for these puppies I cannot imagine bringing her home and seeing her looking for them and not letting her see or have anything to do with them like the vet said. I was thinking maybe after I feed each puppy and get thier tummies full I could lay on my bed with bitsy and let her smell and lick them so they could pee and poop and at least she could know they are ok and not missing or gone.

Please, someone tell me which would be the best thing to do. Let her see them and smell them and lick them, but not nurse, OR not letting her see them at all. Other than Bitsy's well being and health, this is at the very front of my mind right now and I am worried sick over it.

I should be getting a phone call anytime now and I'm going to pick her up and bringing her home and I need to know which one to do. I do not know if my heart can take seeing her looking for her puppies and me totally withholding them from her. I just don't know if I can do that! Many thanks for ANYONES opinion!!

Ahhhhhhh I wish I lived close to you to help you feed those babies! I only know the symptoms of eclampsia and know its a serious calcuim deficiency that can happen after a mother nurses her puppies for a while. ALot of times they need emergency Iv therapy with calcuim. Fortunately as a breeder I havent had to experience this problem yet, and hope I wont have too. Since you actually had to go thru the crisis you know more then many of us! I hope everything will be okay.

I WISH YOU LIVED CLOSE TO ME TOO!!! She did have to have the emergency IV thing and catherized her and had her on a heart monitor because I think her heart rate was way up and I think I read on here or maybe the vet told me that they can have heart damage from this. She also had a fever . I don't think she would have made it through the night had she not went to the ER. Getting there was a total nightmare. I was beside myself. I forgot to add in my first post that we luckily saw a police car while we were at the payphone digging for quarters so we could call and get directions to the ER. Both of us forgot our cell phones and I left the directions that I had written down at home because I was trying so hard to hurry and get her there. We flagged the policeman down and he escorted us to the ER vet, thank God, I was losing it! You cannot imagine what it's like to see one of your yorkie babies in such distress! It's just horrible!!!

I had read a little about eclampsia and knew it was bad and could be life threatening, and I've been worried about it because she had six pups and when she nursed she panted really heavy, but then it would go away. We had been giving her vitamin supplements with xtra calcium.

Thanks again everybody for being here! I hope I don't wear you out with questions!!!

Michelle, I am so sorry you're going through this. I will be praying for you and for Bitsy and all the pups. You'll need extra doses of grace and energy to get through. Try not to waste energy worrying. Get rest when you can and enlist the help of friends. Did you post in the breeder forum as well? Bo sends gentle hugs and kisses!!

Thanks pearlepis for the links! I'm checking them out now while I'm waiting.

I am soo sorry you. Bentley,Bitsy and the pups have to go through this you are in my thoughts and I will say a prayer to St. Francis for all your pups

Maybe you could wrap something around Bitsy so the pups can't nurse but she can still be with them.. I think she could clean them after you feed them.. this would probably keep the stress levels down for her and the pups.
Good luck with them all.

Do you have helpers for help you feed the puppies ? A friend of mine had the same situation as you and a chance she had help .

Wish everything will be ok very soon . Poor little girl .

eclampsia
 

You can usually allow two or three pups to be returned to her...but I hestiate to tell that to a novice..you will have to watch for any signs of a relapse, many do not want to chance it. You can rotate the pups..feed 3 and let mom feed 3, then next feeding take those 3 and switch...BUT she must be eating well and getting lots of calcuim suppliments.
You can also make her a shirt out of an old tee shirt, cut 4 leg holes and tie it up over the back..that way she can have her babies but not nurse them.
She had a large litter and IF you were breeding again..you would need to suppliment pups from the start to prevent it. If you fill the pups up a few times a day, they won't drain mom.
Best wishes

Pat, you are a jewel! I learn so much from you!

Lol
 

LOL...I am a genuine cubic zirconia!!!

You and Bitsy are in my prayers!

Thank you Pat!!!!!!! Another poster suggested letting her wear a shirt too and I was hoping you would say it's ok! I jsut got home and on the way I stopped by a consignment shop near my house and bought her some onesies. I'm going to cut a whole in the bottom for her tail and hope it works. I DO plan on having her fixed asap! There is no way I could be a breeder. It's too hard on the heart when something happens.

I'm getting ready to feed the pups. The vet gave me ESBILAC to feed the pups and said to do so every 4 to 6 hours. Would goats milk be better? They gave Bitsy some calcium tablets to give to her every 8 hours for ten days. WHat can I feed her that would be rich in calcium. Is it possible to overdose her on Calcium? Should I give Bitsy goats milk too and cottage cheese?

What would be a sign of relapse? I'd like to let her nurse a couple at a time and then again I don't want to chance it either. It scared me so bad. I may try it later today but I need to know what a relapse looks like when it starts.

When I picked her up they said her calcium level was normal now. She panted some on the way home. She's tired and seems depressed, or maybe it's just me. Her eyes are matted from tears. We've never left her for that long before and she's never stayed away from home since we got her.

I honestly don't have any friends or family close by that can help. I'm hoping my husband will help out when he can.

Thank you all for your advice, thoughts, encouragement and prayers! I cannot express how much it means to me!!

I am so sorry...wish there was any way i could help you. I will be praying for her speedy recovery!

My dog had this also. I was giving her goats milk over her food. But that alone wasnt enough. Vet gave her some big calicum horse pills she also has to take 2 of them a day plus the goats milk. But he said she could still nurse her pups.A sign that it is happening again would be a fever and acting not herself. Thats how my dog acted anyway.

Just curious...
 

My Tinkerbell was taken away from her mother because of the same thing. Tinkerbell came from a litter of 8. I know that is large but it sounds a bit common for the mother to get eclampsia, I'm just curious how you prevent this from happening at all. Does the dam need calcium suppliments after she has whelped a large litter? Do puppies get confused when you rotate hand feeding and nursing?

YorkieRose is oh so right. As a matter of fact, she had that experience ONCE and had a very sick mom. So, she knows that what she suggests worked dor her.. On another forum, another OOPS breeding almost ended in the death of a beloved baby girl. She had mastitis and could not feed a single puppy-bad milk-..that human mom was in a real bind for 6 weeks at least. So, ask the vet if you can rotate those babies around as they need the care and relationship with the mom and visa versa. Please take a minute from time to time and let us know how she is doing. I do have one auggestion though that has not been addressed.That is, the antibiotics(if given) that mom takes will go into mom's milk and the babies will be medicated with a med that can (and often does) change the good and bad bacteria in their digestive system and they need BeneBac or acidophilus to off set the action by the meds. Diarrhea and gas can really stress these tiny babies and they can die of failing puppy syndrome. I know these things sound harsh, but I am really only interested in the health and well-being of your mom and those darlin' babies..
I hope this works. I could not post this message so I copied and pasted.

Thank goodness she will be ok and the puppies are in good hands. If I lived closer we'd help!!! I bred She-ra a year ago and her puppy died during birth, and she was heartbroken, well so was I... So I know how she will be if she doesn't get to see her babies!! Be patient and give her lots of love!!! :)

Awh, this is all so sad, I hope thingswork out...You all are in my thoughts and prayers...

This is so hard. I just tried to feed the puppies. They are crying like crazy. I had to put bitsy in the kitchen and she is down there at the door barking right now. Is there anything anyone can suggest that I put on them, like colered bands, to tell them apart.

There are a few that have no markings and I cna't tell them apart. I'm so nervous. Some of them seemed like they were getting enough milk but that nipple on that bottle seems hard. Are they supposed to latch onto it like a nipple or is it ok if they chew it on the sides of their mouth and lick????? SOme of them did that but I don't think they were getting enough. Are they supposed to have two tablespoons per 4 ounces of body weight??? I've got to weigh them each and tag them somehow to keep track. I need bands or something and where do you get them? I tried ribbon already but that's not working and the ink smeared.

I'm going to try and feed them some more and let bitsy lick their privates so they can poop and pee. She is major stressed...so am I.

Thank you thank you thank you!! I'll check back in a bit

I don't see why you can't use colored fingernail polish. I would label them with small dots 1 dot 2 dot 3 to 4 dot. At least you can keep up with them but it would come off easily with remover. Hope that helps! :thumbup:

I would definitely forget about the nail polish and place little ribbons of different colors .

What would you put the ribbons around?

Their little neck , not too tight .